# My blueberries are not sweet this year...



## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

what gives? they were sweet last year from my bushes. This year they are very tart.:bored:Guess I will have to cook with them.


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

just curious, how much rain did you get in spring and June? do they get enough sun(or did that change any?)


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## oberhaslikid (May 13, 2002)

Mine was that way and we started covering them with sheer curtains and leaving them on the bush longer to sweeten up.We were picking too early to keep them from the birds.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

The birds haven't been a problem with any of my berries (I wish they would help me out some though LOL!) I think they may not be getting enough sun, as they don't seem to grow much at all...though they get loaded with berries. I am considering moving them to my veggie garden area that is in FULL sun but it might not be as acid over there.

Is there a way I can make my own acid fert with local things? can i make apple vineger perhaps to raise ph?


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## oberhaslikid (May 13, 2002)

Coffee grounds, tea bags,oak leaves ,sawdust,pine needles all add acid to the soil.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

sawdust...now that is an idea. There is a guy down the road that does chainsaw art and always has a pile free for the taking. I might load up then. I'm sure his logs are fairly local, they look like the kinds of trees around here. But would that not also tie up nitrogen? Oak leaves I can gather in the woods easy enough. Don't really drink coffee (it doesn't grow local) but maybe I can ask one of the shops for thier grounds. Hey what is the best time of year to move blueberry plants? they are not very big...maybe a foot and half tall and what is the best way to encourage some new growth? they really haven't grown at all since I planted them 3 years ago.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Don't go the sawdust route. It's not acidic enough even if all was from pine and may actually raise the pH rather than lower it. Besides, if your plants are healthy and very productive, your soil pH is probably close enough. If you want to manage your pH by mulching, try the boughs and needles from a few Christmas trees. Grind them up as good as you can with a mower if you don't have a chipper/shredder. No nitrogen problem since the woody portions are still mostly green material. 

Lack of taste often goes hand-in-hand with too much water. Wife brought home a pint of big ones the other day and no taste. Not certain about the shade being a factor as the best wild ones that I've picked in Jackson Co., WI, were all in the shade. Biggest ones came from an open "island" in the middle of a marsh but not the sweetest. 

Martin


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## wyld thang (Nov 16, 2005)

Nicky, I just had some over mature blueberries at a previous house that I rehabbed(speaking to my blueberry "experience"), but I know when you plant them(or move them even) you need to strip the flower buds for three years. This forces energy to go back down into developing roots, which once a big enough root system is established then the plant can pump out new branches, and more new leaves to gather energy , and then there is enough energy to go around for all the plant's objectives(making roots, making new growth and making fruit). That's the local wisdom(there are lots of bleuberry fields around here). My sister is doing this with her new plants, they are two years in teh ground now, and have doubled leaf canopy volume each year. 

hbushes I rehabbed were all full of dead wood and cramped and bushy(like someone trimmed them with a hedge trimmer). Just a few berries, and they were 20 year old bushes. I cut out all the dead wood, then went back the next season and trimmed out more "old wood" to open it up to be more airy. I was thinking of how they are in the forest, for form--I will say at that point I didn't know if that was the "right" thing to do(heh, doh), but the bushes were FULL of berries the few years after that that we lived at that house...so, results speak for themselves I guess 

Agree with Pacquebot, the amount of rain makes a difference in berries. Too much at the wrong time makes them insipid. Also if they are sour the ripening time might be later this year because of weather. My berries(right now, raz and straw) are all late because of the cold damp spring.


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## GoatsRus (Jan 19, 2003)

i was always told that the berries are ready to pick when you can "tickle" them and they fall into the pail. Otherwise leave them out there to ripen more. 

Birds got all of ours last year, so this year, we bought bird netting. The bird netting gets caught in the branches and is a pain when it comes time to pick. i don't know which is worse, the birds or the nets!


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