Introduction
When I was little, I always had a knack for growing blueberry plants. But no matter what I’d do, the plants just didn’t grow.
Back then, I was young and dumb but now I know the main culprit behind it. It was the soil mix. I didn’t even use a soil mix. All I did was gather some soil from the garden and put the plant in it.
But now after all these years, I know how good it feels to grow some delicious blueberries. And a lot of the credit goes to my soil mixes.
That’s why I’ve decided to share my list of the best soil mix for blueberries. In this review, I’ll discuss everything from what I liked and what I disliked about these products.
In short, this is going to be an in-depth review. Let’s start, shall we?
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Comparison of Our Top 5 Soil Mixes
| Image | Product | Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
|
RECOMMENDATION
| Miracle-Gro 72776430 |
| Check Price |
|
MOST REVIEWED
| Burpee Organic Premium Potting Mix |
| Check Price |
|
TOP PICK
| Espoma GL6 Garden Lime Soil Amendment |
| Check Price |
|
BUDGET PICK
| Dr. Earth 802 1-1/2 Cubic Feet Acid Lovers Planting Mix |
| Check Price |
|
EDITOR’S CHOICE
| Down To Earth Organic Feather Meal Fertilizer Mix |
| Check Price |
1. Miracle-Gro 72776430
The first product on our list is the Miracle-Gro 72776430. Now, we don’t have anything extra to say about Miracle-Gro. They know what they’re doing and their products are the proof.
This potting mix isn’t anything different. While they made this for a variety of plants, blueberry plants will fit right in.
As blueberries are prone to fungal diseases, Miracle-Gro decided to avoid any kind of compost or bark for this product.
Most importantly, it has coconut coir and peat moss. So, rewetting your plants will be an easy task.
Apart from all these, this soil mix has enough nutrients to feed your plant for up to 6 months. After that, you’ll need to reapply the fertilizers. Till then, you’re set.
2. Burpee Organic Premium Potting Mix
Next up, we have the Burpee Organic Premium Potting Mix. This is the first organic soil mix of our list. Even though Burpee is mainly a seed selling company, they make some of the best gardening products.
Their soil mix is one of the first things that come to our mind when thinking about this topic. The soil mix is filled with essential nutrients that feed a plant for almost 3 months.
And let’s face it, no one waits for that 3 month period. Most people start using liquid fertilizers from the very first day they put the plant in the pot.
Combined with other fertilizers, it can really boost up the growth of your plants. The slow-releasing fertilizers make sure that almost all the parts of the root get an equal amount of food.
Other than that, the density, air circulation, and moisture-holding capability are simply excellent. So, you can buy it for your blueberry plants without any worry.
3. Espoma GL6 Garden Lime Soil Amendment
The next product on our list is the Espoma GL6 Garden Lime Soil Amendment. This one isn’t exactly a soil mix but kind of like an add-on for your precious blueberry plants.
One of the most common problems people face with blueberry plants is that they can’t get the flowers to bloom. Most of the time, the flowers fall off before it even has a chance to bloom.
Well, this soil amendment solves all those problems for you. With this, those flowers have a better chance of blooming. And you know what this means, you’ll get more harvest.
4. Dr. Earth 802 1-1/2 Cubic Feet Acid Lovers Planting Mix
The Dr. Earth 802 1-1/2 Cubic Feet Acid Lovers Planting Mix was specifically made for plants like blueberry. In fact, the formulation of the mix is simply perfect for acid-loving plants.
However, this is all great but nutrients aren’t the only important thing for a plant to grow. Suppose, you’ve bought a soil mix full of nutrients but it gets so hard that the roots can’t grow at all. Is that worth it?
Not at all! In fact, these are some of the very first things you should check when choosing a soil mix. Although the Dr. Earth 802 1-1/2 Cubic Feet Acid Lovers Planting Mix excels in all these things, so you can rest assured.
5. Down To Earth Organic Feather Meal Fertilizer Mix
As our final entry, we have the Down To Earth Organic Feather Meal Fertilizer Mix. You can guess from the name that it’s more of a fertilizer mix than a soil mix.
But don’t think that this can’t do any good for your blueberry plants. You’d be surprised to know that this bag of fertilizer mix is more than enough for 5-6 blueberry plants.
Simply mix it with the soil and you’ll be set for the 6 months. The slow-releasing fertilizers will do the rest of the work.
Best Soil Mix for Blueberries – Buyer’s Guide
Soil mixes serve the same purpose as any soil. They provide support for the plant and give them food and other nutrients. But they do it a lot better than regular soil.
However, there are a few things to keep in mind when buying a soil mix for blueberries. That’s why prepared this buyer’s guide-
What to look for in a soil mix?
First, let’s get one thing out of the way. There are mainly two types of soil mixes- organic and non-organic.
As the name suggests, organic soil mixes are made from natural ingredients. Whereas non-organic soil mixes have industrially produced ingredients. You can already guess which one’s more expensive.
Yes, it’s the organic ones. Even though organic soil mixes are expensive, they can be reused a few times, unlike non-organic soil mixes. Nonetheless, we picked out a few key things to look over when buying a soil mix.
Nutrient and moisture-holding capability
No matter what type of soil you buy, the very first thing you should check if it can hold moisture and nutrients. Without these two things, your precious blueberry plant can’t grow at all.
Now how do you check this out without using it? Well, there’s one easy way to find it out. You can look at the ingredients list and see if it has peat moss or not.
In this case, the more peat moss it has the better it’ll be at holding moisture and nutrients.
Air circulation
Your plants can’t solely depend on nutrients and moisture. It needs adequate air circulation too. Our advice would be to look for light and fluffy soil mixes. Usually, those are the ones that provide maximum air circulation.
Most importantly, air circulation is important for avoiding dense soil mixes. If a soil mix stays dense and moist for too long, it can become a breeding ground for mold.
Density
Similar to air circulation, density is also essential for a soil mix. And there are two very easy ways to figure out if your soil mix is too dense or not.
The first one is to poke it with your fingers. A good potting mix should have enough flexibility.
The other test is easier. All you have to do is lift up the bag. If the bag feels too heavy, you’ll know that it’s filled with fillers. A lot of cheap manufacturers fill their soil mixes with mulch and sand.
In other words, they’re basically robbing you. Moreover, a good quality soil mix isn’t supposed to be that hard. This can make it quite impossible for the root to grow at its pace.
Variety of nutrients
Whenever you buy a potting soil mix, the first thing you should do is to check out the ingredients list. If the ingredients list is somewhat shady, you know you have to avoid this one.
Because no good soil mix will hide their ingredients list. And most importantly, only one key ingredient is never enough for a plant like blueberry.
How to maintain a potting mix?
Even with a top-notch potting mix, you have to keep an eye out for regular maintenance. The first thing that comes to our mind is how you can water the soil mix.
Well, when it’s about watering soil mixes, the general rule of thumb is to water once every week in the spring. But as summer comes closer, you’ll have to slightly increase the watering.
Chances are that the warm temperature will evaporate the water before the plant even has a chance to absorb it. Moreover, as your plant grows bigger and bigger, it’ll need more water and nutrients.
However, don’t even think about watering your leaves. A lot of people like to do it. But they don’t know that this is basically inviting fungal diseases.
On the other hand, you don’t have to put that much fertilizer for plants that grow in the ground. For potted plants, the only source of nutrients is what you give. But that obviously changes when it’s in the ground.
Just because there’s more soil, doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to put more water. In fact, more water will eventually wash out all the nutrients.
The best practice is to mix a little amount of liquid fertilizer with the water and then apply it. But make sure to read the instructions from the packaging.
What should you keep in mind when using soil mix?
This segment is especially for those people who are completely new to gardening. Think of it as a guideline for soil mixes.
Let’s say you want to plant a fairly big plant in a pot. So, the first you’d want to do is place it where the plant is going to be for the rest of its life. Trust me, you don’t want to move a heavy pot throughout your house.
Unless you want to hire an entire team for moving those just follow our advice and your back will thank us for it.
We’ve seen a lot of people make one terrible mistake. They don’t want holes in their containers. They say the look isn’t quite appealing. Well, what good will the appeal be if your plant dies?
So, make sure to have enough holes in your container. The more the merrier. In fact, you can actually drill those holes yourself.
With these holes, you’ll be ensured that your plant won’t ever be overwatered. Although, if you forcibly put too much water on the plants, the holes can’t do much about that.
To make sure the soil is moist enough, you can put a finger into the soil. If it feels too dry, you know it’s time to water those. However, make sure you don’t overwater the plants.
Overwatering will eventually kill your plants. First, you’ll notice that the leaves are all becoming yellow. So, if you ever overwater your plants, immediately move it to a place where it’ll get less saturated.
On the other hand, underwatering might show similar problems like overwatering. Sometimes people forget to water their plants for weeks. But you can’t let that happen in winter.
Summing it up
So, have you figured out which one’s the best soil mix for blueberries for you? We know it can be a bit confusing. But that’s why we’re here for you.
Let us know in the comment section what’s bugging you and we’ll see what we can do. Good luck!
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
