You know what ? It ’s clock time I get myblueberry bushesthe acidity they need to prosper and produce a lot of blueberries . But that ’s a chip easier say than done , as my new four - way of life soil examiner informs me .
Soil acidity is check by the stain ’s pH floor . A 7.0 rating is neutral , but many plants develop well in the compass of about 6.5 to 7.5 . Anything higher than 7.5 represents alkaline soil , while numbers below 6.5 ( particularly below 5.5 ) indicate acidic territory .
Berry Good
Blueberriescan be tricky to develop because they need powerfully acidic soil in purchase order to thrive . Somewhere in the range of 4.0 to 5.5 is necessary for the plants to extract everything they need from the soil . If the ground is neutral or alkaline , the blueberries will struggle .
I have three blueberry Vannevar Bush planted in araised bed in my garden , but they do n’t grow very much , and the Berry they acquire are midget . They started out all right when originally planted in a mixture of compost and grunge from my northern Wisconsin farm . They ’ve been fading over the sentence , though , and I assume undesirable dirt pH is the culprit .
Testing for Acidity
So in an cause to upraise my blueberries ( and open up the theory of planting more George Walker Bush ) , I acquired a simple four - style dirt tester that measures light levels , filth moisture , grease temperature and — most importantly — the soil pH level . arm with my new tool , I went on a journey around my farm in search of acid soil .
Perhaps I was a bit naïve , but I did n’t think it would be that unmanageable to find appropriately acidulent grime . I figured most of the filth on my farm was in the electroneutral range , and indeed it was . The vast majority of emplacement I checked ( with a uncomplicated insistency of a button ) revealed pH levels of 7.0 or 6.5 . ( My quizzer touchstone in increments of 0.5 . ) The blueberry bed buckle under a 6.5 paygrade , so it ’s no wonder why my blueberry bush plant are n’t growing well .
I had learn in the yesteryear that pine needles are acidulous , so I call up perhaps the soil under thestands of Red Pine windbreak treeson my farm would be the right acidity for blueberry . But alas , despite checking many locations , I could n’t find a pH reading broken than 6.5 . After doing a bit of research , it seems pine needles are n’t able to meaningfully humbled filth pH floor .
Searching for Soil
And so the search proceed . I checked the ground where one of my old compost piles used to sit—6.5 . I check the compost pile from which I ’m presently pulling garden soil—6.5 . The only metre I found a interpretation below 6.5 was when I tested a mound of decay sawdust and Sir Henry Wood chips generated when clean up four windthrown Red Pines , and the indication was only 6.0 — still too close to electroneutral for blueberry bush .
At this dot , I ’m going to have to take more serious steps to lower the soil pH in my blueberry bed . premise aluminum sulfate or sulfur to the soil will surely do the trick , but I must be careful not to overdo it . Paying for a professional stain test might be the best way to measure the precise pH level and determine with precision the amount and type of additives necessary to arrive at the right-hand acidity for thriving blueberries . But at least I ’m on the correct raceway in seeking a solution .
It ’s laughable , I ’m both discomfited and delight by the performance of my soil tester . I am let down that I ca n’t find any fittingly acid territory on my farm but enjoy that the soil examiner worked dead and save me from plant blueberry in pine soil that was n’t virtually as acidulent as I assumed it would be .
Thank you , soil quizzer !
