I hope you have better luck with them in pots than I did! I kept them alive for a couple of years but they never really thrived so I eventually gave up. The water here is very alkaline so I tried to water with just rain water whenever possible. I can't remember the name of the supplement stuff I got at a garden centre to try to keep the soil acid. In the end, as much as I love blueberries for their fruit, flowers, and fall color, I concluded it wasn't worth trying to make them grow where they didn't want to grow. *sigh*

I get a decent blueberry harvest here in an amended raised bed, given acid fertilizer a couple times a year. They'd probably do even better if I was more attentive to soil pH.

The soil really isn't the issue (as long as it is an ericaceous mix, obvs - blueberries need a ph (4.5) of around 1000x higher than mine( 8) ) but water really is. I have removed one of my water butts to take to the woods...but left all the guttering in place (on my shed) - I intend to put a bloody great tub - 15 gallon/60litre sounds good to me...and poke the downpipe into the side of the container to minimise soil compaction - even a summer storm isn't going to mess with the soil too much and if it gets saturated,and overflows, so much the better - blueberries thrive in soaking bog. It was always the water issue which defeated me in the past - I can never keep them wet enough because I am not around to water every day. Am using John Innes ericaceous - which is loam and peat based (apols) rather than those weird soilless mixes (of which I know nothing).

If I had control of the water standpipe (I don't because it is an allotment), then I would have gone with seep hoses - I sneakily use them overnight on my potatoes but get away with it because I don't have to do it every day.

i also have hollytone ... wonder if i can mix some of that into the media??

ken

They actually do not require that low a pH to grow well. I live in an area that has a huge commercial blueberry crop and our native pH runs right around 5.5 to 6.5 - blueberries do fine under these conditions. But will second the water issue, especially if grown in containers - these cannot be allowed to dry out.

A couple issues with the Pro Mix - it is a bit too finely textured for my tastes, as are most peat-based container soils. It will tend to hold a lot of water and compact quickly. I'd add a good proportion of bark fines to the mix. It is also been treated to neutralize the pH, so not a great choice for acid lovers like the blueberries. I'd certainly include some sulfur in the mix to lower pH appropriately or something like Green Light's soil acidifier. And the Pro Mix also contains added ferts so maybe go slow with any additional ferts initially. I would also consider watering the newly planted berry bushes with diluted vinegar to bring down the pH until the sulfur has time to work.

Ken, granular organics are not water soluble and tend to be very inefficient when used in container culture - there are simply not high enough populations of the necessary soil organisms in container media to actively process the ferts and turn them into a plant usable form. OTOH, Miracid (or Miracle Gro for Acid Lovers) is very effective in both supplying the needed nutrients as well as helping to maintain soil acidity.

no fert in this media ... i know the chunk theory ....

i was hoping you would chime in gal ...

ken

GG, ph5.5 has over a 100x more acidity than my local alkaline soil and to my mind counts as most definitely highly acidic (in soil terms)...but yep, I have seen them grown in lime-free soil which is just under 7 (neutral)...as long as they are constantly soaking.

You might try about a 50:50 blend of good quality topsoil and peat moss for your pots. I know you know to wet the peat very thoroughly before combining with the topsoil.

i have mineral sand.. no native topsoil

ken

If you do not want to spend any money and are using your native sand, hopefully you make your own compost. If you mixed in generous amounts of compost that would help with water retention.

If you or anyone close by grows rhubarb you could try adding the leaves. Many of these home solutions get debunked. Vinegar is quite inexpensive (but then so is sulfur?)

Compost is not a recommended component of a good potting soil, at least in any significant quantity. The reason for this is that it continues to breakdown and decompose and as it does this the media loses both porosity and ability to drain well. And in a container growing situation, that can be fatal. And for that matter, using garden soil in a container is pretty much a no-no also. It is very dense with too small a particle size (no texture) and also lacks aeration/porosity and drains poorly. I know Ken is aware of these issues, which is why I suggested adding the bark fines to his pro mix, but others who may not be as familiar with container culture may benefit from this advice. Growing in a container, and especially for longer than a single growing season (like with blueberries) requires very different conditions than growing the same plant in the ground. And primary among them is the need for a high quality, textural and very durable, fast draining potting medium. A very difficult product to locate as-is already bagged - most will need some substantial amending with either drainage enhancers or the bark.

If anyone is interested in pursuing this, the Container Gardening forum is very active and discussions about high quality (and poor quality) potting mixes abound, as well as recipes to make your own very high quality mixes.

Oh yes absolutely GG. I did somehow manage to leave out the part where I was thinking if he planted it in the ground. Apparently I am having a bad day LOL!!!

Add perlite for drainage