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  • #16
    Originally posted by Marknewbie View Post
    I planted my plants in my garden thinking it would be more natural for them - filled a hole with ericaceous compost and now someones told me it will lose its ph to the rest of the soil ? Is this true ? i'l prob give up soon
    Your blueberries should be fine. Just make sure that they get plenty of water - rainwater, not tap water.
    Ericaceous compost will slowly lose it's acidity to the surrounding soil. If you add more ericaceous compost each year (perhaps as a half-to-one-inch-thick mulch in late winter (Jan-Feb) each year), you should be able to keep the soil sufficiently acidic to keep the plants happy.
    Although the worms will carry away some of the ericaceous compost in the planting holes, they will also move the mulch around - which will get the ericaceous compost back into the ground again.

    I think that you're worrying too much.
    If the blueberries are not happy, you should see various tell-tale signs that would give you a chance to act.
    I would look out for such things as; lack of growth, large numbers of discoloured or dying leaves, or small limpet-like creatures in large numbers on the stems (about 3mm in size and dark brown). Those little critters attack unhappy plants a year or two before the plant dies. If you see the little limpets in large numbers, you need to find out what's wrong. Finding the odd one is not cause for concern.
    I had the little limpets on a plum tree a few years ago. I acted on the warning sign and found that the problem was that the compost rootball (it was bought as a pot-grown tree) had shrunk in dry weather and the roots had not been able to grow through underground air pockets. The tree was moved and it now has no "limpets".
    I had the same problem with a Williams pear tree; the limpets warned of a problem. The problem was that a large root from my Whitebeam tree (15ft away!) had grown a long way and was right under the baby pear and sucking all it's nutrients and moisture.
    Last year, my Grenadier/M9 apple was very badly attacked by aphids. I noticed during the winter that it had a low-level "limpet" colonisation. I suspect that it was the stress of the aphid attack. I will be watching things closely this year.
    .

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    • #17
      ...and despite your best efforts, plants can still die.

      I think that I've lost one of my apple trees during the winter; Saturn/MM111.
      I think that last year, the wet overwhelmed it with scab and canker. Then came the hard winter to finish it off.
      .

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      • #18
        Mark, as your threads were both about blueberry growing, I thought they'd be best together

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        • #19
          Marknewbie - you sent me a message about blueberries. I have tried to reply but you haven't enabled private messaging in your profile. If you do this I will answer your question.
          Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it.

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          • #20
            Hi

            I bought my fruit bushes last year, but they are all still in pots. I think the best thing for me to do is just plant them all in a line and see what lives/grows.
            2 X blue berrys, 2 x black berrys and 2 x red currants.

            FG

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