Growing Blueberries - Help!

[Oldmanofthewoods]

The soil on my plot is PH 6.5 and I want to take it down so that I can start growing Blueberries.  I need an organic soloution so someone suggested Leylandii needles.

Does anyone know if this will work?  Also, how deep, just the needles or shredded branches as well.

Help!

Jack - in the green but not in the blue yet.

[Oldmanofthewoods]

[cleo]

Hi-lowering soil ph is a lot more tricky than raising it. You could try composting a load( and I do mean a lot)of leylandii,it`s a slow business. And then mix the result with either home made compost or well rotted manure. Then make a raised bed,fill it with your mixture and hope.

As to the depth?-to be honest I have no idea-a foot, 18inches?

[alan42]

i read somewhere that pine needles were a good soil to grow them in.
alan

[davholla]

Why do you want to do this ?  Grow them in containers using ericaeous compost and water them with rain water, worked fine so far this year for me.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Pine needles do rot down to produce an acid soil, but you need a lot. If you plant conifers on good soil, you get a process called podsolisation (a podsol is an infertile acid soil) which acidifies the soil and reduces fertility. The acid conditions make nutrients more soluble so they leach out faster, worms and other soil fauna don't like the acid conditions, so the soil isn't mixed, and organic material rots down more slowly, and so on.

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Hi-lowering soil ph is a lot more tricky than raising it. You could try composting a load( and I do mean a lot)of leylandii,it`s a slow business. And then mix the result with either home made compost or well rotted manure. Then make a raised bed,fill it with your mixture and hope.

As to the depth?-to be honest I have no idea-a foot, 18inches?

Thanks Cleo, a chap down the road has a huge hedge of the stuff and I have access to tons of manure.  I have to build raised beds anyway as I am close to the river.  My question about the depth concerned the depth of leylandii, not the bed itself. 

So, a 12" bed made up of 9" of klagon and 3" of leylandii may surfice?

[valmarg]

With a Ph of 6.5 you are (admittedly at the top end) within the acid or ericaceous range of soil.  7 being neutral.

You should be able to grow blueberries in the soil with that Ph without any additions.  Our soil is neutral Ph, and we grow blueberries quite happily, without any additives.

Mulching with pine needles would obviously be beneficial, but apart from that you shouldn't need to go to any great lengths.

valmarg

[Amazin]

Would you consider sinking containers in the beds for some concentrated acid soil? Then you could grow other stuff in the bed around them without wasting any space.

Incidentally, I collect the neighbours' Christmas trees for shredding. The ones from two and a half years ago still haven't rotted down!

[jennym]

The way  did it was to dig large pits (maybe 3 ft dia x about 2 ft deep) in my heavy clay soil, fill with ericaceous compost and plant in these. Also had one compost heap which has had a fair bit of acid type debris put onto it, including conifer trimmings and citrus fruit and have mulched around the plants with this.
Maybe it's related to what Robert has said about acid conditions, but it may be worth saying that I did notice that the heap seemed to rot down more slowly, and when it was turned, there didn't seem to be any worms in it.

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Thanks all.  I have access to Leylandii and horse klagon, nothing else.  I do not want to spend any money on compost, containers or anything else.  I have access to millions of gallons of rain water.

Please,
1. Will the Leylandii work?
1. How deep should I layer the leylandii?
2. Should it be just the leaves, or the branch shredded?

Thanks

Jack

[Jeannine]

I can't answer your question, I have grown blueberries for about 30 years, I have tried various soil amendments over those years and nothing comes close to  being planted in ericaceous compost. In the area of Vancouver that I lived in till a few years ago were I was surrounded by commercial blueberry farms  the field bushes were planted in this and heavily mulched with pine mulch to a depth of about 10 inches.

When I first came back here I tried all ways to amend my soil  with so so results but gave up in the third season and changed the soil, the bushes immediately flourished.

I now get huge yields.

XX Jeannine

[Oldmanofthewoods]

Thanks all.  I have access to Leylandii and horse klagon, nothing else.  I do not want to spend any money on compost, containers or anything else.  I have access to millions of gallons of rain water.

Please,
1. Will the Leylandii work?
1. How deep should I layer the leylandii?
2. Should it be just the leaves, or the branch shredded?

Thanks

Jack

[Susiebelle]

My allotment is heavy clay and I manage it with raised beds after double digging, which means removing some clay. I grow my Blueberries in raised beds replacing the top soil with ericaceous compost then mulching with conifer sheddings - it works famously, I have good crops, a neighbour who has just planted and walked away get zilch! ::) - it really is worth the effort have you seen the price of Blueberries in the shops, not to mention the the shelf life sprays that are used :o