Growing Blueberries Requires pH-specific Soil Amending.
Growing blueberries requires an acidic soil ph of 4.5-5.5.
And while there are some farms in North Central Florida that are perfect for growing blueberries without any special preparations, most of us need to amend our soil to make the pH more favorable for these bushes.
In Florida, we also have another concern. Because our water often travels through so much limestone before we get it out of the ground, it usually contains a high amount of calcium.
Calcium & iron can not be used by the plants at the same time. So excess calcium blocks some of the available iron for the plants. Therefore, many of our local berry growers suggest amending our soils with a little iron supplementation, in addition to the good suggestions in the video above. If you're practicing organics, Dr Iron is an excellent OMRI certified iron supplement for this purpose. It is readily absorbed by the plants without waiting years for the soil to break it down.
Next, adding a soil acidifier amendment as a top dressing once a month is essential to successful blueberry production. It's not enough to just use some oak leaf or pine straw mulch. You really need that pH to be between 4.5-5.5 -- and every time you water, you're tilting the balance back to alkaline because of the high calcium content of our water.
Epsoma makes a formula called "soil acidifier" that we've found to be very effective -- and it is readily available usually at Home Depot, at independent feed stores, as well as through Amazon.
So, for success with blueberries: soil acidifier and Dr Iron every month, in addition to the Magic Mix Formula --- especially for the trace minerals in the greensand.
And don't guess at the pH: get yourself some paper pH test strips and test the dirt to verify exactly where you stand. A packet of 100 test strips is less than $5 !
If you're having issues with fungi on your berry plants, we use the Texas red cedar oil PCO Choice to mitigate fungi in the dirt before it ever reaches the plants.