Blueberry Soil Preparation for Home Gardeners – Bluegrass Blueberries (2024)

FAQs

Blueberry Soil Preparation for Home Gardeners – Bluegrass Blueberries? ›

There should be a mixture of 50% pine fines and 50% peat moss. The peat moss helps to retain moisture as well as keeps the soil acidic. The pine fines allow the soil to drain and is also a good acidifier.

Blueberries prefer acidic soils, ideally with a pH range between 4.5 and 5.5. Before planting, test the soil pH and make necessary adjustments to ensure it meets these acidic requirements. Lowering soil pH can be a gradual process, often achieved by adding sulfur or other acidifying agents.

You'll end up with raised beds, which are good for blueberries anyway. Peat moss is one of the best amendments. It has a mildly acidifying effect, which will help you get the pH down. You could use just peat moss or a combination of peat moss, peat humus, compost and/or rotted leaves, especially oak leaves.

Blueberry plants thrive in acidic soil, so prepare a soil mix with equal parts peat moss, pine bark, and regular potting soil to maintain the necessary soil acidity. Planting blueberries in containers allows you to control the soil pH and create the ideal environment for these acid-loving plants.

Add elemental sulfur according to the clay content of soil as shown in Table 2 (page 5). Mix the sulfur into the soil. For example, if your soil is sandy, add 10 to 20 pounds of elemental S per 1,000 square feet, as sulfur produces a greater reduction in soil pH in a sandy soil than in a loam or clayey soil.

Coffee grounds are highly acidic, they note, so they should be reserved for acid-loving plants like azaleas and blueberries. And if your soil is already high in nitrogen, the extra boost from coffee grounds could stunt the growth of fruits and flowers.

You can use Epsom salt if your blueberries need magnesium. You should add one tablespoon of Epsom salts and one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to two gallons of water and apply to the base of the blueberry plants. This method can help revive blueberry plants and encourage them to green up.

Any fertilizer sold for azaleas or rhododendrons will work well for blueberries. Cottonseed meal is also a good fertilizer for blueberry plants. Fertilizer alone won't give you a bumper crop of blueberries, though. You need to feed the soil, too.

Plants You Shouldn't Grow With Blueberries

Nightshades: Nightshades include vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, and while they too enjoy full sun, they do not like acidic soil, making them poor companions for your blueberry bushes.

Mulch should be loose enough for water percolation. Pine needles, wood chips or bark mulch work well as mulches for blueberries. Avoid using dyed mulches (black or red). Avoid using synthetic mulches like black plastic or landscape fabric.

Is Miracle-Gro potting soil good for blueberries? ›

Blueberry bushes will grow strong and prolific when you use Miracle-Gro® soil and plant food together to create the ideal nutrition-filled growing environment.

Blueberry bushes like very acidic soil, and a pH level between 4.0 to 4.8 is required for the plants to absorb water and nutrients and produce berries. Because most garden soil is not naturally this acidic, planting in containers enables you to better control your soil's acidity levels.

Worm castings are an additional effective organic fertilizer for blueberry [6] . It was verified that worm casting application increased not only vegetative growth, e.g., canopy width, height, and stem diameter, but also anthocyanin content. ...

There should be a mixture of 50% pine fines and 50% peat moss. The peat moss helps to retain moisture as well as keeps the soil acidic. The pine fines allow the soil to drain and is also a good acidifier. These can be bought at our blueberry nursery in Oakland, KY.

Coffee Grounds

Applying coffee grounds directly to soil can harm your plants. Mixed into a compost, however, they can increase the acidity of your soil. Apply one part coffee grounds to four parts other organic material.

The ideal pH for blueberries is down around 4.5 to 5 – very acidic. Sulfur will get you back down there if the pH has been migrating upward. Holly-tone is a good, acidifying fertilizer, but it's only mildly acidifying. The soil test also will tell you if you're lacking any key nutrients or if the mix is out of whack.

Highbush blueberries would prefer to be planted in well-prepared soil in the ground but with proper planting and care, they can be grown in containers. Select a well-draining, large weather-proof container like a wooden barrel planter.

Amending your soil each season with compost, which is rich in organic matter, is by far the best way to make your soil more acidic because it is done gradually and creates the most benefits for plant growth. It also improves the soil structure and adds beneficial micro-organisms into the soil.