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[Steven Covacci <filtertitle@gmail.com>]

Alan,

I'm highly impressed with the thoroughness of your thinking, for a lack of
a better phrase.  You're comments and points are very often exceptional.

Steve

On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 5:49 PM, Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com> wrote:

> My point was that I don't actually believe magnesium is the issue with
> blueberries and plenty of experimentation has been done on the subject
> because it is a commercial crop plant.  I won't believe it until I see
> corroborative research.  There are lots of home grown geniuses out there
> that derive too much certainty from a small amount of anecdotal evidence
> and then can't wait to share with the world some earth altering discovery
> that is actually a false logical leap.  Since that describes me at times
> (hopefully less often as I age) I know what I'm talking about.
>
> My current anecdotal observation is that blueberries can find the iron they
> need if a portion of their root systems are in acidic enough soil, even
> when perhaps the majority of their roots are in soil much sweeter than
> acceptable range for the plant.  Carl Whitcomb has already proven that this
> situation applies to pin oaks, where recently surface applied sulfur cured
> iron deficient chlorosis in pin oaks without measurably altering soil pH
> even an inch down.
>
> Years ago I claimed you could grow highbush blueberries in soil up to the
> mid-sixes if plants were mulched with a wood based product. On an on-line
> argument with a troll type I was told I was an idiot to which I responded
> that I've tested the soil in several productive stands of blueberries that
> were mulched and had a pH in the low to mid 6's.  Then I started thinking
> about it and went to my own stand of blueberries which was one of my
> examples.  I had been piling mulch annually on these plants for almost 20
> years.  Testing the top 6-8 inches of soil gave me a reading of about 6.2
> pH.  But when I went down a foot I got 5.6 which is just on the acceptable
> cusp of blueberry soil.  Now my logical leap is to join the orthodoxy.  I
> swallowed my pride and gave public credit to the troll, by the way.
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