Blueberry bushes

[Katie T]

Give me your best tips for getting blueberry bushes to thrive! I know they need 8 hrs of sun, but beyond that I'm clueless.

Thanks so much for any input you have!

[zinemama]

You need to fertilize them every year and you need to be really, really good about watering.

[kcstar]

They also need a very acid soil. I ended up picking up an electronic meter to monitor that, and some organic soil acidifier.

[Katie T]

Thanks so much you guys, keep them coming.

How much do the soil meters cost?

[Ruthiegirl]

I have not tested my soil, but I do mulch my berries heavily with pine needles and they seem to be doing very well. And water, water, water.

[1blueheron]

As an alternative to getting a pH meter, most places you can send soil samples to your local extension office for testing. Usually you get great info (pH, nutrient levels, etc), pretty cheap. As a PP said, pine needles will help with the acidity. Here in New England much of the soil is already pretty acidic, dunno what is typical in Iowa. When your plants start yielding I'd recommend wrapping some netting around them (I learned this the hard way: birds happy, people sad).

[lakeruby]

I put my leftover coffee grounds around my bluberries, to help keep that soil acidic. I also compost them every year.

In my experience, newly transplanted bushes follow the "sleep, creep, leap" thing-- The first year, ours did almost nothing, the next year they grew a little bit, and now this year (their 3rd year) they are growing like crazy!

Also, ours don't get 8 hrs of sun but they are doing okay. I'm sure they would grow bigger in full sun, but we'll take what we can get!

[kcstar]

The pH / moisture / light meter that I bought was about $25, and can be used as often as I want, in all areas of the garden. It's not left out, testing takes about a minute or two and then the meter's put back away.

The soil test kit that I bought was about $3, but could only be used once... and I've never used it.

I figured that if I wanted to test multiple areas of my garden, throughout the year, the meter would pay for itself. We've already used it at least twice, once for each blueberry bush, just before I used the organic soil acidifier the first time. We'll use it again on the two beds about 60 days from that treatment, to see if I need to add the soil acidifier again.

By the time I've used the meter eight or nine times, it'll have paid for itself.

Now, I certainly would agree that getting a soil analysis/test done when beginning a gardening project is worthwhile. And it should probably be done periodically, maybe every 1-3 years? But I haven't done that.

I don't think anybody wants to be paying the extension office to test their soil every week while they monitor changing pH levels.

[Katie T]

Awesome thanks so much guys. I have no idea what my soil is like but I'm not thinking great. My garden didn't do great last year and am hoping to bulk up the nutrition of my soil for this years garden.

[PatchChild]

Good advice all around. I'll have to keep it all in mind. I just ignore my bushes and make sure the weeks don't overtake them. Seems to work well.