Thanks for the video! Super thorough and useful advice for growing blueberries in challenging soil conditions! I also appreciate the Haskap suggestion as a robust alternative crop.
Sun River Gardens in Orem, UT has the perfect soil mx for blueberries. I'm growing two bushes in wine barrel halves which helps to keep the plants in moist soil.
The issue with Utah State's soil test is that it's $30-45/ea (the latter if you want to look at micronutrients like iron), and if you have raised beds, containers, etc (especially containers that have been potted up for particular plants) you cannot mix that all together for a single test and get an answer for each of these individual growing areas. The soil test might work great for a market gardener or mass producer, but not for the home gardener. Utah State should really look at something like several samples for a lesser fee, maybe $50-75 total, but maybe that is financially infeasible.
Yes, that’s a good point. A homeowner’s soil could be very different from bed to bed or planter box to planter box and different areas of the yard. And it could get expensive to do so many soil tests! Thanks for sharing your thought on this. Have you shared this with USU soil testing lab folks. It would be good feedback, even if they know it.
Thank you! How many years does a high bush blueberry produce? Do you have to transplant it to larger containers as it gets bigger? Can huckleberries be grown in an Utah County garden?
We’re not blueberry experts, but as long as the bush is healthy it should continue to produce for many years. Yes, you would need to transplant it to a bigger pot and continue to amend the soil. There are some Utah gardeners who are successfully growing blueberries in Salt Lake county in the ground. If you’re on FB you could try reaching out to some of the gardening groups like Utah Gardeners or Utah Gardening experts. We don’t know if huckleberries can be grown here!
thanks for video! where I can find good compost? is difficult to find it at the store even on garden centers. what are the ingredients of a good compost? is vegetables and horse manure
