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  • Ericaceous compost and it's pH reading

    Hi all,

    I purchased a bag of Ericaceous compost a couple of days ago for a blueberry bush i have.
    I have a young blueberry bush that i had purchased a while ago and it needed to be potted up as there was quite a substantial root base.
    About a week after doing this the leaves began to sag and drop off although there were signs of some new growth and flowers.
    I figured the soil was too wet and i took it out of the pot and sat it in a pot tray in the sun to allow the soil to dry up a bit.
    It hadn't been potted up long so there were no roots on show.

    After a good day in the sun the soil seemed much more dry but still had a bit of moisture.
    I put it back in the pot and left it a few days but there was no improvement.
    After doing a bit of a check on line, i found that these plants need a more acidic soil in which to grow and thrive.
    I had purchased both of my blueberry bushes from B&Q and there was nothing on the tag, which gave some instruction on its after care so i knew nothing of the acidity requirements of the plants.
    Luckily my other, more established, bush had plenty of room left in its pot for growth so this wasn't potted up.

    Having purchased the ericaceous compost, i removed as much of the regular compost i used to pot up that one blueberry bush and replanted it with the ericaceous compost.
    Since then (about a week) there has been no sign of improvement which then led me to test the pH using one of those testers that you push into the soil and gives you light, moisture and pH readings.
    The pH reading 6.5.
    The exact same as the compost i originally planted it into.
    I tried in other places and the readings came out the same. However, when i pushed the reader into the soil near to the base of the bush (the original soil the plant came in) the readings dropped between 4.5 and 5.

    Can anyone help clarify why the ericaceous soil i purchased is still reading out at normal compost pH levels?

  • #2
    No explanation for why your compost is giving that reading but ericaceous compost should have a reading below 5.5. John Innes for example is usually between 5.5 & 4.5.

    Are you sure your tester is accurate as I have heard they are not that reliable.

    Potty
    Potty by name Potty by nature.

    By appointment of VeggieChicken Member of the Nutters club.


    We hang petty thieves and appoint great ones to public office.

    Aesop 620BC-560BC

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    • #3
      I thought that but it did react with the compost/soil that was already around the root zone of the blueberry bush.
      It instantly dropped to below 5.

      There are areas in my garden where my female dog had urinated over time an killed off that grass.
      I tested that area with the meter and it also read that as being below 4.
      Both the regular compost and this verve ericaceous compost both read at around 6 - 6.5.

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      • #4
        Sounds like your meter is good.

        Ericaceous compost at those PH levels is useless. I would return it to the store and take your meter with you to prove it is unfit for purpose.

        You should have no trouble at B&Q they will either refund or replace.

        Potty
        Potty by name Potty by nature.

        By appointment of VeggieChicken Member of the Nutters club.


        We hang petty thieves and appoint great ones to public office.

        Aesop 620BC-560BC

        sigpic

        Comment


        • #5
          Just as a point of interest Chomerly (in case you hadn't come across it before) pH measurement works on a logarithmic scale of ten
          7 is neutral
          6 is ten times more acidic than 7
          5 is ten times more acidic than 6 making it 100 times more acidic than 7 (10 x 10 x 10)
          4 is ten times more acidic than 5 making it 1,000 times more acidic than 7 (10 x 10 x 10 x 10)
          Location ... Nottingham

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          • #6
            Thanks for that bit of info Mr. Bones.
            I had read that somewhere but I was going by what I had read about the ideal pH range that blueberries required.
            I think that my poor blueberry has had it as the flowers on it have dried up along with the leaves.

            I managed to get to B&Q today and explained why I was returning the bag of compost.
            The lady at the returns desk didn't have much of an idea initially but I explained the situation to her and she asked if I wanted another bag.
            with my pH meter in hand (well, my sons hand as he was with me) we went to the gardening section and headed for the bags of soils.
            once there, I shifted through a couple of bags and pushed the two prongs into the side of the bag where it was already perforated.
            Straight away the readings were coming out at a pH of 5 so I was more than happy to take it.
            I did try another couple of areas in the bag to make sure and again, a pH reading of 5 was showing.

            In an effort to save my blueberry, I removed as much soil as I could from the outer areas of the root zone and then re-potted it using a mixture of the ericaceous compost, a little ericaceous feed, a little bone meal for the roots, perlite for drainage and vermiculite for moisture control.

            I'm hoping that I'll at least be able to recover and strengthen it ready for the winter so that it will produce some half decent fruits next season.
            In the meantime, I will be keeping an eye on my other blueberry bush for any abnormal reactions when I repot it which will probably be the coming weekend.
            Last edited by Chomerly; 10-06-2013, 01:27 AM.

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            • #7
              I have 3 Blueberry plants that were bought for me, but I could not afford Ericaceous compost to fill the tyre towers that they were to be planted into, so took the chance and used a peat based compost that I already had.
              The first two years I only had small amount of growth and a few berries (enough to please the purchaser of the plants).
              Last year (about August) one of the people at work had trimmed down their fir trees, so I asked for some of the green trimmings to use as an experiment. I carefully added an extra tyre and filled it up with trimmings.
              This year they have doubled in size and have a good amount of berries formimg. This year I will add a mulch of pine chippings and see what happens.
              So I think the experiment seems to have worked
              I am certain that the day my boat comes in, I'll be at the airport.

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              • #8
                I figured that i would upload a picture of the blueberry, in it's sorry state, before i stripped it of its dried up leaves and flowers.



                I've since re-potted it in the new bag of compost i purchased and i'm hoping that it will recover.
                I don't hold much hope of it happening but its worth a try.

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                • #9
                  You could always get a new blueberry plant or 2 to go with your new compost - see this "free" offer 2 Free* Blueberry plants for every reader - RRP £19.98 | Mail Online

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Stacey Steve View Post
                    I have 3 Blueberry plants that were bought for me, but I could not afford Ericaceous compost to fill the tyre towers that they were to be planted into, so took the chance and used a peat based compost that I already had.
                    The first two years I only had small amount of growth and a few berries (enough to please the purchaser of the plants).
                    Last year (about August) one of the people at work had trimmed down their fir trees, so I asked for some of the green trimmings to use as an experiment. I carefully added an extra tyre and filled it up with trimmings.
                    This year they have doubled in size and have a good amount of berries formimg. This year I will add a mulch of pine chippings and see what happens.
                    So I think the experiment seems to have worked
                    I'm sorry to place a fly in the ointment here but it could just be that blueberries are fairly dormant in the first few years anyway.

                    It seems mine has decided after a few years to simply take off and I have a massive crop even bigger than last year. I'm not sure why but I'm grateful. I do nothing but water mine. I do wish you well and wish I could help with the ericaceous thing. I intend getting more blueberry bushes soon and may experiment by potting one in normal soil (I think this is what I put my vigorous one in) and one in ericaceous soil. The following years should then tell me as long as I treat them identically otherwise.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by elizajay View Post
                      You could always get a new blueberry plant or 2 to go with your new compost - see this "free" offer 2 Free* Blueberry plants for every reader - RRP £19.98 | Mail Online
                      You could but.............the offer ended in March

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                      • #12
                        *free* offer is expired

                        Originally posted by elizajay View Post
                        You could always get a new blueberry plant or 2 to go with your new compost - see this "free" offer 2 Free* Blueberry plants for every reader - RRP £19.98 | Mail Online
                        That seems to have expired / closed already as of april this yr. Nice thought though.

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                        • #13
                          Haha Great minds think alike VeggieChicken .... happy to try any codes though

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