Blueberries

[Sinbad7]

When you run out of rain water to water them with what do you use?

Is there something you can add to the water?

Sinbad

[Jeannine]

I always used regular water but now and again I fed them an acid fertiliser. I got huge yeilds from mine. I did occasionally test the soil.XX Jeannine

[allaboutliverpool]

What is the secret about growing blueberries?

Mine are pathetic.

[Wilder]

Plant them in acid soil. I wonder would the pee- trick for the compost help here? Urea is an acid??
(scratches head, I'm so ignorant I'm a danger to myself and blueberries, but before you go YEAUUUUCH, urine is sterile so there!)

[pookienoodle]

I had a container grown Blueberry tophat .
I found it loved Starbucks used coffee grounds as a mulch,it was doing superbly in my back garden and then some bugger nicked it.

[jennym]

My blueberries are grown directly in the soil. I dug pits, roughly 2 ft wide & deep, and filled them with ericaceous compost (I have heavy clay soil, not very acidic).
The plants have done very well, I mulch them thickly with well rotted horse muck every year. I find I don't need to water them at all.
If they are in pots, you can buy very cheaply a packet of Iron suphate. or sometimes called  Sulphate of iron, from proper garden centres. I think you add about a tablespoonful to a watering can, but there will be instructions on the packet, anyhow this will acidify the water for you.

[Jeannine]

Mine  all lived in half buckets, I had 10 of them in acid potting compost, all differnt varieties bit some of each,some were earlies, some mids and  some lates so they could help pollinate each other. As I said earlier I fed them acid fertiliser but I did test the soil for the acid level they prefer , a lot at first and adjusted till I got it right then kept it there.  They are super easy bushes to grow if you give them what they need. I have grown them for 30 yaers or so.


I hate to say this but horse manure is not the best thing to give them, it will lessen the acidity.

XX Jeannine

[dtw]

I've been using normal tap water and never had any problems.

[SMP1704]

Lady at the garden centre suggested a teaspoon of white vinegar to a watering can of water to acidify it.

[Torreya]

Mine are in ericaceous compost in large plastic pots and seem to thrive on neglect! They get rainwater if I remember,more often than not I don't, so I give them a dose of Sequestrene (sequestered iron) or Arthur Bowers' ericaceous fert. occasionally.  Not deliberately advertising, but these are the ones that work for me!

[Sparkly]

How old do the plants need to be to get a crop that is more than a few berries?

I have one plant that will be in it's 3rd year this year. Last year it probably had 30 berries. I have another than was new last year. The berries were quite big and juicy, but a few more than 30 would be appreciated!

[jennym]

Blueberry plants do produce more berries after about the third year, but also they will produce a lot more berries if there is more than one bush, so hopefully if your bushes bloom together you will start to see an increase. Do make sure they are kept well watered though, they will drop immature fruit if they get dry.

[Macy]

Blueberry plants do produce more berries after about the third year, but also they will produce a lot more berries if there is more than one bush, so hopefully if your bushes bloom together you will start to see an increase. Do make sure they are kept well watered though, they will drop immature fruit if they get dry.

Does the other bush have to a different variety as per apples/ pears? Or would two of the same variety do? I see they're coming up in Aldi next week...

[Sinbad7]

Many thanks for your answers, will buy some of the fertiliser.

I bought one plant (can't call it a bush) from Lidl when they were on offer but it was so tiny I hunted around and found some really good bushes in B&Q, so bought 2 of those and the ericaceous compost and two large pots and have collected as much rain water as possible but didn't think it would be enough to see me through the summer.  I so want these to succeed that's why I am trying to do things right by them.

Sinbad

[Robert_Brenchley]

Do you have hard or soft water in your taps? You can use tapwater if it's soft, as it's the calcium salts in hard water that blueberries don't like. If you're not sure which it is, look in your kettle. The calcium compounds come out of solution as the water heats up and form a limy crust all over the inside.

[Sinbad7]

Very hard water here Robert. 

My kettle with the lime scale drives me mad.

Sinbad

[Robert_Brenchley]

I bet it tastes horrible too. I grew up in Oxford, with hard water, so I know what you mean.

[jennym]

[Does the other bush have to a different variety as per apples/ pears? Or would two of the same variety do? I see they're coming up in Aldi next week...

To be honest, I'm not quite sure if they have to be different varieties, I have Bluecrop, Berkely and Herbert. I'd think that the main thing to look out  for is that they flower at roughly the same time - mine seem to.

[Jeannine]

They DO need to be different varieties. They come in early, midseason and lates, you need to find out which ones yours are and get a pollinater from that type, you will get fruit without but the yeild will be very much more with the other bushes. Also if you are thinking about size, some of the species in the Uk are dwarf bushes, so again I urge you to find some info on your bushes.

Intersting site with lots of info  might be of help although bear in mind it is not UK.

http://www.dimeofarms.com

XX Jeannine