ericaceous fertiliser

[Furkin]

ericaceous fertiliser

I have a couple of potted Blueberries & bought some ericaceous fertiliser to make up with water.

My neighbour also has some sort of Pine hedging (may be laylandii) & two years ago I gathered up a couple of buckets of leaf cuttings & put them in a fish-tank & filled with water. It has stood out in full sun etc for about 18 months.

Will this 'water' be good as it is (if at all) ?
Would it need diluting ?
Have I wasted my time ?

cheers all.

[Eco-Chic]

Most liquid 'tea' should be diluted 1:10 or 1:20.

Filling a fishtank with pine cuttings & water isn't exactly labour intensive is it? If you used the stronger dilution when the pots dry out in between the applications of ericaceous fertiliser I expect the blueberries will be very happy.

[rana]

I wouldn't use water from pine clipping tea. There are all sorts of resinous and acidic compounds in the stuff. Have you ever been to a pine forest and noticed that nothing grows underneath them. Also any water that has been lying around for 18 months will be contaminated with all manner of bacteria and I'm suprised it doesn't smell foul. Would you bathe in it ?

[Snadger]

If you've already bought the ericaceous fertiliser you would be better using that!
If you live in a hard water area you would need to be careful of using tap water as well!

[Furkin]

some good points raised - thanks to you all.

Snadger:
Yep - I did buy the proper stuff when I bought the plants - but if I can make 'home-brew' for nowt, so much the better.
I actually used rain water for this.

Rana:
I thought that the contents of pine is the very thing that's needed for these (& similar) plants.
Most forests don't have things growing beneath the trees - too much shade etc.
Although the tank does have a lid on it, I do take your point

Eco-Chic:
Labour Intensive,, mmmm as I'm disabled, everything is labour intensive, but again, I take your point.
When I do get round to trying it, i'll use the measurements as you suggest - thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I only have two potted bushes at the moment, so I don't want to 'experiment' & risk losing one,,,, I do have some ordered some weeks ago from T&M, but who knows when they will arrive.
I was hoping to get some cheap ones yesterday, which I would have experimented on,,,,,, but was hoping that someone on here would have said "100% great. Excellent stuff & use it all the time - for freeeee".

For the time being, i'll hang on to it till I get a few more bushes to 'test' it on !

thanks all for your comments.

[selfraising]

Can I ask, is now a good time of year to top up my existing potted blueberries with fresh ericaceous compost?