what kind of soil should i buy for blueberry plants?

[weebleswobble]

my google-fu has utterly failed me. i can only seem to find information on how to amend existing soil. i have no existing soil. i have an empty raised bed waiting to be filled with the appropriate soil for blueberry plants

Comments

[beesandbrews]

Use a peat based, container appropriate fill. When I was zipping through the Home Depot the other week, I noticed Miracle Grow is now doing a raised bed formulation. I didn't check it out, but it may work for you.

Otherwise a mixture of sand, peat moss, mushroom compost, and fill dirt, with a dollop of acid based plant food as a side dressing after the plants have settled in. We just did a bed of mostly mushroom compost with some sand, and the plants seem pretty happy so far, but it's only been a week.

Avoid pine needles as I recall they may carry the organism that spreads mummy berry.

[live_momma]

Additionally, the thing about pine straw acidifying soil is a myth. That's good if you have some you want to use as mulch in a bed, but not helpful if you're trying to fix an alkaline blueberry bed.

[weebleswobble]

what is pine straw? never heard of it.

[live_momma]

Pine needles. For some reason, they call it pine "straw" when you move it out from under the tree for use elsewhere.

[robby]

Google sulphur and blueberries.

[weebleswobble]

sulfur is the very amendment i'm cursing here, as its supposedly takes 6 months to a year for this amendment to become available to soil. not helpful for immediate planting, sorry.

[robby]

This says several months.
https://web.extension.illinois.edu/cfiv/homeowners/080818.html

[threegoldfish]

I use a mix of peat, sand, and potting soil. Works well.

[cadobhik39]

Check this out https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/fruit/blueberries

I've two established bushes in separate large containers (about 2-feet diameter). I simply put them in shop-bought ericaceous potting compost. I like tea very much and buy several brands as loose leaf. When brewed, I save the spent tea leaves and when cold add these as a mulch to the top of the blueberry container. It seems to work for me. I think I might have given each a feed of ericaceous fertiliser some time, but cannot say for sure.
I have in autumn, removed several inches of the compost and replaced it with fresh.
That said, a friend living in Oxford has a HUGHE bush planted directly into the soil and it receives no cultivation. It produces such a heavy cup that she gives lots to friends and neighbours.

[live_momma]

Try this mix: http://www.davewilson.com/home-gardens/growing-fruits-and-nuts/vine-and-bush-fruits/blueberries-containers

[robby]

She's cursing sulphur!

[live_momma]

Yes, but that mix only uses a small amount of sulfur. It relies primarily on peat moss (pH around 4.4) and low pH potting mix. It can be planted in immediately, as opposed to test/amend/retest.