Fertilizing blueberries is an important step- it ensures that the berries are sweet, juicy and that the plant itself thrives well. If you’re wondering- what is the best natural fertilizer for blueberries, here’s a bit of help your way.
Read on to get a quick overview of using bone meal, vinegar, coffee grounds and some other excellent natural fertilizers for blueberries.
What is the Best Natural Fertilizer For Blueberries?
Blueberries are generally easy to grow and care for. The only caveat is the fact that they have high nutrient needs, which means, fertilizing the plant is essential if you want to enjoy those juicy and sweet berries from time to time.
There’s actually no one-size-fits-all natural fertilizer for blueberries. Depending on your growing environment, you’ll need to pick from either of these three kinds of fertilizers for your plant.
- First, a fertilizer that lowers the pH of the soil to make it more acidic and suitable for the blueberry plants.
- Second, a fertilizer that focuses on adding nutrients to the soil without having a lot of impact on the soil pH.
- Third, you’ll need a combination product that does both- adds nutrition to the soil and lowers its pH at the same time.
Before applying any kind of fertilizer, it is important to have your soil tested first and get a general idea about its pH.
Is Bone Meal Good For Blueberries?
Bone meal can be a rich source of nutrients for almost any plant. You can use it as a natural fertilizer for blueberries, but you’ll need to add it to the soil right when you plant your blueberries.
Once your plant has already started growing and is established, you might want to do a soil test to check for nutrient deficiencies before using bone meal again.
Blueberries don’t like soil that is too rich in nutrients, and adding it without the check can actually stunt the growth of your blueberry plant.
Is Vinegar Good For Blueberries?
Vinegar can be good for your blueberry plants, but not as a fertilizer. Since vinegar is basically acetic acid, applying it to the soil can help lower the pH and make the soil acidic, which is exactly what blueberries need.
What Does Vinegar Do to Blueberries?
Vinegar can’t actually be used as a natural fertilizer, but it does help make the environment suitable for the growth of your blueberry bushes by acidifying the soil.
To use vinegar, you’ll need to first dilute it and then pour it over the soil.
Are Egg Shells Good For Blueberry Bushes?
Egg shells are quite literally the unsung hero of the world of fertilizers, and while they are generally waste, they actually contain a load of nutrients that can be beneficial to not just your blueberry plants, but a lot of other plants in your garden.
They are chock full of calcium, and when applied to soil in the right way, they can prove to be a great slow release source of calcium.
To use it, you’ll need to crush them up and sprinkle them on your garden soil- easy peasy.
Are Coffee Grounds Good For Blueberries?
There’s a lot of contradicting evidence around using coffee grounds as fertilizers. Truth is, they can actually be a wonderful natural fertilizer for blueberries in specific.
Why? That’s simply because apart from giving the plant a good boost of nitrogen, coffee grounds are also acidic, and when applied, can lower the pH of soil.
But that’s exactly what blueberries need- acidic soil.
How Do I Use Coffee as a Fertilizer For Blueberries?
If your soil does need that little nitrogen boost and doesn’t already have low pH, you can put coffee to use. Fresh coffee grounds are perfect- all you need to do is sprinkle them on the soil and work them into the top few layers of soil.
If you want your plant to enjoy the nutrient boost without making any significant changes to the soil pH, you can use used coffee grounds instead of fresh ones.
After you’re done applying the fertilizer, you might also want to consider covering the soil with a layer of mulch. Mulching right after using the fertilizer will not only stabilize the temperature of the soil, but will also insulate the roots of the plant, and even stop the growth of weeds. Using pine needles as mulch can be a great idea, but if you want to look at other choices, you might want to check out this post.
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