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What are you mulching your blueberries with?

Austin Max


Joined: Mar 15, 2012
Posts: 96
Location: South Central Kentucky
    
    1
Just curious what people are mulching their blueberries with, successes and failures?
Ken Peavey
steward

Joined: Dec 21, 2009
Posts: 1417
Location: FL
    
  15
Welcome to Permies.

Rotten oak leaves. I add more leaves to the surface each year. I've tossed down some compost, then mulched with leaves. The oak leaves have a pH of around 5.6, so the plants love it. The moisture remains long after it rains, and my worm population is thriving. Depth of mulch is about 4 inches.

Last year I had troubles until I got more fence up. The bed was doing well with the compost and mulch, lots of bugs and grubs. Couldn't keep the chickens away from it. I had 6 blueberries, they scratched up 5 of them.


Be the change you want to see.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Replenish, Repair, Recover and Rejoice.
Eric Thompson


Joined: Apr 23, 2011
Posts: 151
Location: Bothell, WA - USA
Free wood chips: pine and fir with some needles mixed in -- they are enough to keep most grass out, low mold count...but creeping buttercup and horsetail still breach the forcefield...
John Polk
steward

Joined: Feb 20, 2011
Posts: 4060
    
  36
Just don't fall into the trap of using coffee grounds for blueberries, or any other acid loving plant. Coffee grounds lose their acidity once they are brewed. Unbrewed, they are highly acidic, but once brewed, their pH raises to +/- 6.9

J D Horn


Joined: Jan 23, 2012
Posts: 73
The ones we planted when I was growing up liked the pine straw.
Hanley Kale-Grinder


Joined: Sep 30, 2011
Posts: 96
Location: Mountain West of USA, Salt Lake City
    
    1
Random leaves. My one plant was planted in a pot last fall and it seems to have over wintered all right. I'll have a better idea of its situation in a week or so.
Isaac Hill
volunteer

Joined: Feb 28, 2011
Posts: 332
Location: Beaver County, Pennsylvania (~ zone 6)
Pine needles, straw and rotting leaves of mixed origin.


"To oppose something is to maintain it" -- Ursula LeGuin
M.K. Dorje


Joined: Feb 23, 2011
Posts: 152
Location: Orgyen
I like to use a combination of maple leaves, blueberry leaves and homemade Douglas-fir chips.
George Lee


Joined: Mar 15, 2011
Posts: 503
Location: Athens, GA/Sunset, SC
Coffee grounds and hardwood mulches. I use the grounds to deter pests typically.


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