Many garden supply shops will recommend Aluminum Sulphate because it makes the soil acid. Do NOT use Aluminum anything on anything you want to live!
Especially blueberries, which are sensitive to all sort of things salt, moisture levels, ph due to iron availability. In plants, animals and humans, adequate Calcium is absolutely essential for life.
But just about the only mention Calcium gets in soil science is as a pH modifier. If you think your lawn or garden grows better after you lime it because you changed the pH, I have a newsflash for you: Calcium is the single biggest growth stimulant in plants. One can change the soil pH with any acid or alkali.
They will probably kill the plant. A slightly acid pH of about 6 or 6. Rhododendrons, for instance, are supposed to require an acid soil. What they really prefer is a high Magnesium soil. Experimenters in Scotland raised the pH of soil from 5. So, this is a good thing to know if you are trying to grow rhododendrons in New Mexico, for instance, where the soil is frequently alkaline to start with, although there you would want to use an acid form of Magnesium like Magnesium sulfate, Epsom salts.
High levels of Magnesium in relation to Calcium are common in Organic gardening and farming, though, because people are told to lime their soils with dolomite lime, which is high in Magnesium. Ph is an indication of a proper nutrient balance, not the cause of it. There is only one proper nutrient combination, but there are many ways to change soil ph.
The main difference between raspberries and blueberries nutritionally is that blueberries prefer a little more magnesium in relation to potassium than raspberries. Otherwise, the N, P, Ca levels are the same between the two. If you should happen to splash some epsom salt or ammonium sulfate mix onto the raspberries, I'm sure it wouldn't hurt them. Now if you start asking about pear and blueberry combinations, then we'll have a problem.
Pear requires significantly more Ca than blueberry and the two just wouldn't get along. Your pears would taste like cardboard. Even the deer wouldn't eat them. And the pear trees would be very unhealthy, possibly having fire blight.
Ask me how I know this :. Yes, in short. These fruiting plants are not natural bedfellows: Raspberries prefer alkaline soil conditions, so the acidity required to grow blueberries successfully will not suit them. You could plant Blackberries instead of blueberries, they will thrive where raspberries do, and plant the blueberry elsewhere. Spring Commercial Newsletter Packed with information to help you review varieties and be successful. Why Nourse Farms? Visit or contact us Directions Contact us.
Avoid Common Mistakes. Growing Corner Avoid Common Mistakes. General Avoid planting roots too deep or too shallow — they will not flourish. Don't leave soil loose around the plant roots — take care to pack it firmly. Avoid planting near wild plants, or near plants whose origins are unknown. Don't water every day — water well, 1—3 times a week to maintain adequate moisture levels. Avoid fertilizer burn.
Hold off on fertilizing until plants are well established. We advise you to plant all the roots of the plant without cutting the roots. Avoid planting in the shade — All of our plants prefer full sun and will not thrive in shady spots. A half—day of full sun or more is necessary to ripen your berries. Strawberry Plants Avoid planting in soils where previous crops have included strawberries, raspberries, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants or peppers.
These crops may harbor soil pathogens, which may affect your new plants. Do not mulch using materials like decayed or wet leaves that tend to mat down and can smother plants. Prepare adjoining raised beds, enclosed by frames, for the two sets of fruiting shrubs.
Alternatively, create long mounds next to one another, which raise both groups above the surrounding soil for improved drainage. Use topsoil, peat moss and sand to prepare the raised beds or mounds. Add more peat moss and a drip irrigation system to the blueberry beds, if desired, because the blueberry shrubs appreciate extra water, as well as the extra acidity peat provides.
Because the soil and nutrient needs of raspberries and blueberries differ significantly, alternating them within a row isn't practical. The mulch and amendments you might use to lower the pH level around blueberry roots, for example, can adversely affect raspberry plants because they don't like extremely acidic soil.
In addition, raspberries frequently need trellising, leading growers to plant them in a continuous line to share the same support structure. If you're considering a hedgerow or foundation planting, keep blueberry bushes together in one group and raspberry bushes in a separate group, rather than alternating plants.
If you're not growing the plants in raised beds, it's a good idea to leave about 10 feet of space between the groups so that different soil amendments you've used don't leech into nearby soil.
Ellen Douglas has written on food, gardening, education and the arts since Douglas has worked as a staff reporter for the Lakeville Journal newspaper group.
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