Blue Berries

[Jez]

Originally Posted by Sophia

...forgot to say that I also added sulphur chips to the soil to make it more acid and it worked very well.

Thanks for your help Sophia. I'll be buying two then. I take it i need good size pots?

[Sophia]

I expect you should be able to pot on the blueberries once they become root bound so I wouldn't worry too much about buying the biggest pot to start with. Growing them in pots means you must be extra careful that they don't dry out too much during the summer.

[rscott74]

Another thing I forgot to mention is we always try to use rainwater which was recommended. If there's a really dry spell we leave tap water to settle before using it.

[Jez]

Originally Posted by Sophia

I expect you should be able to pot on the blueberries once they become root bound so I wouldn't worry too much about buying the biggest pot to start with. Growing them in pots means you must be extra careful that they don't dry out too much during the summer.

Originally Posted by rscott74

Another thing I forgot to mention is we always try to use rainwater which was recommended. If there's a really dry spell we leave tap water to settle before using it.

Nice Tips! Much obliged to you both

[Paul mabbott]

To clarify a couple of points.
It's ericaceous compost meaning like Erica - heather. It means it's acid and uses peat; which means that a peat bog is being destroyed to use it so we really shouldn't be using it.

Tap water will be okay if you live outside a chalk/limestone catchment area. Vaguely that means in the North and West you'll be safe. In the South and East your water is likely to be alkaline and therefore won't be able to water ericaceous plants from the tap. Leaving tap water to stand will have no effect on the acidity-alkalinity of tap water - it contains dissolved calcium salts which will stay there however long you leave the water to stand.

Personally, I think that trying to grow ericaceous plants in a calcareous garden is a fight against nature which you'll lose and which isn't really worth the effort.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

To clarify a couple of points.
It's ericaceous compost meaning like Erica - heather. It means it's acid and uses peat; which means that a peat bog is being destroyed to use it so we really shouldn't be using it.

Tap water will be okay if you live outside a chalk/limestone catchment area. Vaguely that means in the North and West you'll be safe. In the South and East your water is likely to be alkaline and therefore won't be able to water ericaceous plants from the tap. Leaving tap water to stand will have no effect on the acidity-alkalinity of tap water - it contains dissolved calcium salts which will stay there however long you leave the water to stand.

Personally, I think that trying to grow ericaceous plants in a calcareous garden is a fight against nature which you'll lose and which isn't really worth the effort.

Can you make soil acidic without using peat based compost?
It's pretty bad when you look at the choices of compost on sale, 95% seem to have either peat or something unplesant (blood and bone, fish)in them.

[Jez]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

To clarify a couple of points.
It's ericaceous compost meaning like Erica - heather. It means it's acid and uses peat; which means that a peat bog is being destroyed to use it so we really shouldn't be using it.

Tap water will be okay if you live outside a chalk/limestone catchment area. Vaguely that means in the North and West you'll be safe. In the South and East your water is likely to be alkaline and therefore won't be able to water ericaceous plants from the tap. Leaving tap water to stand will have no effect on the acidity-alkalinity of tap water - it contains dissolved calcium salts which will stay there however long you leave the water to stand.

Personally, I think that trying to grow ericaceous plants in a calcareous garden is a fight against nature which you'll lose and which isn't really worth the effort.

Hmmm my conscence has been pricked! I hate Pete based composts and always go for organic alternatives. So i think i might just def the idea.

[Paul mabbott]

You could treat the soil with acid but that wouldn't affect ground-water. You can also treat with chelating agents such as sequestrene which tie up the calcium but .... they're not foolproof, they're expensive and they're manufactured from petroleum ...

There's nothing wrong with blood fish and bone - this is made from waste products so is a useful form of recycling. It is one of the preferred fertilisers for organic agriculture/horticulture - much better than (e.g.) Growmore which is ahigh-energy industrial product.

Originally Posted by honeybee

Can you make soil acidic without using peat based compost?
It's pretty bad when you look at the choices of compost on sale, 95% seem to have either peat or something unplesant (blood and bone, fish)in them.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

You could treat the soil with acid but that wouldn't affect ground-water. You can also treat with chelating agents such as sequestrene which tie up the calcium but .... they're not foolproof, they're expensive and they're manufactured from petroleum ...

There's nothing wrong with blood fish and bone - this is made from waste products so is a useful form of recycling. It is one of the preferred fertilisers for organic agriculture/horticulture - much better than (e.g.) Growmore which is ahigh-energy industrial product.

Not easy then.

Are there no blueberry varieties that grow on a more alkaline soil?

I have used bonemeal for root growth when planting shrubs but being a non-meat eater I'm not happy about using it, especially for fruit and veg. Quite a lot of the waste products of meat processing from leather to gelatine all help contribute financially to the industry. They do say things like apple trees grow well with a dead horse (or other animal) buried under them. My garden is full of bones strangely