By Plantmaiden
Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
can i grow blueberry bush using homemade compost and just adding leaf mould,
- 12 Mar, 2010
Answers
thank you for that.i have just bought 3 plants and will pot them up and give it a go.
12 Mar, 2010
There is a reason why you shouldn't do this, but many people risk it anyway - if you are talking about compost from your compost heap, as long as its been produced using an aerobic, hot system then it should be fine. If, though, your compost heap is like everyone else's and anaerobic and cold, (not turned weekly, just left to rot down on its own, takes about 2 years) then it won't have heated up sufficiently to kill off various pathogens and weed seeds, so you may risk introducing something to your plants that will kill them. This assumes you're planting your bushes in pots using home made compost. If that's not what you're doing, then ignore all this!
12 Mar, 2010
I put mine in shop bought compost last year, in a large pot, i had a bush full
of blueberrys, and its now in bud ready for this year.
13 Mar, 2010
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There's absolutely no reason why you can't do this. But if you are on limey soil and put a lot of plant material into the heap with soil around the roots this might introduce an element of lime into the compost (though not much).
The main thing to watch out for would be watering your blueberries once planted if you have a hard (alkaline) water source. Use rainwater in preference. Grow your blueberries in pots if you are on alkaline soil, otherwise they can root down into the soil if acidic.
12 Mar, 2010