Cut Poor producing blueberry bushes to the ground?

[Drew51]

Last year was my best harvest and I still have two new plants that are still small I have ten plants total. So all set on blueberries.

[jujubemulberry]

@disc4tw

ammonium nitrate which I guess is a completely different thing.

ammonium nitrate is a unique nitrogenous salt because(apart from being used as explosive, which is itself intriguing) both the cation and anion components of the salt will provide absorbable nitrogen, but only has minimal acidifying effect. For alkaline soils, ammonium sulfate is the best option, since blueberries supposedly prefer ammonia-based nitrogen, and the sulfate portion acidifies.

sulfur is the main cause of acid rain, so if there might be an agricultural benefit to burning fossil fuels it would be for growing blueberries, rhododendrons, and gardenias

[MES111]

There have been several threads in the past discussing ammoium SULFATE for blueberries. Easy to get, to use and cheap too. Never heard of using ammonium NITRATE for blueberries.

See some below. Just search “sulfate”…

Mike

AMMONIUM SULFATE for BLUEBERRIES

I was reviewing some old threads we had on GW last year and I realized that all the conversations centered around the concentration of the mixture and seemed to settle somewhere between .4 and .6 TBS per gallon up to 2 or 3 times a week. But what I don’t see is how many GALLONS of this mixture PER PLANT PER APPLICATION. Additionally, since I don’t get to do this but once a week is increasing the concentration a viable option? I am now talking about plants that are planted in the ground, not p…

Fertilizing Schedules

This is my present fertilizing schedule,that is saved on Notepad.It is not complete and I don’t follow every thing completely,because of weather,temperature and other variables where the original information came from,might be different than my situation and locale.But I think it’s a good general guide.I can always change or add to it as I add plants or find new or better ways of doing things. I think Scott and or someone else may have posted theirs at one time.If anyone else has something,plea…

I want to be successful at growing blueberries

That’s not mine, but it shows you can grow in pure peat moss. I supplement Holly-Tone with ammonium sulfate. Use once a week till plants picks up. If I need to help plant. Otherwise I use it once a month. It also acidifies soil. You must water first, you can kill the plant with this stuff. Use 1 teaspoon per 2.5 gallons. Fruitnut once mentioned for in ground he uses 1 tbsp in 5 gallons. So I’m using less. I burned a plant once! Only use AS if your soil is not naturally acidic. If soil is natur…

[JimmyM]

I just planted 2 blueberries and replanted another due to poor performance. Soil in the raised bed is mostly peat moss, compost and a touch of native soil. I also added 3 pounds of holly tone, hope I didn’t over do it

[Drew51]

@JimmyM

hope I didn’t over do it

A touch, I guess one pound for each plant. I like to go light on fertilizer until mid summer after newly transplanted plants are a little more settled in. And probably a 1/2 pound per plant at most spread out along the dripline. You can still burn plants with organic fertilizer. But I think you should be OK
I add sulfur to my beds every other year, sometimes chelated iron too. This year just sulfur, as pH is pretty good. I will test once a month to see how the pH is doing. Usually I only test once, but when adding sulfur I like to monitor it. I have lowered the pH too much before, so I feel one needs to keep track when adding sulfur. If it gets to low I will flush well at each watering with tap water to increase pH.
It’s not easy to add the correct amount of sulfur. You do not need that much.

[disc4tw]

Drew how do you test your pH? I am familiar with wide range pH Hach electronic probes and the “manual” indicator solution kits with a dropper for water quality, but I don’t have a background testing soil. I’ve seen those $10 dual “probe” electronic sensors you stick in the ground on Amazon, is there a more effective or more economical way?

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08CDRB8VH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_4FEN3SZDXMG7ZENHCTHC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

[JimmyM]

I tried to apply .125 lbs per sq foot and mixed it 18 inches all through the bed then planted

[Drew51]

@disc4tw

but I don’t have a background testing soil.

You really cannot test soil. What I do is use commercial plastic test strips. Used in industry and are extremely accurate. I bury the strip in the soil and water with distilled water which is neutral I leave it there about 10 minutes. Some make a solution in glass. So you are testing the hydrogen ions that entered the neutral water. Try to get it about 5.0 it may not be that accurate so could be 4.5 to 5.5 this whole range is acceptable. As you can see mine read lower. It works!
Many places make these test strips. I use this brand. I lost other links when I switched computers. My hard drive crashed and I had everything but my bookmarks backed up.
Here is one place, you may find others on Amazon.
https://krackeler.com/catalog/product/6272/MColorpHast-Premium-pH-Strips

I like the 4-7 range as it makes it easy to see. 7 is way over so I don’t need to know if it’s really 8 or 9 and anything below 4.0 is too acidic!
In this example I’m about as low as you want! Looks about 4.5pH
Are not these easy to read!?

Here I tested my tap water! The reverse side of the test strip case has the colors for the rest of this strips range.

[Drew51]

@JimmyM

I tried to apply .125 lbs per sq foot and mixed it 18 inches all through the bed then planted

That should be OK then.

[disc4tw]

Thanks for the explanation Drew! That is very helpful. I appreciate it.

[BlueBerry]

With new or young blueberry plants, you do want them to grow the first year, not crop much if any. So, cutting the oldest limb even on a young plant can help it’s vigor.

Too much fertilizer will push growth, but reduce fruit (limit next years fruit buds).
(And too much or wrong fertilizer can even kill a plant…just adding mulch can go a long ways.)

(If I get a new plant, especially if growing in a pot, I do let it bear a few berries the first year…as I’m always eager to try the new variety.) (This year I’ll be getting to sample Chandler for first time…but the new rabbiteye plants I got from Indiana Berry are definitely too small to bloom this spring.)