Forum home› Fruit & veg

Blueberries - Using R. O. Water

Lee73leeLee73lee Posts: 4
in Fruit & veg
Hello
I've just bought a couple of blueberry bushes and after some research I read that they prefer rain water. Unfortunately I don't have any rain water due to keeping way to many carnivorous plants which also use rain water. I have an reverse osmosis system that I use for them and was wondering if I can use that for the blueberries. I have read that using R. O. Water for some plants  can cause problems later down the road as such. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Lee

Posts

  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 6,644
    It will probably depend what your starting water quality is like. (Are you using RO on mains tap water, btw? Just curious - it doesn't matter). Get yourself a pH test kit and test a few samples from your RO. If the pH is above about 5.5 then your blueberries may not like it.
    “Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first” 
  • Lee73leeLee73lee Posts: 4
    Thank you for the quick reply. I'm on the south coast of the UK, my water is  hard but uve never tested ph so will have to get myself a kit. Yes I do run the R.O. unit from the mains.

    Cheers Lee 
  • FireFire Posts: 17,116
    Are the blueberries in pots?
  • Lee73leeLee73lee Posts: 4
    They are indeed, I was going to put them into bigger containers but my thinking is maybe now isn' the right time as they are in flower. The plants are only about 10/12 inches in height so far.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 10,268
    I don't know if there's a reason not to, but you can get pH adjusters.
    You'll definitely need a decent pH meter, but you can get pH up and pH down for plants.
    eg Amazon sell them
    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Lee73leeLee73lee Posts: 4
    Ok thank you for your input. My plan of action will be to invest in a pH meter/test kit. Maybe not repot until they go dormant (unsure of best time for this until more research is done). Use ericaceous soil when doing so. Until I can collect rain water I'll go with the R.O. Water and acid loving plant feed and monitor soil acidity as best I can.

    Lee
Sign In or Register to comment.