North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Anne Seymour <aseymour@tpg.com.au>]

Hi

My teenage son has developed a love of growing things we can eat such as 
watermelon, sweet potatoes, bilberries, etc.  We are now about to buy about 
15 blueberry trees (probably misty, legacy and magnolia) and wanted to ask 
people's thoughts about ph.  I know they love an acid soil around4.5-5.5 but 
I did hear that some people on this list had the opinion that they could grow 
in higher ph soils if they had lots of compost in the soil.  I will be 
planting them in two beds one of which is ph6 and one ph7.  There are a few 
azaleas and camellias happily growing in those beds now.  I have heard 
contradictory things about blueberry requirements.  Some times I read they 
like sandy, nutrient poor soil and at other places I have read they love lots 
of organic material/compost.  

I have a couple of compost bins which have only ever had fruit and vegetable 
scraps thrown in and the bins' ph is 9 so way too high for the blueberries.

The soil in the beds has been undisturbed for at least 30 years since we 
moved in.  

I am wondering if I should put in my compost in spite of the high ph in the 
hopes that it will provide lots of organic matter and nutrients and that the 
soil will 'buffer' if back to a lower ph relatively quickly.  

On the other hand perhaps I should keep the compost out as it will just 
increase the ph and make my blueberries either die or produce no fruit.  
Possibly I could add lots of dried leaves to lower the compost ph and just 
use it later as a mulch.  

On the 'third hand' I had read the comment I mentioned earlier that they can 
grow, and fruit well, in higher ph soils if there is lots of compost.  
Presumably this means the iron and other nutrients are high enough because of 
the compost to counteract the high ph.

I like to do everything 'organically' without additives or chemicals.  I have 
read that I could just put sulphur, or sulphate of iron or flowers of iron or 
iron chelate (no idea what is the differences between these)  into the soil 
but I was desperately hoping I could avoid any of these and just use my soil 
and compost.

I would really appreciate any advice.

Thanks

Anne