Hello Mervyn
There are many members of the Northern Fruit Group successfully growing
Blueberries in the North, especially around Harrogate; Herbert and
Bluecrop seem to do well.
You need to be very careful using suphur to acidify, it can go wrong.
To change the pH of the soil the Suphur should be applied on the
ground. It should be done over several years using one third of the
doen to move the pH.
The commercial growers use nitric acid to acidify their water. I was
at a talk that Jenifer Trehan of The Dorset Blueberry Company, who made
the point about using commercial domestic fertilisers as weak
solutions, as they has customers burn the roots of the blueberries
applying ericaceous fertiliser at the recommended dose.
I spoke with Chempak who have soluble ericaceous fertilser. They
suggested the same - use it weak to adjust the pH. From my knowledge
of mains water here, for use in fish ponds, the pH for some reason is
higher at weekends. (Why I have no idea but it seems to be that way.)
I have a number of blueberries, Duke, Sunshine Blue, Jersey, Chandler,
Patriot and Darrow. My water is limey and when I have to use tap water
I add 1/3 does of Chempak ericaeous feed. The plants are heavily
mulched with B&Q soil improver which is a shredded pine waste. It
looks a little woody but the acid from that seems to help. The
Americans use pine needles as mulch to achieve a similar effect if that
is an option. It would be worth while incorporating some acid mulch
into the planting medium to help with the pH. DO not use ericaeous
compost on its own as it tends to be too peaty. Need a mix of peat (or
sub) / sharp sand (for drainage) and organic material. People seem to
have their won mixes but they are around the 2:1:1
Before the fruit garden was taken out of Harlow Carr there where a
couple of superb Blueberry Herbert growing, which provided a good crop.
Clifford
Bawtry, Doncaster, South Yorkshire