Wood Chips For Blueberry Plants

Well maintained mulch can help control weeds and keep soil cool loose and uniformly moist.

Wood chips for blueberry plants. This is the best sawdust for blueberry bushes when the soil is at an acidic ph of 5 5 to 6 5. However composting of bark for a minimum of six months provides a safe mulch even for plants sensitive to juglone. This is an important question and is essential to your success in using wood chips as a mulch in your vegetable garden. Aged wood chips are a fantastic material to use for mulch around blueberry plants.

The newer wood chips take the nitrogen out of the soil. But wood chips or whatever type of mulch you choose helps to retain soil moisture and this is absolutely essential to keep the shrub alive and well. I don t know how old they mean. As i mentioned of all the types of mulch we have used we have found wood chips to be the most unforgiving.

Sawdust mulch fresh sawdust or chips from street tree prunings from black walnut are not suggested for plants sensitive to juglone such as blueberry or other plants that are sensitive to juglone. This slow decomposition keeps the soil ph acidic and prevents it from rising too quickly because of nitrogen released into the soil while simultaneously providing the benefits of using a. I bought some blueberry plants from nourse farms and received some good advice. Mulch should be 4 inches to 6 inches deep and cover a 4 foot.

Blueberry plants may be purchased in containers or with root balls usually 2 3 years old. I have never grown blueberries so i am depending on them to be experts. We use clean wood chips but bark mulch acid compost pine needles or grass clippings all work well. Mulching with organic materials such as pine bark pine needles leaves hay wood chips sawdust or other organic materials is very beneficial for soil health.

Pure sawdust tends to be too dense and will mat down preventing water penetration. The wood chips will break down slowly because of their high lignin content. As such wood chips are the next best thing to go for because blueberries have shallow roots and do best with mulch that can conserve moisture as well as build organic material at the same time. For a moment sawdust and wood shavings can prove to be a little harsh on the blueberry plants when they are still young due to the presence of tannins.

Pine sawdust is a variety that contains pine needles and pine wood sawdust. I have found that 2 3 is just right for wood chip mulch. It is essential that wood chips be used properly.