[moose]

I have four Blueberry bushes in pots and today I used the last of my rainwater from the water butt. I believe I could add vinegar to the tap water but how much should I add to a one gallon watering can. Maybe there are other ways?

[JayG]

If your tap water is soft, it won't hurt your blueberries to use it until rainwater becomes available again, especially if you include a liquid ericaceous feed in some of the waterings.

It is possible to use vinegar to acidify tap water - half to one tablespoonful of white vinegar per gallon is what is recommended HERE (amount presumably depending on the degree of hardness of your tap water - linked website is US-based so will be referring to a US gallon, which is about 8/10th's of an Imperial gallon, but won't make that much difference given that the dosage is pretty vague anyway!  )

[sunshineband]

TBH I would give them tap water rather than risk them drying up, and if you scuffle about a tablespoon of sulphur chips into the soil surface that should help acidify things nicely fro quite a while. Ours copelike this with a dressing every year

[moose]

Thanks for the replies. Very hard water here so I do think it would be better not to use it. I had forgotten about sulphur chips, I'll get some at the weekend and put vinegar in the water till then.

[Growster...]

We're just using rhododendron feed on our four pots, and netting them against the local vultures.

Maybe a bit more expensive, but they smell less like a fish and chip shop..;0)

[moose]

Maybe a bit more expensive, but they smell less like a fish and chip shop..;0)

That made me laugh!

[upert]

How soon will it be before a drought is called? The weather forecast for the next two weeks looks very dry. The stream by me is also very low.

EDIT A quick news search tells me the tabloids are predicting 'horrific droughts' yet the sensible papers report that water companies predict no hosepipe bans this year, though rainfall is down reservoirs and groundwater stores are 'healthy'.

[solway cropper]

Cumbria is supposed to be the wettest county in England but we've had only one really good rain in the last two months. It filled all my water butts but they store enough for about a fortnight in this weather. My blueberries are getting tap water with dilute rhododendron feed. The fruits are smaller than usual but I put that down to the amount of water they've had rather than its pH.

[al78]

Here in Horsham the last time I saw any significant rain was April. May and June have both been bone dry, with no rain in sight this week. I had 500 litres of stored rainwater which I got through by mid May, and have been empty since. The drought is bound to break sooner or later, we have the curse of August not too far away.

I am planning to purchase another two 250L water butts when the rain returns which will bring me up to 1 cubic metre capacity. That should get me through all but the worst droughts.