BLUEBERRY CULTURE 3 



An adequate and continuous water supply is one of the essentials of a good 

 blueberry soil. A soil which dries out, even for short periods, during the summer 

 can never be made suitable for blueberry growing unless some method of supply- 

 ing water is provided. However, the roots should not be standing in water. Too 

 much water is worse than too little. From the first of November to the first of 

 April blueberries will tolerate standing water, but during the growing season an 

 excess of water is very likely to be fatal. The two plants on the right in Fig. 1 

 received an excess of water and four days later had dropped most of their leaves. 

 These plants later died. Since the blueberry should have neither too much nor 

 too little water and since it is a shallow-rooted plant, the ideal blueberry soil 

 has a water table 14 to 22 inches below the surface. This provides an adequate 

 and continuous water supply without in any way interfering with the growth of 

 the plants. If the water table is higher than 14 inches, the land should be 

 drained before blueberries are planted. 



Figure 1. Water Injury. 

 The two plants on the left are normal plants; the two on the right had the soil 

 saturated with water. 



It is not known how essential organic matter may be under all soil conditions. 

 With very light sandy soils it seems to be essential, but on heavier, more fertile 

 soils it may not be so necessary. However, experimentation and observation 

 indicate that the plants grow much better if the soil contains a liberal amount of 

 organic matter. 



Blueberries, to attain their greatest development, require an open, well- 

 aerated soil. Bushes which grow in swampy places are situated on hummocks of 

 land where their roots are out of water and therefore well aerated during the 

 growing season. Even where moisture conditions are favorable, blueberries 

 thrive much better in a well-aerated soil. 



The blueberry requires an acid soil but just how acid is uncertain. Although 

 a soil reaction of pH 4.5 — 5 is supposed to be best for blueberries, an examina- 

 tion of the soil in thirty plantings showed a pH range of 4.3 to 5.9. Ihe varia- 

 tion in growth on these different soils was much more closely correlated with 

 one or more of the other soil factors mentioned above than with soil acidity. 

 Most of the soils of Massachusetts are strongly acid (pH 4 — 5.5) unless they 

 have been limed. Some small areas of limestone origin in Berkshire County 

 have surface soils which, without the application of lime, are only slightly acid 

 and subsoils which are even less acid or neutral. 



