Nearly every source of information about growing blueberries insists that they need to have acid soil. Yet I've seen blueberries grow and produce very well at a pH of 6-7. Are we missing something? - the natural habitat of blueberries (and other ericoids) varies widely: wet-dry, acid-neutral etc - the fact that they often prevail in acidic conditions could be because they can tolerate acidity better than other species and therefore have no competitors, but this does not necessarily conclude that they prefer acid soil. - could it be that they prefer fungal soil, because of their simple root structure they rely on mycorrhiza to extract their nutrition from soil? - do they need high levels of available magnesium and low calcium which is sometimes a characteristic of acid soils? - the common advice of adding peat moss or wood chips to the soil to lower pH could be benefiting the plants because of the high carbon content and the pH could be irrelevant? My theory for growing blueberries: - Inoculate the plants to provide the necessary mycorrhizal symbionts - Mulch the root zone with high carbon organic material to protect the shallow roots, provide slow release nutrition - water sparingly to promote healthy root development - don't use chemical fertilizers, fungicides or herbicides that will harm soil organisms (especially fungal) I welcome some feedback on my ideas. I realize it may be unconventional but the blueberries I've seen and heard about growing at neutral pH warrant some better explanation of the acid soil/blueberries conundrum. Acidifying obviously works but could there be some other, lower maintenance way to grow blueberries?
I haven't tried them but there is a website californiamycorrhiza.com that has a product called rhodovit. Apparently it is possible to take soil from an inocculated plant (any wild plant that looks healthy will most likely have it) and put it in contact with the blueberry roots.
