In the wild, forest blueberries bear a certain number of fruits each season, even without artificial fertilization. The cultivated blueberries in the garden must be fertilized for a correspondingly high fruit stock.

The problem with the lime

Like their wild relatives in the forest, cultivated blueberries are very sensitive to calcareous soil and watering. Therefore, when planting blueberries, care should be taken not only to ensure that the soil substrate is acidic and as lime-free as possible, but also when choosing the irrigation water. Many ordinary garden fertilizers contain certain amounts of lime and are therefore extremely unsuitable for fertilizing cultivated blueberries.

The right time to fertilize cultivated blueberries

Cultivated blueberries primarily need a lot of energy for two purposes: for the development of new branches and for the fruit set in summer. Accordingly, the first fertilizing should take place in the spring before the new branches and leaves sprout. The second fertilization in early summer then ensures sufficient energy supply for a rich harvest from the beginning of July. Fertilizing in late autumn, on the other hand, would not make much sense, as this would stimulate late shoot growth in the year and thus significantly reduce the winter hardiness of the plants.

Choosing the right fertilizer for the blueberries

When using commercial fertilizer for blueberries in the garden, it is essential to select a lime-free special variant specifically for blueberries or rhododendrons. On the other hand, you should avoid adding stable manure and fresh compost, as these can contain a lot of lime and have an unfavorable effect on the pH value of the soil for the blueberries. But you can also use certain materials from your own garden to provide fertilization in a biological way and at the same time to ensure an acidic soil environment. Ideally, you should use the mature compost from:

  • Fir and spruce needle litter
  • conifer bark
  • sawdust not contaminated with chemical substances

tips and tricks

In order to avoid over-fertilization of the blueberry bushes, sparing doses of nitrogen fertilizers such as ammonium sulphate and ammonium nitrate are recommended in the private garden. An application of about 40 to 50 grams of sulphate of ammonia per bush in spring stimulates the formation of new branches.

Category:

Vegetable garden