help for blueberry bushes

My blueberry bushes look terrible. They are not growing, haven't since I planted them 2 years ago. Everything else in this yard grows like wild fire. I put plant food on them for acid loving plants - suggestions? The leaf looks terrible too.

Have you actually tested the Ph of the soil?

No, guess I should.

Were they potted when you got them? If so, were the roots wrapping around the inside of the pot? Usually if I see something not growing and I pull it up, I see where someone didn't unsnarl the roots before plopping it in the ground.

Also, blueberries need their roots slightly moist so they should be well-mulched.

Check the pH. Most of the New River Valley is limestone based. You have to to work constantly to lower the pH to Blueberry levels. You have to use something like Green light soil acidifier or pure sulphur and you have to do it at least each year. I spent almost half my life just upriver from you (Pulaski County) and abandoned blue berries after a couple of trials.

As a follow up to Farmerdill's post, if you cannot manage them in the ground, growing in large pots is a viable option for most blueberries. Start off with a good potting soil and read tapla's stickies in the container's forum, but modify those recommendations for a more acid mix.

Farmerdill,
You were very close by. I'm on Rt 100 just as you enter Pearisburg. I'll give the pH a shot.

The first blueberry bush I tried did not grow for years and finally died. My soil was not even close to being acid enough. My next blueberry bush I planted in a pot I ammended with peat moss. It produced tons of blueberries and grew like crazy.

I was told at the nursery where I bought my blueberry plants, to mulch them with pine needles.

Very good mulch for blueberries and it will help hold a low pH. Won't correct a neutral or alkaline soil however. Blueberries thrive in a pH of 4.5 -5.

shihtzumom, I just got some elemental sulfur and some organic potting soil from 7 Springs, down near Floyd (not far off Rt. 100). The blueberries I just received will go in pots for now, in potting soil with a tad of sulfur.

Then the bagged sulfur will be used to treat a new small area just for blueberries, maybe 10' x 25' to lower my pH, which is 7.1 right now. (It may take several treatments. 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet will lower the pH 1 point.) I hope to get the blueberry bushes in the ground this fall, and order more for next spring. However, I don't want to push it...

I came from FL (limestone heaven) so I was totally unprepared for my soil test results here, just N. of Raleigh, NC.
I submitted 12 different samples from all over my back yard and the soil test from the NCState U horticulture lab came back as pH from 4.2 to 4.5. Needless to say, my blueberry bushes were ecstatic!
Paul

Maybe you could try serviceberries if it is too hard to amend the soil for blueberries. I've had serviceberries that taste very much like blueberries. I was so impressed I am trying 5 different types of serviceberries in Jackson Mississippi even tho blueberries do well here if you irrigate them. Blueberries are shallow-rooted and don't do well with drought. Our soaker hose system works OK, can't afford drip system riight now. I was hoping the serviceberries are deeper-rooted and more drought-tolerant. I do have 8 blueberry bushes- can't have too many blueberries ;-)

The soil here is extremely alkaline. I dug out a 5 foot deep trench and replaced it was a sharp sand and peat moss mix and added a bit of sulfur as well. It took 3 years, but last year we had bushes full of berries. pH is definitely the biggest problem there is when dealing with blueberries. If you don't have that low pH, you won't ever get a berry. All of the reputable sellers will tell you this. But for me, loving blues as I do, it was worth the extra effort. At a soil pH naturally of 7.8, none of my own soil was ever going to do it.

Good luck ;)

I have killed my share of blue berries by trying to plant them in my 7.2 ph ground. Finally I put them into 30 gallon containers and they have done very well for the past four years. I got the advice below from the LSU agcenter last month but I felt that it was too late to start new plants this year because it takes a while to turn the PH of soil.
Oldude
Quote from LSU:
If you would like to try growing blueberry bushes in the ground, now is the time to start preparing. Select a well drained location that receives part to full sun. Decide how large an area you want to plant spacing the bushes about five feet apart. Remove any unwanted vegetation and turn the soil. Then, spread a four inch layer of compost or peat moss and ground sulfur (available in bags at area nurseries) at the rate of three-quarter cup per 10 square feet, and thoroughly dig everything in. The sulfur will make the soil more acid. Mulch the area with several inches of pine straw or leaves to keep weeds from growing.
The blueberry bushes should be planted next February or March. Adding the sulfur now is important because it takes several months for it to lower the pH of the soil. When it comes time to plant the blueberry bushes the pH should be about 5.5. Fertilize the blueberries with acid loving plant food each spring and treat with copperas (iron sulfate) if the foliage begins to turn yellow. This will be a challenge, but for such a delicious fruit it's worth the effort.

How do i plant elder berries in utah zone 5b. i have the plants. i just want to know how, when, where to plant

I have been told several times by growers that if a plant is in a pot, you can plant it anytime. You probably should get it planted now so it can establish good roots before next winter, IMO.

I just transplanted a small elderberry I bought bare-root last year, (and planted about this time of the year). I just moved it to a low spot that stays damp with rain longer than where it was.

I just bought some ammonium sulfate at the local farm store. I use it to both fertilize and acidify my blueberries. Use about half to 3/4 cup per plant now and again in June and again while dormant. I read somewhere that when your soil is so acid nothing else will grow that blueberries thrive. I took this to heart and have been growing blueberries successfully since. Before I was not able to get them to grow and usually they died.
RED

OK, I just did a no-no and bought something at the local Lowes before finding out how it will grow in my area. :o) I bought two bare-root blueberries, Bluecrop and Jersey varieties. When I got home, I tested the pH in the area where I want to plant them, and it is right around 7.0, with one of those little Ferry-Morse home soil testers.

First question: if I buy peat and mix about half and half with the soil, and work in some sulfur, will that be sufficient to get my acidity into a workable range?

Second, will that hurt the adjacent rhubarb? I know rhubarb can stand a little higher acidity than many plants, but don't want to kill it off for the sake of a few blueberries.

The area is also only part-sun, shaded by some mature trees in the neighbors yard. I've been trying to keep my edibles in one area, for DH's sake, but can look for a different location if necessary. The rhubarb and gooseberries thrive there, so hoping the blueberries will, too.

Seems I've been on a real fruit kick lately--blackberries, rhubarb, gooseberries, and grapes were here when we bought the house, and I've added strawberries, and now blueberries. Hoping to add some raspberries sometime, too, but one thing at a time. . .

Thanks for any advice you can offer--this is my first venture into planting fruiting shrubs, so will take any suggestions you can offer!

Angie

One pound of elemental sulfur will lower the pH of a 10 x10 area one full pH point, better if done in a couple of applications. I'm thinking I will be better off planting mine in pots for a year with peat and sulfur added. It will take that long for me to get a bed from 7.1 down close to 4.0-4.5 and I can either bank the pots well for winter, or stick them in my root cellar with the figs.

I can't answer about the rhubarb.

I just found this in my to-do garden folder... I got it somewhere on the 'net, maybe even DG...

I do have some huge plastic pots that Arlene gave me at the Iowa RU last year. Maybe I should do the same thing, and give 'em a year in pots while I work on the soil there. I've been using them to collect lots of leaves and branches and dead stems as I do my spring clean-up.

Thanks, Darius. I think that was from another post here on this forum, on growing blueberries in Utah. Been doing some hunting around, looking for information before I commit myself too far.

I'd love to see your gardens some day. Is there anything you DON'T grow? LOL The garlic you inspired me to plant is doing great, by the way. My DS likes to go touch the leaves and inhale. I bet he'd like mint, too. . .maybe I'll put some in a pot for him.

I'm thinking of pots not too large, 5 gal. at most. I really don't want to do them in pots but it's either that or possibly kill them. Sigh. Another cart before my horse!

Angie, you might be able to grow Corsican mint. It's a low ground-cover like creeping thyme only smaller and slower. It was the original mint for creme de menthe. NOT invasive... in fact I have a hard time keeping it past a year, but if I do, then it's good to go. My 3" pot from the herb fest last year is now almost the size of a luncheon plate.

I try to grow many things, and only in the last 3 years has the emphasis been on edibles (other than heirloom tomatoes). Some things have been failures but still good learning experiences. I'm hooked on fruits, though.

I've had blueberries for years on the west side of my garage. It has about 1 foot of overhang. So I'd say they only get sun from high noon on and they produce very well.

I pour my left over coffee over my blueberries, thinking that will help acidify the soil. Is that silly, or do you think it might help?