Please don’t make the same mistake I made with using to much soil sulfer in spring. I’ve always added a handful of sulfer to plants every spring to even out the low ph butThis year I put 1 and a half. They seemed so happy with first handful that I put more on a few weeks later. Huge mistake, fried them to a crisp!! On the bright side, one must be optimistic, I will build a raised planter bed next spring and replant! Blueberries in full sun do much better in raised planter beds here on those really hot summer days. Hope I can save someone else from doing this but you all probably know better anyways.
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I lost some to low pH too, you’re too late for me!
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Here in the PNW blueberries get fried in containers because we get drought in the summer. I only plant them in the ground. Like pawpaws, we have to watch and water them if it is too hot.
John S
PDX OR
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You are in the perfect area for blues, they grow so well there! Our soil is not acidic enough, but they do grow blueberries in the ground at the Fair Oaks Hortocultural center about 8 miles from my house by adding soil sulfer to the soil every year. Because of all the oak trees the soil is fairly acidic there. Most of the above fried plants were 7 years old so we got lots of berries already.
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I’ve never understood why people don’t follow the broadcast rates and timing listed on the label.
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Yes, bonehead move on my part for sure!!
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In my case it was a long term buildup. I never added too much. Not from sulfur either but from fertilizers with ammonium sulfate, so switched to urea based fertilizers for pots. The starting soil in my containers is already acidic and needs little help to stay that way as I use rainwater, so never really becomes basic. Now I do use tap water from time to time. Flushing with tap helped bring it back up.
My rainwater is 4.7
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I’ve never had much luck growing in containers. too much work to tend them. i amend my neutral soil with a mix of composted pine needles and peat by almost 1/2. they’re good for about 3 yrs before you need to put some sulfur. even then, i only lightly sprinkle about 1/4c a bush every other year.
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My soil is just pine and peat, nothing else. Well DE in most, found out it can be basic, decided to stop, but then thought the benefits outway the slight basic properties and add it again. No soil, just pine bark fines and peat. Works fine.
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thats the stuff they like! up here the wild ones grow best around conifers.
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what do you add the DE for? bugs?
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No drainage and water storage, they hold 120% of their weight in water.So the soil remains moist longer, and soil structure remain good, when saturated with water. I don’t use powder, I use DE pebbles the size of perlite. Napa floor dry and O’Reilly’s carries Optisorb, both 100% DE, it also is the best oil absorbent you can buy. They hold up to freezing and should last about 50 thousand years. Also add silicon an essential mineral to the mix, although some say it is not available readily, I have no idea? I don’t like to use a lot of perlite, and don’t use any with blueberries.
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would it help keep moisture in raised beds? who has it for the cheapest? we have both napa and o’reiillys in town. where did you get the idea from? 1st time I’ve heard of this.
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Disney World, it’s in all their gardens.
They use this company for product
http://www.axisplayball.com/home
So I started researching it and found these studies
Axis the company Disney used sites many studies, one shows that DE increase microbial content of soil 10x
Some info here
http://www.axisplayball.com/articles-research
I do a lot of things to grow good plants in containers. Some of my tomatoes are 5 feet tall right now, and I got a late start, and they were hit by frost. Kinda dark out right now, hard to get good photos.
This is Toro blueberry, 2nd leaf. I planted it in the spring of 2016. I bought it from Raintree.
I made a cage using pvc and a 15x15 American netting. I built this in 2014, it’s been outside since then, great netting!
Toro berries are ripening, I got these and a few raspberries from the bed behind it today
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thanks for all the info! guess in going to have to give it a try. nice blueberries! mine are just starting to get color. those tomatoes are trees! my father used to get them big like that in his greenhouse.
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I have not seen all the benefits mentioned with DE, but one I noticed is a lot less and some years zero BER on tomatoes. The DE allows air flow in saturated soils. BER occurs most when roots cannot obtain oxygen.
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Excellent info as usual Drew. I am often amazed at how much I can pick up from such a variety of fruit growers. A little bit from one, a bit from another, pretty soon you know twice as much!
John S
PDX OR
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I’m just north of you in Metro Vancouver, BC & all my bb are grown successfully in planter boxes and pots. Mine are fit 2’x2’x18" tall cedar boxes which get watered daily when it’s hot and sunny.
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I use a blend of triple mix, peat moss and rabbit compost with doses of diluted urine for added nutrients during the fruiting season. That mix and the rain here leaves the patch slightly acidic without any need for sulphur or other additives.
Anthony
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