Extremely helpful. Thanks for taking the time to provide the information outlining why common assumptions are not as effective as some contend and what does actually work.
If the local soil is alkaline, there’s a good chance that the local water is, too. I recommend getting a pH meter to measure both. My water varies a bit through the year since some of is treated water, some is from a local aquifer, and some originates out of state. Consider collecting rainwater off your roof as a source for your plants that need a low pH if the city water supply is alkaline.
Good point! The soil in our yard is slightly acidic and we do have a rain barrel set up. I try to use that for watering the blueberries as much as possible. I haven’t tested the city water yet, but I should.
Canada is a major producer of peat moss and exports globally. Peatlands represent 90% of the wetlands in Canada and cover 113 million hectares. Of that, 0.02% is currently being harvested, and 0.03% is or has been harvested (ref 5).
Wettable Sulfur works great and it also works quicker than elemental sulfur. You have to sulfur every year though. That has been my experience with growing blueberries over 20 years.
I was taught that sphagnum peat moss will remain dry in dry soils if applied dry and mixed with those soils. It has a positive effect in clay soils if mixed fry,and if used to add goodness to dry soils, it should be mixed with an equal amount of water. My Sandy loam soil benefits me when I mix water into the moss in my wheel barrow. It really adds water retention, and still permits drainage.
I just found your videos and have found them very helpful, especially this one on blueberry bushes. I had been wondering the best way to acidify the soil for a blueberry bush. Some of the other comments may be helpful too, but one thing my mother used to say is "if you can't say something nice don't say anything."
I’m so happy to hear that! I do try to find topics that are lacking and do my best to provide some clarity. And yes, some people do prefer to be rude when they find someone they disagree with.
Sulphur will be absorbed very fast by the surrounding ground. You'll need to reapply often. For best results Plant blueberries in containers and the soil will stay acidic. Mix of 1/3 peat moss (naturally acidic), 1/3 potting mix and 1/3 small bark will be ideal. Then fertilize with low nitrogen 3-12-12
Elemental sulphure will take action way faster. In time it will change the character of the soil. In a couple of years the soil will be acidic in its own without adding too much.
Iron sulfate, either in the form of ferric or ferrous sulfate, also works to lower soil pH. Aluminum sulfate is also used sometimes but aluminum is toxic for plants in high amounts. For plants in containers organic acids can also be used, like citric or acetic acid.
There is an apple orchard 2 miles away and we volunteer to clean up apples under the trees. We apply 2-3 pails per bush and then cover with woodchips. Plants that never grew for 4 or 5 years are now 4-5 foot tall. Our garden beds test 7.5 ph.
Nice Video and excellently Articulated, based on my research blueberries loves the mulch and don't care if its right up next to the plant as it wont be affected by any fungal issues unlike some other plants . I think your planting approach was perfectly fine but I would add much more sulfur because it will leach out so fast you will be battling acidity constantly constantly and this will affect the productivity of the plants . I am planning on planting some blueberries in the ground at my new home and I will be using a different technique , I will be digging out a spot about 6 - 8 inches deep in the soil then I will use cinder blocks about three block height to create a raised bed every other block pockets will be filled for strength the soil will be acidified with sulfur and peat moss + other organic matter to create the right environment. Poles will be at the four corners to facilitate " Netting " to protect my fruits from birds this way I can enjoy my hard work . I think your set- up would benefit from a similar technique depending on your budget , I also don't think its too late for you to great a raised bed around the plants as this will give you more control and lessen the frequency of which you need to acidify the soil . I am not telling you what to do but we all learn from each other . Peace and I wish you a bountiful harvest . Lastly you may also want to research these products, these are what I use in my present setup and the blueberries are amazing and huge . These products are used in a balance and smart way for best results . Ammonium Sulfate Holytone Fertilizer Miracid Worm Castings Azomite Rockdust Calmag Liquid Fish Fertilizer Mulch
Thank you and I appreciate the advice! I just made a video with an update on the soil pH. It seems to be exactly where we want it, so I think the sulfur amendments have worked perfectly. I added a lot more mulch around the plants and it’s right up to the stems. I hope you have a bountiful harvest as well!
HELL yes!!! THIS is the video I was looking for!!! Thanks for the heads up on coffee grounds, pine needles, etc! Hope your blueberries do/did well! ;-)
Very well thought out information, it was evident to me that you did your research instead of just creating a video to upload based on the top Google search results, like the coffee grounds thing.
Thank you! It doesn't do any good to keep repeating misinformation, although I think I still got it wrong with the sustainability of peat moss usage. I'll have to look into that further and perhaps make a self-correction video soon.
I followed your advice and made a raised bed with peat moss (I'm OK with it) and native soil and lots and lots of pine chunks and bark, shavings and pine material, and sulfur. I got the PH from 7.2 to 6.4 so far one month along. The blueberries I planted a month ago when I did this are leafing out nicely and seem to be happy. And I think the soil will continue down for a while. But I know I'll need to reapply it once or twice a year.
Excellent video. Wish I'd seen this before I started doing the same research. Funny thing is, I did almost the very same thing you have. Except I typically use Pine Straw or Leaves for the mulch. It's what is available on the property. Not for trying to adjust the pH, mind you.
Thank you! It’s hard to find the right information out there. That’s always good to use on-site resources if they’re appropriate, and those should both be fine.
I think this is the way. I’ve seen people say 5 different things but it seems like elemental sulphur is the way to go. I’m also going to water once a month with a quarter teaspoon ascorbic acid powder per gallon since it’s so cheap.
Hello. New subscriber here. Your video has been the most interesting and informational I have watched. I'm in Ohio and have tried to grow blueberries before. The deer got to them and killed my plants. We are planting an orchard on part of our property and so far we have 12 different varieties of fruit trees and 3 different varieties of berries. Just by watching your video, I have learned alot.
Sulfates in general greatly and quickly lower soil pH, but not calcium sulphate (gypsum), because the calcium alkalizes and makes up for the pH lowering of the sulphate, so Gypsum ends up being pH neutral. But other sulphates are frequently used to quickly lower soil pH for BBs, because they are already transformed and usable by the plant, whereas elemental sulfur is very slow in converting to sulphate by itself (6-12 months). The mulch should be Pine Bark Mulch, which are acidic, not hardwood chips, which are alkaline. Since perlite is not sustainable, and vermiculite holds water, pumice is important to add to increase drainage and aeration. You're right on about everything else such as elemental sulfur.
Thank you for the tips. We should get our order of Blueberry bushes in a day or two. We are not going to plant right away - waiting for closer to Autumn so we can prepare the beds & lower the pH BEFORE planting. We are in SW Arizona (zone 9b) with heavy clay soil (so digging deeper & wider than most other plants we have) & was excited to learn we CAN grow Blueberries here (certain varieties though). They will be protected from all the critters we have here (bunnies, ground squirrels, birds). Judi
I think it all depends on the starting pH grade of soil. We know pine needles, peat and sulfur from protein degradation DOES lower pH in the woods or we wouldn't find blueberries growing there in the wild, in a naturally composted, high humus soil. If, however, we want to take neutral clay soil and bump it up in acidity, (down several pH levels), something more drasticly artificial must be done because frankly, blueberries don't belong there. They're forced. Containers or dedicated regions for acid loving plants among 'just south of neutral' plants is the best plan to keep evenly prolonged pH levels among those plants. Blue Hydrangeas are so low (pH 4) the soil can kill plants nearby. (rule of thumb: Purple 5, Pink 6, neutral white). But blueberries near hydrangeas and rhodedendrons and azaleas would do fine, keeping the pH 'in the family' between them. In fact, color of blue hydrangeas would be a good indicator whether your blueberries are in the right pH range without having to keep testing the soil, and provide winter protection of the dormant sticks.
Blueberries like a pH of 4.5 but black coffee is in the range of 4.85 and 5.1. Your blueberries would probably do even better with some additional sulfur.
You nailed everything I have just now discovered...it all makes sense now. Hey, excellent video and delivery!!! You know your topic and it comes across very well. High School Teacher in another life?
Thanks! I wound up researching a lot for this video because I wanted to make sure I did the right thing for our blueberries. I like teaching in this context but I don’t think I could handle running an actual classroom!
Thank you for sharing what you did and why, it was really helpful. I'm researching methods of changing the pH of a raised bed for blueberries and like you, am reluctant to use the peat moss. I'll try the sulphur method and see how I get on.
I’m always happy to hear that! The sulfur has worked very well since I made this video and we may get our first berries in 2023. Best of luck with yours!
Thank you! I made a follow up video showing the results from the sulfur. They’re finally producing their first blossoms this year and I’ll be making another update video on that.
I've never, not once ever heard someone talk about using fresh not brewed coffee grounds to acidify soil. Would this not work? Just ground beans that have not been brewed?
Ok, ready for a brain bender, Back to Eden Paul Gautchi(sp?) shows his blue berries growing fantastic in his 7 ph soil. So I did same. Same great results. I did same research like you. What I have come to understand is that many of us B2E woodchip gardeners are just too impatient. We want to plant right away. We try to cheat the time it takes for good soil to appear. I quit trying to ammend and as time passed my soil got better. Now my blueberries thrive. The mystery of blueberry research even shows farmers who mix pine bark in their soil, this is at blueberry farms. I don't know what to think/say. But probably like you I've heard scientists dispute the effect of pine needles/pine bark does nothing and I believe this is accurate. But this flies in the face of farmers here who make a living raising blueberries. The thing about B2E is the soil biology. No till, cover grass, 8+ inches arborist woodchip (which includes leaves), takes a while to gain advantage. Takes a year or more. Really 2+ years. Amending which is salts which kill the micro biome, which take longer to repair. It's a strange world of truths. My experience, first I try Ruth Stout (deep hay mulch) but hay is unsafe (broad leaf pesticide). That lead me to B2E. But, research led me to "living soil" and Elain Ingham. But I'm not going to do the microscope thing. Now I am working through the details of B2E incorporating living soil by "living root". Living root is similar to cover crop, but try not to kill. Sorta chop & drop. The trick is to use cover crop biodiversity to protect target crop, not feed, as B2E does feeding. CC does protecting. But same time you have to prevent CC from overtaking target crop. Food forrest, crowding, mother nature's way seems good. For example I read catnip grown next to tomatoes prevents tomato horn worm. Subscribed..!
Thank you for subscribing and sharing your own trials and discoveries! Nature is extremely complex, that’s for sure. I try to follow the science as much as possible and the rest is just personal observation.
I live near Sequim where Mr. Gauschi was/is located. People often forget that his chicken yard gets four feet deep every year, and his son helps him wheelbarrow all of it out to the gardens every spring. Maybe that helps
Just started viewing your video. If you don’t mind, how cold are your winters and how far north are you? We have clay soil and cold winters but wild blueberries grow very well here (Stockholm, Sweden)
Thanks for asking! We’re at around 41 N and it gets down to -25F (-32C) on average. Blueberries seem to grow well here, too, but I haven’t seen any growing wild yet.
Easiest way is to bring the soil from a forest. Pine tree compost, pine chunks, pine bark, pinecones, cork oak bark. For mulch I use living moss. This keeps acidity all the time
Peat moss varies widely in acidity. What the big box stores sell the most of tests as weakly acidic to neutral. This is not going to get you to the right pH, The most reliably acidic peat moss is Canadian sphagnum, which is admittedly pricey.
That’s a good question. I don’t think it will affect the pH for very long. You would have to keep adding it often and it could have an unwanted side effect on soil biology.
My blueberry ph went upto 6. What do I do to get back to 4.5 - 5??? Please help😢😢😢. All the leaves browned and dropped off. Stems remain green. It's a two young potted plants just transferred to ground.
hi What does an increase in temperature effects on highbush blueberry growth or fruiting? and what is the maximum temperature that highbush blueberries can tolerate? Does the heat damage the plant itself or reduce the yield? The area has enough cold time for chiling (More than 800 hours) But hot summer up to 36 degrees So I decided to plant in a greenhouse what is your opinion
Hi! This is my first time growing blueberries, so there is a lot that I don't know yet. In our area, the temperature averages from -15F (-26C) at the coldest to 95F (35C) at the hottest. I think that most blueberry plants should be safe up to around 105F (40C), but I don't know what would happen to them if it was any hotter. Growing in a greenhouse will be hotter than outside, but they may be okay if the greenhouse is well ventilated. I don't know exactly how the heat affects the plants.
You should be fine at this outside temp. Just keep them watered, especially during fruiting time, and maintain heavy mulching, to keep the roots cool. (Blueberries, have shallow roots.) Planting blueberries in a greenhouse, is not a good idea, unless you live in the arctic circle. Blueberries, require a minimum of around 250-300 chill hours per year; if they don't get that chill time, they will grow, but they will not fruit.
Just get some fans and lift bottom of greenhouse so that air will circulate or cut out windows at the top and put misters or fans to help cool the inside
You’re welcome! I’m not sure how it is in Canada, but in the US we can usually get wood chips for free from tree arborists. Certified arborists should know which trees are best for garden use. Generally, it’s recommended to avoid Black Walnut, Black Locust and others. I’m still not sure how accurate that is, but maybe follow those recommendations just in case.
Pro tip on wood chips: Try to use wood chips ideally from your own property -- or from your larger neighborhood. Bringing in wood chips from far away can introduce fungal diseases and pests into your ecosystem that you don't want. When you see an arborist chipping up brush on your street, ask them if they can dump the chips at your house -- they're usually more than happy to have a place to get rid of them right close by. (I'm a former arborist.) That said, the local town pile of wood chips that a lot of places have are usually fine, too -- just an FYI on that general rule of thumb -- the closer the source, the safer. It's also ideal if you compost them for a while -- like a few months, a year or more -- before applying them as mulch, as they'll have more beneficial value to your soil and will draw less of the soil's nutrients out to help them compost, but you can feed and water your plants to counteract that, with new chips. 3-6" deep really helps the soil maintain moisture levels and evens out temps, like wrapping your plants in an insulating cloak. You can also use unfinished compost as mulch -- works great -- just don't till it into the soil until it's finished -- like you can't identify what's in it anymore -- all nice and black and broken down. On top, it's great and will encourage worms and microbial life and break the rest of the way down into soil eventually, feeding the plants. Wood chips do too -- just way slower.
@jrocks1971 all very good info, thanks! I’m glad I was able to use wood chips from our own maple tree that we had to cut down. They’ve broken down pretty quickly but we can always get more from our favorite local arborist.
Vinegar can lower the pH, but the effect doesn't last very long. You would have to add it to the soil on a regular basis (once a week or every few days) to maintain a low pH. Vinegar is commonly used in homemade herbicides, so you could also hurt your plants by adding too much. Sulfur is a much simpler and more effective method to maintain an acidic soil.
The water from our house is close to neutral. However, I will be watering these plants with rain water from a rain collection barrel as much as possible. The rain water is slightly acidic.
Can you give us an update? How did this work out? I am thinking about trying to get them into an alkaline soil here in TX. My plan is to lay in a very deep mulch, add sand and sulfur and let it sit for six plus months, then plant in the spring.
Absolutely, I’ll plan to do an update soon! If your soil is alkaline, I would recommend growing in containers or raised beds if possible. It’s much easier to maintain the proper acidic pH in a container than it is in the ground.
@@SomeRoomtoGrow I asked another commenter why containers are suggested. Is it because the surrounding soil works toward alkalinity? If I wanted a wide mulch environment do you see burying the container as a hybrid?
Yes, the soil's natural pH will overpower any amendments you add to it, especially if you're trying to change from alkaline to very acidic. I honestly don't know if burying a container would work or if it would cause other problems within the soil (drainage, movement of soil biology, root growth, etc.). You may try seeking out other Texas blueberry growers to see what methods they use.
I have a 2 year old bush and have had 1 blueberry off it but one of the shoots at the end it looks dead and hasn’t really grown since I purchased it. Should I snip it off ? Please help I love blueberry’s
That depends on the pH of the soil in the container. You should have it tested first to get an accurate pH. Please see the top pinned comment on my other blueberry video for sulfur calculations.
Unfortunately, the answer is, no. Blueberries, require a minimum number of what's called chill hours, in order to set fruit. Chill hours, are the number of days, or hours of the day, when winter temperatures are between at least, 32°F and 45°F (0°C-7°C.) You can plant blueberry bushes, they will grow if your soil is acidic, but they will not produce fruit. I recommend you do a bit if research, and find out which berry plants are native to, or have been hybridized to your area. Even those of us who live where the soil is base, or alkaline, are pushing our luck by attempting to grow blueberries with any success. Hope that helps. It's quite discouraging to labor over the plants in our gardens, only to meet with failure, simply because we didn't know. I conmmend you for asking the questions, before proceeding. May the earth bring forth its bounty to you.
Hi Dev. I have successfully grown blueberrues from store bought fruit here in South Africa. We have semi tropical weather here with long hot summers and cool winters. They grow and fruit perfectly as long as the soil is acidic. Use peat and perlite mixtures in pots and add a few drops of sulphuric acid (battery acid) to your water. 5 drops per 10 litres of water will give you a ph of around 4.5 Water deeply 2 to 3 times a week.
In your channel description, u mention local fauna but don't mention where you are. A lot of growers follow channels near their climate. Might want to add what zone and or microclimate ur in.
Buna! Nu știu sigur, dar cred că ar fi bine să-l folosești ca mulci deasupra solului din jurul afinelor tale. Poate că nu face solul mai acid, dar va adăuga substanțe nutritive și materie organică pe măsură ce se descompune. Sper ca te ajuta!
Thanks for the video!! So is it ok to put my used coffee grounds around my blueberries which I have in pots & can I do it all the time or would that be to much?
You’re welcome! You can certainly add a small amount of used grounds to give the plants a little more nitrogen, but it won’t have much of an affect on the pH. You don’t need to do it that often, maybe every 4-6 months. Wood chip mulch would be best, and the coffee grounds can also go in the compost, if you have some.
@@chanthana7694 I’m not sure about that, but it seems like it would be a waste of coffee. It’s better for drinking than pouring into the ground, and there are much cheaper (and free) methods of fertilizing your soil.
@@SomeRoomtoGrow I no longer use that coffee anymore and probably no longer fresh since it's been on the shelf for so long so I figure maybe put into plant before wasting it.
@@chanthana7694 I’m sorry, I don’t know enough about that to give you a good answer. It might not be a good idea to pour the coffee onto the soil. You could at least brew the coffee and use the brewed grounds for your soil and compost, then pour the coffee into the sink drain if you’re not sure about drinking it.
EDIT: I was just reading about using iron sulfate and I wanted to give an update. Iron sulfate can lower the pH more quickly than pure sulfur, but the effect doesn’t last as long. It would need to be reapplied more frequently than sulfur. I’m also not sure how it would affect the iron content of the soil, and I know our soil has plenty of iron.
I’m sorry to hear that! You can try adding some sulfur to the soil around them, following my process in this video. Lightly rake it into the soil surface and water it in. It will take some time to adjust the pH but it’s worth a try.
That may be true and those could help if you’re unable to purchase sulfur. But if you have the option, sulfur will require much less work to maintain the proper pH and it’s very affordable.
Huge fail. It baffles me that people, wanting to be gardeners, take no interest in learning about the chemistry of soil and the biology of plants. Clay soil is alkaline. Sand and silt are acidic. Remove the clay and replace it with cherty dreck of some sort such as gravel from a mountain stream. Add back some clay for the fertility. Spray agricultural vinegar on the surface. Plant the blueberry. Mulch heavily. Never use sulfur on blueberries. Blueberries form a symbiotic relationship with particular fungi called mycorrhizal fungi. Sulfur inhibits fungi. Sulfur makes blueberries taste like store-bought blueberries.
What I find baffling is that you felt the need to make assumptions and be unnecessarily insulting to try to make your point. I DID spend many hours researching the topic, sorting through piles of misinformation to find actual science from plant and soil biologists like Linda Chalker-Scott, Dr. Elaine Ingham, Jeff Gillman and others. Of course the best recommendation was to plant blueberries in a container, but since we couldn’t afford that I aimed for the next best option. We do have heavy clay soil, yet lab tests show it is slightly acidic at 6.1. This meant that it would not take much sulfur to lower it further. I mulch heavily with arborist wood chips to support mycorrhizal fungal networks in the soil. I know that high phosphorus can inhibit mycorrhizal associations, but I have not yet read that sulfur would do the same. At the very least, you’ve given me a few points to research further. Please be more kind in the future when attempting to educate people.
@@SomeRoomtoGrow When you make a video that drags on to get to the info that you clicked on it for, don't take it personally when someone calls you on it. Sorry, just get tired of these kind of videos.
I always include timestamps in the description so you can jump ahead to the section you want to see. It was important for me to debunk all of these myths in this video to help people find a solution that actually works. I might have to change the title of the video to represent that.
I'm curious if I can change my pH around my acid loving plants but not have that acidity contaminate my entire garden bed. I like to do companion planting with tomatoes and strawberries, but didn't know if I got the soil acid enough for the strawberries, can I have a few "neutral oases" of 7 pH soil for the tomatoes?
I'm not sure how well that would work. Strawberries and tomatoes have different pH needs and should probably be grown separately. You could just add sulfur around the strawberries like I did here with the blueberries.
Sorry but everything you've been saying is opposite to what I've been researching instead of learning it's added confusion not trying to be nasty but more confusing than learning
I know, and that’s exactly why I thought it was important to make this video. There is far too much non-science misinformation out there. I would recommend watching the videos that I listed in the description below this video. They can provide much more good science-based info for you.
