Planting 4 more blueberries

General Fruit Growing
#1

I have decided to plant 4 more blueberry bushes, I currently have a variety of 4 blueberry bushes, 2 mature unknown variety one of which is a rabbiteye , 2 young (Legacy and Premier) and I have 4 small Pink Lemonades I need to plant. Now for my issues, first off the only known suggested cross pollinator out of the batch is the Premier, unfortunately there is only room for 1 maybe 2 more blueberry bushes in close proximity to the Premier, the nearest location I have with room for adding more blueberries is about 30 feet from the rest of the patch and about 50 feet from the Premier, but does get some shade (late morning and noon) from a large oak tree, the other alternative location is about 60 feet the other way 75 ft from the Premier, it gets more sun, but would be harder to irrigate. Which location would you pick?

Second topic soil prep, I know the general advice is start early, but I didn’t native soil here is a fine sandy loam with a pH of 5.5, my thought was turn over about a 3x3 ft soil down to 12-18 inches (using a tractor mounted post auger), mix in about 1/2 cu ft of peat and about 8 oz of soil sulphur so I get both a slow and faster acting soil acidifier along with a bit of pine compost (not mulch) for added organics. Your thoughts?

#2

If the native pH is 5.5 simply adding peat should be all you need. Maybe a little sulfur. But I’ve learned over the past 3-4 yrs it’s easy to over due pH on the downside. Not with the usual amendments but too much sulfur or sulfuric can easily go overboard.

#3

Very true. When using prilled sulfur I add the suggested amount on the label and then test 1, 2, and 3 months later to see if the pH is still dropping before making further adjustment.

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#4

Thanks, any thoughts on including the compost in the mix?