indeed. i think christine planted hers in a bed of pure pine bark. i planted mine with lots of peat, and then heaped pine bark atop it. i remulch annually.

but the whole tree is acidic and an excellent base for your plants. i'd add in a lot of peat, too. (get it at ACE--they can order large bales of it for you at a far better price than you'll get anywhere.) and compost--the more the better.

in any case, i think i'm right to say that organic material is more important than acidic components, in the sense that without a lot of organic material, whatever you do to adjust the soil's ph will quickly wash out of your poor soil. right? so think first about lots of organic material, and then worry about ph, because you have to solve the first problem before the second becomes relevant. up north, where blueberries are often grown in areas that had been pine forest, they rarely need to add sulfur or other acidifying ingredients EVER; here, commercial growers, even in enriched adnd heavily mulched beds, have to add sulfur every year. (i recently talked to a professional blueberry farmer about this.)

the difference lies in the organic material inherent in the soils, and, probably, more specifically, in the size of the particles that make up our soils. sand particles, compared to organic materials and clay, are HUGE. everything just washes through them.

even in a perfect bed here in fla, you'll likely need to add sulfur. get a ph meter and test frequently. (or don't. i can tell when my plants are healthy just by looking at them! when they look sad or stop growing, i add sulfur.)

I am a bit of a BB nut I admit it..have almost 200 bushes all in ground and It is a kind of complicated subject.

You want the pine fines for more than just PH control. You want that particle size so the balance of air to soil is right. Too much compost will saturate the root zone causing rot and the compost will go right through our sand too quickly. Pine bark has the right PH, right particle size (if you get the fines) and it tends to take longer to rot. The compost is much better applied on top of the soil as that is where the plants roots will be anyway.

Yes you can use the pine your landscaper has as a mulch but don't plant in it or incorporate it in to the soil as it will rob nitrogen. On the surface that is just fine. The Doc that lives around the corner has horses and they bed them at night on pine shavings and that is what I mulch the BB with..about a pickup load a week.

So if I was doing it I mix peat and pine fines together 50/50 or so and if you have compost it can make up a percentage as well so can coffee grounds and some of our sand but it should be a small percentage. Plant in that then mulch the heck out of them..keep the mulch a couple inches from the trunk but even 10" of mulch is fine too much is better than not enough. It will keep the plants roots cool and moist and reduce the need to water.

The need to add sulfur has nothing at all to do with our soil, compost or anything other than our water. If you use just rain water to irrigate them and use a acidic fertilizer such as ammonium sulfate you will never have to use additional sulfur on them. Sulfur is problematic because it can take MONTHS to start working as it only acidifies once it is acted on by the soil bacteria. That process can go on for more than a year. People think it isn't working so add more and more and then you have a whole new problem.

If you do have to use our native tap water you will sooner or later have problems (with some exceptions). The commercial folks get around this water problem by making the water more acidic with sulfuric acid, it is what I do also. But the easiest and simplest way is to just use rain water if you can.

Our well water and municipal water is loaded with bicarbonates from the lime rock we sit on and that is the real problem. Every time you use the hose you are basically dumping lime water on plants that like and need acidic conditions. It is what causes people problems but as long as you know it is going to be an issue it is easy enough to deal with.

Some people like Lou get lucky and have a perched well so he is basically pumping rainwater but most of us are not going to get so lucky.

This post was edited by bamboo_rabbit on Wed, Jun 19, 13 at 16:46