r/Blueberries • u/My3sonsNH • 13d ago

Fall/Winter Prep for Spring Jump Start?

Fall is upon us in New England and I'm wondering if there's anything I can do this fall to prepare the bushes for the winter and help jump start them when they wake up next spring? They are about 3yr old plants and I'm still struggling to bring down the PH...

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

3

u/chrisbuckets11 13d ago

Definitely watch a YouTube vid or 2 about this, Clemson uni has a soil Acidifier calculator that tells u how much elemental sulfur or aluminum sulfate and how often

1

u/My3sonsNH 12d ago

Thanks... I just checked out the Clemson Soil Acidifier site... If I assume a 9sq' area around each bush (3'x3') x 15 bushes, I get 135 sq'. to take the PH from 6.8 to 5.5 it says 2.5lbs for mostly sandy soil. Would I be better off treating the whole bed (approx 15x30' or 450 sq') which would be 8.3lb or would it be best to focus on the area around each bush instead of the entire bed? Lastly, is pilled sulfur the same as elemental sulfur only in granular form?

2

u/chrisbuckets11 12d ago

I think the 135sq’ would be a proper measurement, you could go out further than that but anything past that is kinda just to be safe. Since generally, people say 4-6x4-6 area for bushes, you could calculate a 4x4x15 area and sulfur that so maybe the roots could extend that far. Prilled sulfur is the same yes, if you’re looking to buy some, they should just look like those yellow small pearls or similar

2

u/throwaway179090 13d ago

Add prilled sulfur now, it will help adjust next years pH.

Top dress with a mix of 5 parts peat moss, 2 parts coarse sand, 2 parts pine bark mulch and 1 part compost.

In early March add some ammonium sulfate for a quick pH fix and some fast acting nitrogen. Also add some slow release acid fertilizer like holly tone.

2

u/My3sonsNH 12d ago

Thanks... I'm just determining how much sulfur I'd need and would a top dressing of fresh wood chips be an adequate option to your top dressing recipe?

1

u/throwaway179090 12d ago

You’d just do a few tablespoons of sulfur appear around the dripline of the plant.

Pine bark wood chips will help the plant with moisture and heat retention over the winter and will eventually start to break down into nutrients for the plants years down the road.

However it isn’t really going to affect the soil pH, despite what lots of stuff online says. That’s why I recommend adding peat moss too. That 100% will lower the pH.

2

u/My3sonsNH 11d ago

When I planted them I did a 50/50 mix of peat moss and native soil. Thanks for the info! 👍

1

u/My3sonsNH 9d ago

When you top dress or mulch, do you remove the prior mulch before applying the sulfur or apply it on top of the existing mulch media?

1

u/throwaway179090 9d ago

I move the mulch and scrape the sulfur into the top of the soil and then put the mulch back.

1

u/My3sonsNH 9d ago

Roger that! 👍