Is horse manure ericaeous?

[Muddy Feet]

Hi, first post, and in haste.

I prepped the raised beds on my plot with horse manure a month or so ago, and today planted some blueberries.

Now I have re-read Lucy's article on page 42 about using acidic soil of pH 5.5.

Have I done the wrong thing by planting in the ground and not a container?

Thanks

[sarraceniac]

Depends what the pH of your soil is. Have you done an acid test? Horse manure, because it contains urine (uric acid) wouldn't turn it alkaline but you should either buy a soil testing kit from a good gardener or use the cheap-skates (i.e. my) method of getting a rough reading. Boile half a chopped up red cabbage in about 100 cl of water (no salt) for 10 minutes, drain off the water which is what you want so don't drain over the sink. The cabbage can be cooked on and eaten. Take samples of soil from various parts of your garden and shake each sample with about 10 cl of pure water. Add 10 cl of cabbage juice to each sample and observe the colour the water goes. If it goes bluish to turquoise you have problems. If it goes red or purple then you are OK. Simples.

Can you change your User CP to show where you are please. We are not really nosy but if you ask anything which involves climatic conditions it does help with the answer.

[Muddy Feet]

Thanks for the reply, I'll see if I can get hold of said cabbage.

Now, when I carry out this test, it's on the soil, yes? But I have added manure to the soil, but it is not very mixed in. It is still in clumps over much of the site, and not particularly well mixed with the soil.

Should I try to incorporate the manure in the test samples?

[Two_Sheds]

You shouldn't be planting anything into fresh manure anyway. Manure needs to be well-rotted (for at least a year) before you plant into it.

[Muddy Feet]

The manure was advertised as well-rotted already. It is very dark in colour - I saw some in another place that was more green than black, much more green.

[Two_Sheds]

when I carry out this test, it's on the soil, yes?

Yes. The amount of manure you've added won't significantly change the pH of the soil.
Blueberries need 4.5-5.5, so if your soil isn't in this range, grow them in a pot with ericaceous compost.

Royal Horticultural Society | Advice Search | Blueberries

[sarraceniac]

Yes. The amount of manure you've added won't significantly change the pH of the soil.
Blueberries need 4.5-5.5, so if your soil isn't in this range, grow them in a pot with ericaceous compost.

Royal Horticultural Society | Advice Search | Blueberries

No. Not necessarily. We know the horse manure will be slightly acidic but that will eventually leach out. What we are interested in is your basic soil. If the soil is basically on the alkaline side of neutral then you may have problems in future years. So try to just test the soil. But as TS says it won't basically alter the soil if you get a bit in there. If you get a lot in though it will give a false reading.

[Muddy Feet]

Ok, thanks, I'm off to the grocer's this morning!

[Muddy Feet]

Hmm, the water just stayed a darker colour than the purple that came out of the cabbage water. Still purple, deffo not red or turquiose.

[sarraceniac]

You have what appears to be fairly acidic soil, which is good. You get a good choice of plants. Unfortunately, the 'specialist' advice on blueberries is not to use manure at all, just dig some peat in before planting and then use a general fertiliser sparingly from the second year. If the soil is too rich it makes it difficult for them to establish, they like to fight for nutrition. Still it is too late to 'ungarden' now and my own opinion is that they will settle in OK in that they have gone in early in the planting season.

I see you have planted more than one plant, which is good but for best pollination I hope that you have planted at least 2 varieties. If not then I suggest, hang the expense and buy just one bush of a different variety. For example if you have only planted Jerseys then get just one Earliblue or Herbert or anything for pollination purposes. You will get a crop anyway in 2 or three years but this will improve it tremendously. Blueberries are not difficult once you have them sussed but are a little different from other soft fruits.

[Muddy Feet]

Ok.

Unfortunately the packaging just says, 'blueberry', and no more than that. It was a six pack with 50% off.

I have planted them about five feet apart - three in each of two raised beds. So is there room in between for others?

[sarraceniac]

They will probably be Jerseys then which are the commonest and heaviest croppers. You seem to be new to gardening (sorry, I'm not being patronising) but already you have the right idea. Save money where you can without compromising quality. If we spent loads of cash on GYO then there would be a lot less people doing it. The main problem you have planting too close together is simply one of getting in to harvest your luscious berries when the plants are fully grown. If that is all the room you have got then don't worry, they won't actually choke each other.

You may have to pay top whack at a G. centre to get just one plant as a pollinator, but at least it will only be one. Good luck and keep us informed how they do.

[Muddy Feet]

I had a feeling I was about to be called a greenhorn! Well, I am a TOTAL n00b when it comes to fruits, yes. We've had our allotment a bit more than a year. In fact we have two halves, but on different sites (I know), and I want one site to be fruity, and the other to be veg.

Sounds like if I buy two pollinators and put them mid way between the three I have in the raised bed (or four in all), then it might all be ok.

I'm clearly going to have to keep an eye on the soil here in particular.

I had started out just intending to put in autumn fruiting raspberries, as I had some real success with them this year. I had transplanted them last year at cut them off 4' off the ground in an act of desperation as I had hundreds of canes all over the new plot when i took it on.

So I read about raspberries needing good soil prep with manure and dived in to the blueberries (and some red currants and white currants, incidentally) thinking they all needed the same soil. My mistake.

Anyway, thanks for the advice/ideas, I certainly will keep you updated.