The best mineral and organic fertilizers for blueberries, how and what to feed them

In the wild, blueberries grow in wetlands and absorb nutrients from the soil on their own. When growing berries in a garden plot, you will need to use blueberry fertilizers to stimulate growth, improve the taste and volume of the harvest.

Do blueberries need to be fertilized?

Tall plants require a large amount of strength and energy, which is almost impossible to obtain without the use of fertilizing. Without fertilizer, blueberry bushes are able to bear fruit, but the amount of harvest will be significantly reduced..

When is the best time to fertilize the crop?

You can fertilize the soil in spring and autumn. Treatment of plantings in each season has its advantages. In addition, some complex fertilizers require gradual application that lasts throughout the season.

In autumn, there is often a shortage of phosphorus and potassium elements. In spring, nitrogen-containing substances are required, which contribute to the active growth of green mass. Fertilizers are applied in the fall only after abundant watering.

In addition to basic fertilizing, plant treatment is required after each formation. For this purpose, specialized solutions are used, which can be purchased at gardening stores. Treatments for pruned bushes provide protection against pests and disease infestation.

Signs of micronutrient deficiency

You can notice the lack of nutrients in the soil by its appearance. In particular, blueberries exhibit the following visual characteristics:

• slow growth, yellowing and drying of foliage;
• leaf deformation and leaning towards the ground;
• drying out of young undeveloped shoots;
• stopping the development of shoots;
• general depressed state of plantings.

How and with what to fertilize blueberries?

At different periods of development of blueberry bushes, it is necessary to feed them with various substances. Conventionally, all types of fertilizers can be divided into mineral and organic. The former contain chemical microelements, while organics are products of natural origin.

Organic fertilizers

Natural fertilizers benefit blueberry bushes throughout the season, and especially during flowering, which occurs in mid-July to early August. Each organic fertilizer has individual characteristics and has different effects on blueberry growth.

A characteristic property of all organic matter is the ability to neutralize soil acidity. If acidification has occurred in the soil, fertilizing will make the acidic soil neutral. In the opposite case, when you need to acidify the soil for planting blueberries, organic matter is also beneficial.

Manure

Manure dressing is a mixture of bedding from livestock stalls and their droppings. It is correct to use manure for adding to the soil only in a rotted state, since when fresh it contains a large number of living weed seeds, which will begin to actively germinate in the soil. Manure must be diluted with water in a ratio of 10:1.

Compost

Making compost at your summer cottage for subsequent fertilization of blueberries allows you to simultaneously perform 2 tasks: obtain a universal fertilizer and get rid of plant waste for the benefit of the plants. Saturating the soil with compost improves fertility and physical and chemical properties, which helps create favorable conditions for growing berry crops.

Compost is considered a universal fertilizer and is suitable for any type of soil. Applying fertilizer to blueberry bushes makes light sandy soils heavier and retains moisture, and when grown on heavy clay soils, it improves aeration and permeability.

To fertilize blueberries in spring and summer, compost is spread over the surface of the bed and carefully dug to a depth of 5 cm. Compost can be applied to weeded soil or overgrown with weeds.Using the second option, the weeds are chopped with a shovel and mixed with compost.

Chicken droppings

Chicken droppings contain a large amount of nitrogen, without which blueberries will not be able to develop and bear fruit normally. The concentration of useful components in chicken droppings is much higher than in livestock manure. In addition to nitrogen, the composition contains phosphorus, potassium, manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc and other elements.

Even a single application of a solution of chicken manure gives a visual effect - bushes with berries look healthier and stronger. Regular application of fertilizing increases the yield for several years. This is due to the fact that the nutritional components gradually saturate the soil and roots of the bushes. If the manure is used at the stage of seedling germination, it protects the soil from drying out, improves the structure of the soil, and reduces the number of weeds.

Mineral

In addition to organic fertilizers, blueberries can be fertilized with minerals. There are a large number of similar fertilizers that need to be applied according to different instructions. Mineral fertilizing not only saturates the soil with useful components, but also prevents common diseases. The greatest effect can be achieved when using complex fertilizers, for example, the substance “Florovit”, “Target” or “Tiovit Jet” from Polish and other foreign manufacturers.

Ammonium sulfate

A popular type of nitrogen fertilizer for blueberries is ammonium sulfate. The substance is especially useful for acidification on carbonate soil. This is necessary because over time the soil reaction levels out and it needs to be acidified again.

The application rate of sulfate is 10-25 kg/ha. In beds where it is necessary to oxidize the soil, you can increase the volume of fertilizer.The substance is applied several times during the season, maintaining equal proportions.

Colloidal sulfur

The use of colloidal sulfur for blueberries has a complex effect. In particular:

• saturates the soil with organic components;
• promotes soil acidification;
• fights fungal diseases;
• inhibits the activity of ticks and other parasites.

The effectiveness of colloidal sulfur is based on the vapors it emits after penetrating the soil. These vapors do not penetrate the blueberry bushes and stop the spread of diseases. Sulfur shows the best results when treating plants prone to rust, scab and powdery mildew.

Potassium sulfate

Potassium sulfate is used as a fertilizer when growing blueberries in open or closed ground. It contains more than half of potassium and no chlorine, which improves the beneficial effect on crop growth. Caring for garden beds using potassium sulfate increases the vitamin content of berries and prevents the development of diseases.

It is also recommended to use potassium sulfate to ensure successful wintering for perennial plantings. By adding liquid or dry potassium sulfate in the fall, it will be possible to increase protection from severe frosts. Alternatively, monopotassium phosphate can be used.

Folk remedies

In addition to organic and mineral fertilizers, you can resort to folk remedies to care for blueberries. These include:

1. Treatment of land with acidified water. To acidify the soil, you can water the beds with citric acid, maintaining a ratio of 2 teaspoons per 3 liters of water.
2. Acidification with vinegar.After mixing 1 glass of vinegar essence with a concentration of 9% with a bucket of water, you need to water the soil around the bush. The number of treatments depends on the condition of the plantings.
3. Watering with electrolyte (diluted sulfuric acid). The electrolyte effectively acidifies the soil and activates the growth of plantings.

Fertilizers for planting blueberries on different types of soil

Specific soil requirements must be observed even at the stage of planting blueberries. The choice of fertilizers for the planting hole depends on the type of soil on the site. When planting, it is recommended to consider the following recommendations:

• for light loam, a mixture of high-moor peat and sand in a 1:1 ratio is suitable;
• sandy loam soil is covered with peat and the removed top layer of soil in equal proportions;
• River sand and soil are used as a filler for peat-bog soil in proportions of 3:1;
• calcareous soil is covered with pine litter and peat in a ratio of 1:3.

Blueberries should not be grown in heavy clay soil. The roots of a berry crop will not be able to withstand high soil pressure and increased moisture without negative consequences. In addition, clay has a detrimental effect on the roots due to insufficient air permeability.

Errors in the feeding process

Inexperienced gardeners often make mistakes when applying fertilizers. The most common mistake is improperly prepared soil, which must be acidic for blueberries to grow well. To acidify the soil, appropriate fertilizing begins to be applied at the stage of digging planting holes.

Another mistake is insufficient fertilizers or violation of the schedule for their use. Even with active plant development, you should not neglect the use of fertilizers.It is important to correctly combine fertilizers depending on the condition of the plants and the variety being grown.