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kittymoonbeam

Feeding Blueberries

kittymoonbeam
11 years ago

I know Blueberries like to eat and I have them in good acidic soil in 5 and 15 gallon pots. They are flowering now and I was wondering when I should feed them and how much/ how often.

Comments (4)

  • Bradybb WA-Zone8
    11 years ago

    kittymoonbeam,
    Has your fertilizer choice for Blueberries been made yet?By the size of the containers,the plants are not real young? Brady

  • Ernie
    11 years ago

    A good rule of thumb is to begin fertilizing after petal drop, but Brady's questions are important in determining what's right for your particular plants. There have been a lot of interesting discussions about fertilizing blueberries in past threads, so, if you haven't already, you might want to do some searching here in the Fruit and Container Gardening forums.

  • kittymoonbeam
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I read everyone's comments from earlier. My plants have a good situation. I checked the soil pH, it is very good. The 5 gallons have made some good growth and I think will be replanted about mid- late summer. The 15 gallon is going into a half barrel later this month after I get the pavers down where I want to put it. I have leftover rose tone and fish emulsion right now. I don't usually buy miracle gro or anything like that. I also have some gro power. Can I use any of these to start out with? The advice is to feed out at the drip line but mine are in pots so should I be using a liquid exclusively? I tried fixing up the alkaline clay I have but within a few years with our alkaline water, it just goes right back. Azaleas look great for a while and then go downhill and die. Potting up to 1/2 barrel containers has worked very well for the azaleas and so far seems to be the same for the blueberries.

    The 15 gallon plant has a few old tall stems, should these be removed to make way for the new branches? I don't know much about pruning these plants. I'm just happy they are growing well.

  • Ernie
    11 years ago

    As you might already know, synthetics tend to be more predictable and reliable when fertilizing container plants. Of the organic fertilizers that you mentioned, though, fish emulsion is likely to be your best choice. The rose tone might be fine, as well, but I wouldn't rely on it exclusively since it requires more work from soil microbes before plants can use it. I've had good results from MirAcid for my potted blueberries, but last year I began supplementing that with alfalfa meal and/or cottonseed meal at the time of planting. This year I'm going to integrate some hydrolyzed fish and kelp, as well. I'm not ready to switch to 100% organics for the reason stated above, but I definitely see some value in incorporating organic fertilizers in my regimen.

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