I just got my blueberry plants in the mail PH testing?

Ok, ya'll got my two blueberry plants today and decided to do a soil test, dug up some soil from down to about 8 inches where I'm going to plant it, I didn't let it dry out as I should have, I know; but, I did make sure all lumps and other stuff was not there and smashed it before using the soil testing kit. Now, my PH is registering as 7-8 and I know that's not right, it should be about a 5 in this area. Now, I've lost my color chart and can't find it, where can I get a PH color chart, I will retest again later.
joy112854

Girl, you are a hoot!

Jerry

Texasrockgarden: That's nothing I gave it another PH test and came up with a 2 this time, same sample too. One of my landscape guys is going to drop by with his trusty soil testing pen tomorrow and then let me know what the real PH reading is. I know it's mostly clay and sand in this area, and from what I read that makes concrete. LOL Ugh.
joy112854

you need to add compost and ash since blueberries usually grow need woods and you
will usually find them in areas where fire past tru about two to three years before mine are about five feet tall since they are the tall bush kind and every year I feel them ash from the fire place and compost by august my zone is 5 I can hardly see any green since it is so heavy with blueberries.

mona

This message was edited Jan 9, 2009 12:06 PM

I have twelve of them and I am thinking of putting in twelve more then are amazing so good

Just don't use cedar mulch with the berries. They are not compatabile.

I usually try to use pine needles and cones it stop pest from crawling into the bushes

it works great for hostas to no slugs with pine needles to acidic

With all the pine trees around here, I could probably find some pine needles. LOL Just as my friend suspected, my PH of the soil is right between 4.2 and 5.2; just right for blueberries, no wonder they grow wild here. LOL I saw my first itty bitty flower on the strawberry plants today. That means soon, I will have strawberries. My friend was telling me the bushes get 8 feet wide sometimes. LOL He has about 3 in his yard.
joy112854

The best thing to do to get healthy strawberries is to remove the first flowers. It is standard proceedure. By doing this you will get bigger and better strawberries.

TPlant: Thanks will do that. Open for any and all advice I can get. Have you seen then hanging grow bags Parks' has? I have 8 of them, they advertise growing strawberries in them; but, I was thinking perhaps cherry tomatoes and peppers perhaps, what do you think?
Is that a bad idea or one that might work?
joy112854

Never tried it so can't say?

TPlant: I'm coming your way February, now that the car has new tires all the way around, I am going to drive down, I'm also bringing a cooler so I can shop at my favorite meat market, Doris Italian Kitchen or Penn Dutch Meats, whichever one has NY strips on sale that week. Prices of meats are outrageous up here and no steak tastes better than a Doris steak or a Penn Dutch steak. See ya around the 19th ok?
joy112854

butchers steaks are always better my favorite is rib steak on the bbq with montreal steak spice cant wait till summer to do it again two feet of snow my way so no bbq for a while hahahah

Scicciarella: I used to live in Ted's and Bob's neck of the woods, did for almost 30 years and always bought my meats from Doris and Penn Dutch. I used to buy fresh vegetables from Jamies Garden of Eden also; would walk away with 2 boxes of veggies for around $20, a steal I might add, up here, one small plastic bag at the grocery, $40 easily. Steaks are about $14.00 for two nice ones, yet rather small, and they don't melt in your mouth the way Doris' steaks do. I have an upright freezer and it's only about 8 hours away. Nothing beats a steak smothered in mushrooms and butter with a little worchestershire sauce, served with a huge baked potato smothered in butter and sour cream and chives, and a nice salad on the side, no room for dessert usually after that; but, I usually fix a cobbler and ice cream of course. LOL I don't eat like that all the time though, just once a week. The rest of the time, I'm a small eater usually.
joy112854

I send my soil off to the University of Connecticut Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory . The test is $8 for soil pH, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, managanese, zinc, boron, copper, molybdenum and lead. Also includes what to do to to raise the pH and nutrient levels (and how to deal with high lead levels). They give both organic and non-organic recomendations too.

Tomatoes need boron but it's a trace element . Too much is not good at all. Believe most soils are not deficient but if anyone is considering adding more after reading a testimonial or sales pitch its prudent to find out how much is already there.

There are more refined tests but that's good enough for me.

Know New Jersey's agricultural station at Rutgers charges $15 for a similiar test but haven't checked Florida. I think every state has a soil testing lab.

David Paul: Thanks for that little tip, here they are probably hidden somewheres. I mean the county seat of elections was hidden, not in the court house where you'd think it'd be right? Not only that, absolutely not listed in the phone book either, had to call the clerk of courts to get their phone number and address, as 411 didn't have it, so I could register to vote this last year. I'm almost willing to be they are just as hidden away too. LOL
joy112854

Joy....took a while to click through but Florida has a informative page (pdf) to read or print out and send in with your soil sample. Gives instructions on how to sample too:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/SS/SS18700.pdf

Basic test is $7. Just pH is $3. State says you can also contact your county extension service for a soil test.

Yeah, my county extension service is where I get some of my advice from on veggies and trees and things that grow well in this area. One of their workers sent me an email with nice links in it.

joy112854

I really dont worry about soil testing since I now live in farm country where the land has been farmed since the people started clearing the land in these parts so I just asked the farmer down the road on what the soil needed and he laughed and said compost and manure do will do fine so that is what I am doing lol he is fifth generation farming this land

Scicciarella: I've decided that what I'm going to do after the reading of many articles is when I dig up my canna lily bed and divide the canna lilies, I'm going to add back 3 parts of the soil, 1 part of compost and haven't decided if I should use 1 part peat moss, or 1 part coconut coir to the beds, might do one side of the house with one and the other with the other to see how they do. I was then going to cover with these two rolls of 3' x 100' weed control landscape fabric and tack it all down with garden staples. Then just cut X's in the fabric and put my cannas in the X's.

I was told by someone that the fabric doesn't always work, I was also told by someone else that I didn't want to do that with cannas as that might prevent new sprouts??? But, it would make weeding less difficult. I also was warned it would attract voles, moles and such; but, as far as I know we don't have a problem in this area with slugs, as that requires wetness and a lot of it.
joy112854

fabric is good in areas where you have trees shrubs and perennials since it will not be disturbed on the fabric you should add three to four inches of mulch and then there will be no weeding if you cleaned out well before

if it is an area where you are going to disturb for planting and removing bulb and annuals you may just want to weed and then add 3 inches of mulch do not wast your money on fabric

Scicciarella: I was going to do all the moving of any plants before I put the fabric in place after that I hadn't planned on moving any. Did you say it goes well under trees for perennials? I plan on later on planting two trees, one Muskogee Crape Myrtle and one Royal Empress, under the trees I want to plant shasta daisies and enchinaceas, would the fabric be good for that garden under the trees perhaps?

joy112854

yes since daisies and enchinacea give seeds it will stop it from spreading and the seeds will sit on top of the mulch and the birds will eat them and if they do germinate it is easier to pull them since the root will sit in the much and not soil since the cloth will stop it and it does stop the trees from rooting to close to the top of the soil

Joy I have ALOT of cannas, probably over 300, and they do need sunlight and to be uncovered at the ground for the continued healthy growth of new plants on the original bulb. Once your cannas get established (if you have them in a bed) you will never have to worry about weeding as the plants themselves overcrowd and shade out any grass and weeds. I don't know much about other plants, but I would definitely think you would prohibit growth and have weakly cannas if you used a weed cover around them. What color (or breed) do you have? I love cannas! (except for the dratted leaf rollers...ugghhh..)

Darkmoon dreamer< I have about 80 of them in the beds, all different kinds, the tall ones around the house, the dwarf's around the deck rail; but, I planted them about 18 inches apart, as I didn't want them to be crowded. So; then, I guess the weed cloth is out then. Don't want my cannas weak, want them healthy. LOL Wonder what I will do with 2 rolls of weed fabric now/ hmmmmm. The Royal Empress tree shoots roots straight down, which makes it nice for planting flowers underneath it. Don't know about the Muskogee Crape Myrtle though. Daisies and Coneflowers grow in the wild though, so they should be fine under the trees, natural looking I hope. LOL I might wind up moving the 80 daffs I got under there also, as there will be shade once the tree starts to grow. I'm going to hold off on planting the flowers til the trees have a good start on them, maybe another year or so.
joy112854

or just give them room since the roots as you said go down they should not matter as long as you do not have them touching

Scicciarella: I'm going to plant them in pots first so will be putting actual plants in the ground around the tree, that way I can decide what plant goes where more. I liked the Shasta daisies and the coneflowers, I hope they make good bed fellas as they say right?
Darkmoondreamer: I have some more on order; but, didn't tell anyone, as everyone would think I was crazy for ordering more, can't get enough canna lilies can we now? LOL I still haven't gotten the Austrailian Canna Lily yet, it is simply gorgeous, and my Stuttgart is doing great, it's an indoors baby though.
joy112854

Joy, the prettiest one I have by far is the "Tropicanna" Canna, with the red, yellow, orange, and green leaves. They look like stained glass windows in the sunlight. Here is a list of all my cannas......sorry about the weed cloth.....I know you will find someplace to use it...

http://davesgarden.com/tools/tradelist/manage.php?list=have

Karen

You can use the weed cloth under the EBs or anywhere you want plants but not grass or weeds.

Darn, I was hoping to see the beautiful canna you mentioned, darkmoon, but your link takes me to an "empty have list" or something. Pouting here!

Shoe

LOL, sorry Shoe. when I click it it takes me into my Have list....click on my user name and then go to Darkmoondreamer's trade lists, and click on plants I have. Scroll down some and you will see it. Or, you can just see it here, LOL!

The flowers are orange, and unremarkable, it is grown for the amazing foliage! Very expensive too.....One canna flowering bulb runs $14.95 at Lowe's and other nurseries in our area. If you'd like I can mail you one in the spring ☺ even the bare root bulbs bought online are over $9.00 each most places.....

I have some of all the four you listed and I just got a tropicanna one that didn't have time to sprout up all the way before it went dormant. I bought mine from Jenny's garden, she is pretty reasonable. I also bought my stuttgart and Peach gigantums from her. Her list that she has is www.jennysgarden.com, I have bought a few from people on this site, and am waiting to see how they come up this Spring/Summer, I have quite a variety going on. But, Jenny doesn't have the Austrailian one and they want a fortune for it. I also have a Bengal Tiger and a Black Knight, which I got from her.
joy112854

gee thanks Joy.....sigh...of course you have enabled me now to go off searching for canna "Australia", which I didn't know about until you told me...ROTF! What a beauty! It is the one with the slick solid black leaves?

What a beauty, darkmoon! You should treasure that Tropicanna! And from your trade list it looks like you LOVE those canna's! Quite a selection!

For the link you gave, that didn't "work"...it took me to MY tradelist for some reason. It looks like the link wasn't complete or something. Here is a live link directly to your trade list, just to see if it works:
http://davesgarden.com/community/trading/list.php?list=have&member=darkmoondreamer

Joy, you and darkmoon/Karen are gonna start a "canna war", seeing who can get the most prettiest! *grin

Shoe

Horseshoe: Nah, I'm actually looking for a variety as they are all so beautiful, I can hardly wait to see my tropicanna in bloom, hope it's as pretty as dark moon's is.

Dark Moon: Yes, that's the austrailian one, have you checked out Jenny's Garden yet? Hers are really reasonable and she has quite a variety too. I have Robert Kemps, Richard Wallaces, Wyomings, Cleopatra's, Black Knight, Bengal Tiger, Stuttgart, Peach Gigantum, Tropicana, White Canna Lily, Yellow Canna Lily, Pink ones and red ones, you name it. I also have some Lucifers coming too. Like I need more right? LOL
Joy112854

joy112854

cannas never bloom well in my zone it would mean planting them inside and then transplating and since I already live in a jungle my hubby would loose his mind it I add more pots hahahha