Jerry,
Personally, I would doubt that your chips are acid. Is there a chemist
in your community? If so, he might have some litmus paper or a pH meter to
test them.
Give your blueberries some ammonium
sulfate................or.....................if you use the chips on your
blueberries, sprinkle one cup of ammonium sulfate per bushel of chips. Soil
bacteria will attempt to decompose the chips and will rob nitrogen from the
soil to accomplish the task. Plants can't use ammonium but bacteria will
convert it to nitrate, the form of nitrogen plants can use but the plants
won't get it until the bacteria release it.. The sulfate will add acidity
to the blueberry patch.
Rain and/or snow-melt will take the nutrients down to the root zone of
the blueberry plants.
Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN 56472
For jams, jellies & syrups:
www.bberryfarm.com
(877)265-6856 [Store]
(218)831-7018 [My Cell]
I recently had the good fortune of having a truck load of fresh wood chips
dumped on my property (at my request!) They are from Poplar Trees (tulip
tree) from my neighbor's place who had several very large trees cut down.
The
guy doing the cutting said they are no good for mulching until they compost
several months because they are too acid. I was planning on using them on
a
patch that needs new chips. But does anyone know:
1. Is it true they are too acid for mulch when fresh?
2. Does age take that problem away?
3. Could I use them for my blueberries, as they seem to constantly need
more acid soil?