How to lower soils PH for blueberry

kristine015

Hi everyone thank you for reading this. recently I bought 3 blueberry bluecrop. Very nice and healthy. I bought eracacious and mini bark chips and replanted the blue berries. It’s only been two days but from my research the soil is supposed to have a PH level of between 4-6. However my ph reading is showing 7 all the time!! They have started to sprout some leaves and I am scared I am doing it all wrong and the fact that the PH isn’t between 4-6. 

Could someone please advice me on what I should do to lower the PH of my soil the safest way. I have heard of using distilled vinegar but not a permanent solution and I am not sure if this is safe for my blueberries. This is my first time growing blueberries. Any future adviced will be much appreciated thank you so so much. 

kristine015

Just bought sulphur from ebay. Hopefully it’ll work it’s wonders when it gets here. Thanks everyone 

Pete.8

I'm growing blueberries this year for the 1st time.
Don't use vinegar - at all it'll cause all sorts of problems.
Sulphur (as above) is an option, but be certain that your compost is not acidic already.
Are you using rain water for your plants? rw is best as it is slightly acidic. Tap water here is around pH8-9 so quite alkaline and wouldn't suit them at all.
I've used those sort of meters before and found them to be hopelessly inaccurate.

I used miracle-grow ericaceous compost and I water with rainwater - I wont bother testing the pH as I know the compost is acidic as is the rainwater I'm using.
I'll add some fertilizer for ericaceous plants about a month after re-potting.
Can't wait to try my first home-grown blueberries - hope yours do well too!

kristine015

Hi Pete thanks for your advice! Must get myself a proper ph tester I have done some research about rain water too. I actually placed a bucket outside to catch some rw for watering purposes. 
Did you just use eracacious compost or did you mix with something else? I don’t know if I did mines right but I mixed my compost with minibarks 0_0 i just copied tutorials on youtube. Whether its right or not i dunno.

I cannot wait to see the results in the summer too. Has yours started to sprout some leaves too?

kristine015

Btw my eracacious compost is bough from local garden centre and because it didn’t have any fertilizer in it I had to buy some. 
I’ll attach some photos. 

kristine015

Pete.8

Hi Kristine
Looks like you have all you'll need for a good crop!
I wouldn't waste money on pH testers. You have the right ingredients for acid-lovers - they'll be fine. But do use rainwater - tap water only as a last resort (and let it stand for 24hrs to let the chlorine gas-off).
I wanted to mix in some bark chippings with the compost I used, but couldn't get any locally. I've potted mine into 7.5L pots for this year and will re-pot again when necessary. 
Here's mine today - I got 3 - Patriot, Ozark Blue and Herbert - no shortage of rainwater here today!

kristine015

Hi Pete, I must say your blueberries are looking very healthy and has a lot of sprouts already!! Looks like you will have lots of crops for a first timer! 
Please post future progress of your blueberries ^_^ 

Asarum

I grow blueberries with ericaceous fertiliser and compost and I water with rainwater.I get a good crop. Throw away your meter and buy something to protect your berries from birds.  This will be your main challenge. The birds eat them when still green!  Good luck.

kristine015

Asarum said:

I grow blueberries with ericaceous fertiliser and compost and I water with rainwater.I get a good crop. Throw away your meter and buy something to protect your berries from birds.  This will be your main challenge. The birds eat them when still green!  Good luck.

Hi Asarum,
This is very helpful thank you so much for your advice! ^_^ will definitely buy netting of some sort to protect from birds. 
Thanks again 
Kristine 

Blue Onion

The pictures aren't loading for me, so I can't see how you have them planted.  In raised beds?  In a pot?  If you have them direct in the ground, you might consider a slight raised bed filled with ericaceous soil.  Mulch every spring with another bag, and pine needles, etc. if you can get some.  As Asarum said, get yourself a net.  Make sure to keep it tight, but off the plant.  Birds can easily get trapped in netting.. but if it is sitting on top the plant they will just reach through and grab the berries.  Make a temporary structure out of canes topped with bottles, and cloths pegs and bricks to keep it tight.  

Where I live (Utah, USA) the soil is extremely alkaline and dry.. so blueberries are out of the question.  I have been growing Saskatoon Berries (Amelanchier alnifolia) for the past few years with great success.  They taste like dried blueberries (sweet, not juicy, and blue).  They are not blueberries.. but they make a good substitute berry for those with dry alkaline soils who water with a hose pipe.