How to Apply Fertilizer to a Blueberry Plant

Blueberry bushes need fertilizer to increase production.

Full of nutrients, blueberries are small, dark blue fruits ideal for making pies, jams, jellies and muffins. All species of blueberries prefer heavy feeding. Growing your own blueberries requires sunshine, water and 20-0-10+5 fertilizer. The more blueberries your plant produces the fewer you will have to buy at the store. It is important to test the soil prior to planting the blueberry plants, because they need a pH of 4.5 to 5.1.

Instructions

1. Measure out 1 oz. of 20-0-10+5 fertilizer, which include nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium, four weeks after planting the blueberry bushes.

2. Sprinkle the fertilizer within 12 to 18 inches of the blueberry and then scratch the fertilizer into the soil with a rake. Do not put the fertilizer close to or on the stems or leaves. Spread the fertilizer evenly over the soil to avoid burning the roots.

3. Water the fertilizer into the soil. Allow the water to soak into the soil to a depth of 14 inches.

4. Fertilize plants every year early in the spring before they leaf out. Gradually increase the amount of nitrogen by 1 oz. until you are giving them 5 ozs. of 20-percent nitrogen.

Tips & Warnings

• Muriate of potash containing chloride is toxic to blueberry plants.

• Do not fertilize after the blueberries bloom, or fertilize late in the fall, because this encourages the blueberries to grow in the fall, which causes injury to the plant.

• Check the fertilizer label and find the ones that have an ammonium form (ammonium sulfate) rather than the nitrate form (calcium nitrate).

References

• Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service; Fertilizing Blueberries; Richard A. Hayden
• Michigan State University Extension; Hints on Growing Blueberries; Eric J. Hanson and James F. Hancock; July 19, 1998
• Blueberry Council: Gardening!