There is no such thing as a container being too deep for blueberries - but there are soils that are too heavy. If the soil is appropriate, a BB will colonize a 10' deep container from top to bottom - honest. ;o)

From your description, it is certainly a water-retentive, poorly aerated soil causing your troubles. You can temporarily remedy that by adding a wick to the drain hole & allowing it to dangle below the container, or better yet - partially bury the container & let the earth do the wicking for you.

I think you've probably done more than enough to maintain acidic soil conditions, too. Even blueberries will succumb to pH induced toxicities when pH drops to extreme lows, and poorly aerated soils reduce root function and create deficiencies of many of the most important nutrients.

In short - you first need to reduce/correct the water retention issues of the soil and consider the rest secondary.

Al

Wow, a response from Al! =) I've read many of your posts!

I don't have any earth to put the blueberry container into (live in an apt. building), so should I just remove the drainage saucer and let the wick hang down between the cracks of the deck (wood slats)? It's the only way I can think of to get the wick to hang freely and work since I don't have anything to elevate the pot. The only thing is... my downstairs neighbor might not like the dripping too much.

What would you suggest for a medium for the wick? I tried some yarn that I have in some other pots and it worked just ok. It didn't really get that wet.

Thanks, Al.

Try an old shoe lace, a strand from a rayon mop head, a woven nylon tie from a citrus/onion bag closure, - just about any kind of cord you have lying around the house. If it will absorb water, it will work well as a drainage wick.

You could also elevate the pot on 2x4 or 4x4 blocks to allow the wick to dangle above a reservoir or collection saucer.

Alikesummer

Ha ha... very nice play on the name, there! =)

Alright, I'll give it a go. (I'm guessing plain old cotton would be alright then, too?)

Now, how to get it in there... I think all my plants will need it that are potted with the same soil (apple, peach, raspberry). They are all in really large pots. Do you have a trick for this?

Thanks.

(Ilikesummer- only for the plants' sake) =)

Fold the wick over a straight slotted screwdriver tip & push it through the drain hole into the soil. When you withdraw the screwdriver, the wick stays put. There should be a long end & a short end of the wick when you do this & the short end should stay in the container.

Always thinking of the plants, IC.

Sounds good, will do this. Do I need more than one in these larger containers (the containers are 25 gal. I believe)?

I am heading out of town (country! yippee!) for the weekend, so I'll check your response when I am back. Hopefully my neighbor is trustworthy enough to care for the plants during this hot time of year! (Scary to leave them home alone!)

. . . no advantage in more than 1 wick. It really doesn't matter if the perched water takes 3 minutes or 15 minutes to drain. There's also no advantage in more or larger drainage holes. As long as a single hole isn't plugged, the same lesson applies to drainage holes as wicks - it really doesn't matter if your container takes 3 minutes or 15 minutes to drain. What's important is that the/any saturated layer of soil doesn't stay around long enough to cause the death of roots of any size.

I hope you have/had fun during your weekend away!!

Al

Great; thanks Al. I will be getting this done to all my large containers (the others have different soil mediums in it and seem to be draining well- some TOO well, but that just means I have to be much more diligent in my watering!).