Soil not acidic enough for blueberries

[nemigardener]

I planted my blueberries back in May and out of 6 plants, only 1 has shown any growth. The others aren't dying, just not growing. I did a soil test today and found that the soil wasn't acidic enough??!! :/

Explanation of my confusion: We live in a white pine forest!!! The soil is naturally very acidic! There is a profusion of wild raspberries 10 yards away! I use white pine needles in my chicken coop as bedding they are so prolific.

I layered composted chicken poo/white pine needles first, then a layer of pine needles, then topped that off with peat. A few weeks later, I added a layer of aged sawdust that wild raspberries were growing in. How can this have a pH of 7?!

I added some sulphur today and watered it thoroughly. How soon can I add more sulphur? The bag didn't specify. Also, is there any organic/non-chemical additive like cider vinegar that I can add to lower pH? My mother suggested azalea fertilizer but all I can find is MiracleGro chemical stuff (we have a spring fed pond just 7 feet from the garden so I have to be careful with my fertilizer, even the organic stuff). The blueberries are in a raises bed that is not quite full to prevent runoff.

Thanks for any help you can provide

 

[Greenthumb18]

For sulphur it can take months before it will lower the pH, try adding peat moss it will make the soil more acidic and you cant add too much it wont kill your plants if you add a lot.

 

[patandchickens]

White pines and raspberries don't need or like a very low soil pH, I wouldn't expect them growing happily on soil with a pH lower than 5.5-6ish at the lowest; whereas blueberries need like 4-5.

No matter what some people may say, pine needles really do not acidify soil that much - soil pH depends a great deal more on what the 'parent material' of the soil was (what kind of rock it was broken down from and is lying on) and how inundated/drained the soil is. If your soil is well-drained and composed of naturally near-neutral-pH minerals there is not all that much that pine trees (or you!) can really do to change that.

Have you actually tested your natural soil? (Rather than the stuff you amended). If it is not too far off, like pH 6 or less, you can try digging out the blueberries (since your pH is *so* far out of whack) and heavily amending the soil with peat moss in a large/deep area around them, then replanting them right away and embarking on a regular program of acidification and pH testing. I have read that you can add a small amount of vinegar (does not have to be organic ACV, even distilled white vinegar is fine) into the water each time you water them; although from a soil chemistry standpoint I'm skeptical how much good this'd do, I haven't actually tried it myself.

But honestly that is a whole lot of work for just a few blueberries, and if your soil pH is greater than 6 or so I would question whether it's worthwhile at all for the extremely meager (at best) results you would get under those conditions. Sometimes it may be better to accept that not everything can grow decently on a given property, and concentrate on things that are better suited to the site.

Good luck,

Pat