North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Jim Fruth" <jimfruth@charter.net>]

   Something we don't much think about is the differences within any soil. 
Yesterday I did pH tests in my blueberry patch and results range between 5.5 
and 7.5.  I have two forty foot rows with plants spaced 2' apart, varieties 
Chippewa and Up North.  When I first started playing with the idea of having 
a blueberry patch, the average pH was 7.3.  I maintain acidity using 
Ammonium Sulfate and Phosphoric Acid.  So long as most of the patch has a pH 
under 6, I do nothing with it.  The plants growing in the higher pH spots 
look and produce identical to the others.
   Then there is a three hundred square foot area in what used to be a 
raspberry patch.  In the rows that included that spot, the berry bushes were 
stunted with poor berry productivity.  I sent separate samples to the soils 
lab which came back as being no different than the rest of the patch.  There 
was an unidentified something that inhibited raspberry growth in that spot; 
a honeyberry bush grows there now which isn't demonstrating anything 
peculiar.

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
For jams, jellies, syrups and more:
www.jellygal.com
1-877-265-6856 (Toll Free)
1-218-831-7018 (My Cell)