[ambodach]

I'm not having much success with the Search facility for this so I may well be asking a question well answered before.

My soil is essentially neutral, but I have 3 blueberry plants coming and and would appreciate guidance on how to make the soil acidic enough for them.  I realise that for this year they may well be better in large pots with suitable compost, but but I would like to get part of my fruit cage suitable for them in the long term.

Many thanks for any help
Rob

[Lardman]

Top dress with sulphur or sulphur chips, but it's really only a temporary measure. You could also consider making planting holes with ericaceous compost.

[Growing Weather]

Teabags and lots of them or what used to be called Sequestrian

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-5-sachets-sequestered-iron-plant-tonic/p/0330932

[Subversive_plot]

Do you have access to woods with a lot of pine needles, or fallen leaves, especially oak leaves?  You can mix a lot of that into the soil.

Here, needles from long-leaved pine trees are gathered and sold as pine straw (a weed- suppressing mulch). If pine straw is available to you, it's a great acidic additive to your soil.  To keep the soil acidic, use pine needles as a mulch too.

Bark-based soil additives, or bark-based "top soil", will also make your soil acidic.

Other than that, the previous recommendations are good.

[ambodach]

Thanks very much, guys.  I was trying to remember if pine 'compost had a name - apparantly in the US and Scoltand it is 'duff'; as 'dough', as in bread, did at one stage be 'duff' in northern UK parts I can only assume that rotted down pine needles must be somewhat 'dough' like!!

I'll see what I can find in my locale of central Scotland - I would rather go natural but if I can get sulphut chips I am assuming that the usage rate will be given.  I need to double check if my pH meter functions too.
Rob