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| I have been trying to grow fruit bushes for a while now. I know most of the BASICS, but I'm obviously missing something. Maybe I need to refertilize, I don't know.
I live on 40 acres in Kansas and have a fenced in yard for my garden (otherwise my dogs terrorize it). Two years ago, I put in composted soil (dirt and horse manure). We have horses, so it's available. The soil underneath is mostly rock and clay, so I raised the garden about a foot. There is a tree on one side, and I try to only put shade plants under there. Blueberries - I've tried for two years to keep these things alive, let alone grow berries! I know you have to have 2 different varieties to pollinate and get blueberry bushes. This year I even used a product to make the soil more acidic. They still died anyway. I think I've had about 6 different varieties. I have been getting 3 different types. Raspberries - I had these planted under a shade tree (yes, I realize that was dumb) and they seemed to grow for a bit, then died. This year I planted them in the sun. I thought I saw some new growth, but I think they are gone. These were all Latham varieties Grapes - these still seem to be ok, but just not very big yet. Help before these die too!! They are thompson seedless and flame varieties Blackberries - I have 3 thornless varieties, I believe 2 are apache. They have been there for 2 years, still very short. Not very many leaves and maybe produce 5 blackberries last year. They are planted in full sunlight, don't know what I can do to help those along. Also planted some Honeyoye (spelling?) strawberries. They are under the tree though, I'm guessing that's not a good place for those (in hindsight of course.) I did put miracle grow on my whole garden this year. Unfortunately, the grashoppers got to the corn, mint and beans before I got to them. Any help anyone can provide on some or all of this would be GREATLY appreciated!!
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| Ah, a fellow houndlover. You've come to the right place. there's so much to cover. Type in the search space 'blueberries' as there are lots of interesting and pertinent posts bound to help you out. I assume your soil is not acid enough. granulated sulfur will provide long term help, but you prolly need some ammonium sulfate. I suspect your water is also hard. Are they getting enough water? Moving the plants into full sun will increase production. With the manure you should be rockin' Forget the miracle grow. I quit strawberries. I hate bending over. Mulch the heck out of your blackberries, water 3x a week on everything in this heat. water at base with hose slow soak/3-5 gallons. Sometime when sprinkling, only the top g2" gets wet! I have apache and they love the composted manure. Dont use the fresh manure. Let it compost. Apply in early spring |
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- Posted by BlueberryHillsFarm none (My Page) on Tue, Jun 26, 12 at 8:37
| Wow, a lot of different things and no luck! The blueberries are the most sensitive to soil pH but since nothing is happy, I would first check the water. I don't know but I think Kansas and I think dry. All fruit needs moist conditions, especially blueberries. At the house, I have a drip irrigation setup, using simple T-Tape and connected to the garden hose. It was pretty reasonable, $20-$30 I think. You could call Dripworks.com for some suggestions. |
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