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Talking of Blueberries

KlinkKlink Posts: 261
in Fruit & veg
I have three small blueberry bushes,two Berkeley variety and the other i can't remember but a different one.I want to plant them in my allotment. I know they need ericaceous  compost but i'm not sure how to go about planting them.I've planted one (temporarily) in a raised bed with ericaceous compost but it's not very deep,probably not deep enough, i don't know.
My questions are, how deep does the soil have to be for the plant to thrive and is it okay for the planter to be on open soil so the roots will find their way down to soil that's not ericaceous?
My first time growing fruit so any help much appreciated.

Posts

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Blueberries are not particularly deep rooting and will be fine in an open-bottom raised bed.
    The only issues could be if you used any old rubble which contained cement (highly alikaline) to provide drainage at the bottom, or if your natural soil is highly alkaline.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    Do you know the pH of your allotment soil, @Klink?  You can buy a tester for just a few pounds at a garden centre.  My garden soil where I planted blueberries was on the acid side, but not at all peaty, and they didn't mind... I just made sure I watered them with rainwater.  Of course, if your "native" soil is alkaline you may have a problem.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • KlinkKlink Posts: 261
    I haven't got anything for drainage @BobTheGardener , just sat it on top of the soil, which is heavy clay in places but has been dug over.

    I haven't a clue what the soil type is @Liriodendron , one of the basic things i should really have thought about before planting i guess.

    Off to the garden centre for a testing kit it is!
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I started off my blueberries in large pots in ericaceous compost and they did fine until the summer I left them in the care of a neighbour's teenage daughter who did not understand about watering more than 2 drops a day.  Came home to find them very crispy but they recovered after bucketloads of water daily.

    I then decided to plant them in the garden - deep, fertile, clay and loma mix but alkaline.  I dug a 60cm deep hole for each one and made it 1m square and put the plants and their root balls in the middle then filled all round with ericaceous compost topped with a chipped bark mulch to help retain moisture in hot spells.  Didn't have water butts so they got hard tap water with added sequestered iron to water them in.

    They were fine after that and the only things I had to worry about was a late frost getting the blossom before it was pollinated and then birds nicking the fruits just before they were ripe enough for us.   Fixed that with a mini fruit cage over which I could throw fleece if frost was forecast.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • KlinkKlink Posts: 261
    You make it sound so easy @Obelixx :)

    Got my testing kit,soil is Ph 6-7 so maybe i'm in with a fighting chance?
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Yes, no problem with that pH which is basically neutral to slightly acid, as long as you do plant them in ericaceous compost.  Mine are in large containers on similar soil and I just top them up every year with some fresh ericaceous compost, to keep the acidity in the container up.  They do need a pH of around 4.5 to do best, so not using tap water and the yearly mulch with the acid compost is enough to keep them doing well here.  If you do want them directly in the soil, following Obelixx's advice should work fine, especially if you mulch the area annually with more ericaceous compost.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • KlinkKlink Posts: 261
    Thanks for your help @BobTheGardener and @Obelixx . I'll get the other blueberry plants sorted as soon as the weather allows.   :)
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