Well you really don't want to fertilize them this time of year but ammonium sulfate will take the PH down quickly. Maybe next spring. An organic way is to find a feed store and buy cottonseed meal. Best organic way to lower PH, well besides sulfur. Sulfur takes 6 months for the bacteria to make sulfuric acid. You could by-pass the process, go to the auto parts store, get some battery acid add about .5 OZ (that's Point 5 or 1/2 oz!!) to a bucket of water and put the acid in, so that is something you can do right now.

Thanks for the advice although I'm not brave enough to try the battery acid. I might try vinegar instead. This link seems to have more about that topic than you'd ever want to read.

I may give the cottonseed meal a try as well. I'm resigned to not having berries next year, just hoping the bushes don't die over the winter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Other thread

Just remember it's temporary and all the carbonates causing the alkalinity will return in 2 weeks from application of the vinegar. So you have to keep adding more, and can never stop.Whereas the sulfuric acid removes it forever.
I guess I never worried about the battery acid. Long story but I have a golf cart, electric. I have to add acid every year to the old batteries. So not a big deal for me. I handled acid for years before ever adding it to blueberries. It's so weak at 33% it seems very safe to me.
As long as you follow the protocol of adding acid to water and not water to acid. Adding it to batteries is tough as the openings are very small compared to a bucket. It is extremely safe to use too, if battery acid is contaminated with anything, like heavy metals, your batteries will explode, and you will have a great law suit.
It has to be pure. Many Universities recommend battery acid, where I got the idea myself. Never use a metal bucket btw.

It's ironic you linked to that thread, as that is the thread that convinced me not to use vinegar. As I too, use to use it.

This post was edited by Drew51 on Mon, Sep 15, 14 at 12:08

I don't think that it will help much to add acid to your soil, to lower pH, this time of year. The bb shrubs are already on their way to dormancy. The main thing is to water them several times in November, so they are well hydrated as winter sets in. If it rains a lot in November/December, you can skip the extra watering, but if there is a lack of rainfall, extra water will help the shrubs stay alive during the winter months. There are several ways to check soil pH. The least expensive, to my knowledge, is by using indicator dye, in this case, bromocresol green. You take a soil sample, typically one teaspoon, and put this material into a funnel, with filter paper. Add enough distilled(or de-ionized) water to produce a teaspoon of filtrate. Add just enough dye indicator to get a color change. Blue solution indicates pH = 5.4, or higher. Yellow indicates pH = 3.8, or lower. Green indicates pH is around 4.6, very close to ideal for blueberry shrubs. You can use the same indicator dye to check the pH of your tap water, or irrigation water, after you have added acid. With sulfuric acid, it is easy to add too much, and this would kill the shrubs for certain.

Well I disagree, the plants are stressed and need nutrients, best to correct the problen ASAP. You won't have many more chances to water. Plus it's hard to kill them with battery acid, it's only 33% or so. With my water .5 oz makes it 5.5. Three oz makes it 4.0. So He can add 5 times too much with no possible damage.
Try that with fertilizer. I would suggest you do check PH though. I no longer meaure as I know how much to add. i add 2 ounces in 5 gallons. But that is with my water.

I'm inclined to try both suggestions. It seems like there's no harm in trying to lower the pH now (as long as I don't go overboard), maybe it won't help but maybe it will. And then I'll also try to make sure they stay watered over winter.

I am sending off a soil sample to the local extension but will try the pH strips down the road to make sure water isn't too alkaline, etc.

Usually your alkalinity of tap water is reported in a water report at the local water works web site. It can tell you the PH and how much alkaline carbonates are in the water. Mine isn't too bad PH around 7.8. Most water works add carbonates as acidic water destroys pipes. My residual alkalinity is 69mg/l. Most of the alkalinity in my water is from bi-carbonates 90mg/l. I think residual is what makes it to me. I use almost exclusively rain water for my blueberries. I didn't even collect any the last couple times it rained a I have almost 250 gallons stored.
I grow my peppers and tomatoes in pots, some of them in ground. I use city water for them as they are peat and pine bark. probably a little too acidic for them and the city water helps raise PH. Since I grow so many plants water use is high and using rain water helps keep the water tab down. I always keep a 50 gallon reserve for my blueberries.
A soil report is a good idea I need to do that for my trees in ground and brambles. Just to see if i need anything.

This post was edited by Drew51 on Tue, Sep 16, 14 at 9:57

moyers,

If you don't want to use battery acid (I have not yet bought one myself). You can buy one of those pH down products for lowering aquarium pH at your local pet store. The one I bought has around 10% sulfuric acid. I don't know if it's appropriate for blueberry plants, but it hasn't killed my plants. It's very safe. Just not 100% sure if it's ok for plants. There are also the ones for spa (don't know what they are used for).

Add a few drops to your tap water or rainwater, and measure the pH.