Blueberry help

[Marknewbie]

Hi there im a complete novice at gardening and have just purchased 2 blueberry plants ages 2-3 years in pots... I want to plant them in the ground to maximise the return on them ...

Can someone please talk me through how to do this?

Do you just dig a hole in a sunny part of your garden , fill it with ericaceous compost then put the 2 plants in at 3ft apart i understand and then maintain the soil with ericaceous fertiliser and the plants with rain water or vinegar-water ....

also whats peet moss or mulch ? I keep coming across these terms

I'm so new to this... any help is really really apperciated thanks you

[Capsid]

Yes, you plant as you have described. A mulch is a layer of compost (peat moss) that you lay around the base of the plant to stop it drying out; blueberries like fairly wet soil/conditions. Peat moss is harvested from peat bogs and is essentially composted moss formed after many hundred of years.

[Pumpkin Becki]

It is possible to get hold of Peat substitutes now, as peat bogs are a depleting natural resource. These are often based on pine needles and are used in just the same way that Capsid has described.

[Paulottie]

First establish if your soil is suitable...if no PH teating kit then look at neighbouring gardens...do they have rhododendrons...if so acid soil...they be fine...if not forget it and get some bigger pots and an ericateous (spelling!) compost.(designed for acid lovers)

If you plant out any compost or muck will do (except spent mushroom that contains lime)...cut out the middle man and mulch with pine needles from the woods.

[lisab]

Hi all,
I also have a blueberry, but have never heard of watering it with vinegar-water! Does it work? Shall i just stick to my eracaceous compost and hope for the best?
Cheers,
Lisa B

[bluemoon]

A blueberry in a large pot will probably produce just as well as one planted in the soil. Once you fill a hole with ericaceous compost it quickly reverts the same pH as the surrounding soil, so is a waste of time. If you don't have acid soil you'd be waging a constant battle with the pH. I do have acid soil, but still keep my blueberries in pots, it means I can move them if necessary and the soil is left vacant for other things. They do very well indeed and I've had some huge crops from them over the years.

[Marknewbie]

i disagree with bluemoon because i know loads of people who have grown blueberries with no acid in the soil but mulched with pine needles or bark
to maintain acidity

They also tend to grow higher in the ground than in pots which has also been proven .... because the grounds much more natural for them and they have endless space ....

cut out the vinegar-water because it doesnt work too good apperantly lisa

[Marknewbie]

Really really confused

I am quite annoyed about this whole blueberry business ...

everywhere i look theres someone saying something that completely contradicts the other.... blueberrys in pots wont work .... blueberrys in the ground wont work etc .... its hard to know exactly what does work with all this info

I planted my plants in my garden thinking it would be more natural for them - filled a hole with ericaceous compost and now someones told me it will lose its ph to the rest of the soil ? Is this true ? i'l prob give up soon

Have i really wanted my time and money?

Please reply if you know what to do ?

Mark

[Hazel at the Hill]

Now I don't know a thing about blueberries, Mark, but I do know that if you ask the opinions of 100 gardeners on a subject, you'll get 100 answers...

I'm not sure if it will help or hinder you, but our wise mod Pigletwillie has them growing in his plots - he has blogged about how to grow them here

[TEB]

At the end of the day if your soil is not good enough then it may not necessarily kill the plant just cause poor growth/no fruit, then just pot it up.

PS dont water it from the tap just good old acid rain

[Two_Sheds]

I ... filled a hole with ericaceous compost and now someones told me it will lose its ph to the rest of the soil ? Is this true ?

Yes, it is.
Soil (and compost) doesn't stay in one place, worms move it.
Not only that, but nutrients wash in, and wash out.
The only way to keep your compost ericaceous is to contain it ... in a container.

[FB.]

The only reason that I grow some blueberries is because I have a boggy corner that never dries out. It appears to be some drainage/soakaway from a nearby house roof guttering. The house is quite large and the amount of rain that gets "dumped" in (or near) that area is substantial. Even in the dry and heat of mid-summer, the soil is very sticky/heavy, partly because the ground level is also shaded by the house to some extent.
The soil is therefore damp and acid. Growing anyhting else there is a waste because it either rots, or gets eaten by slugs.
Apparently, if a soil is damp, the water in the soil will absorb CO2 and it will become acidic.

My point being:

Only grow plants that are likely to thrive in your conditions.

Anything else is too much hassle, unless you really like a challenge, but keeping the pests and diseases at bay is enough of a challenge for me.
Professional growers go to great lengths to choose a site that offers optimum conditions for their crop. Us amateurs must make do with what we have - which is often less than ideal.

[TonyF]

I grow mine in the ground, initially with ericaceous compost and now mulched twice a year with the pine needles from my pine trees and I get superb results.

Mark, there are no really absolute rules, what works for some doesn't work for others, it's gardening and gardening isn't always an exact science that some of the books like to make out. Most gardens differ slightly because of what has or has not been done to them, same with allotment plots - do what you think is right, if you're comfortable with pots and compost go for it, it it doesn't work in a year or so, plant them/mulch them.

[Marknewbie]

no more posts please

thank you but please no more posts on this subject

[zazen999]

i disagree with bluemoon because i know loads of people who have grown blueberries with no acid in the soil but mulched with pine needles or bark
to maintain acidity

They also tend to grow higher in the ground than in pots which has also been proven .... because the grounds much more natural for them and they have endless space ....

I think both will work, given that one contains the soil and one adds the correct fertiliser every year. I know mine in the ground are ok but would probably do just as well in pots.

There's more than one way around most subjects, which I suppose is why we have a forum - to gather views and make our own decisions about how we grow things.