I planted a young blueberry bush in my garden in the spring. It did wonderful right away and even produced blueberries after only a few months. For the past month or so though, the leaves have turned reddish, and there are no more fruits. At first, I thought the cottontail rabbit babies we had in the yard were the problem, but they have since grown up and moved on, and there is no apparent damage to the tronc or leaves themselves, besides the color of course. After researching the problem, I decided to test the pH of the soil and found it to be about 7.2. While this is good for the olive tree I planted nearby, it doesn't seem to be ideal for the blueberries. But now that the shrub is planted and covered with a thick layer of mulch, and we are in late summer, how can I go about acidifying its soil? I thought of mixing a hydroponic acid solution with the water I use to water it. Would that work or do I need to change the soil entirely? Or worse, is the blueberry bush already dying?
(We live in Tennessee.)
Hello,
I planted a young blueberry bush in my garden in the spring. It did wonderful right away and even produced blueberries after only a few months. For the past month or so though, the leaves have turned reddish, and there are no more fruits. At first, I thought the cottontail rabbit babies we had in the yard were the problem, but they have since grown up and moved on, and there is no apparent damage to the tronc or leaves themselves, besides the color of course. After researching the problem, I decided to test the pH of the soil and found it to be about 7.2. While this is good for the olive tree I planted nearby, it doesn't seem to be ideal for the blueberries. But now that the shrub is planted and covered with a thick layer of mulch, and we are in late summer, how can I go about acidifying its soil? I thought of mixing a hydroponic acid solution with the water I use to water it. Would that work or do I need to change the soil entirely? Or worse, is the blueberry bush already dying?
(We live in Tennessee.)
Thank you!
Melanie