Blueberry Fertiliser and Crop Nutrition
Blueberry Fertiliser and Crop Nutrition
UK Blueberries
Blueberries are an important soft fruit crop grown within the UK. The OMEX horticulture team have been working with blueberry growers for decades and have a wealth of knowledge and experience in tailoring the most effective blueberry fertiliser and crop nutrition programmes.
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Key Nutrients In Blueberry Production
NPK Blueberry Fertiliser: Blueberries require a healthy dose of NPKS fertiliser to promote healthy growth. Nitrogen in blueberries is responsible for growth, phosphorus aids root development and potassium is particularly important during fruiting.
OMEX have developed two bespoke blueberry NPK soluble powders. Firstly, the O-Mix Blueberry Mix 18-18-18+TE for a balanced ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, along with trace elements, during crop establishment and the vegetative phase of the crop cycle.
This balanced dose of NPK for blueberries will supply the crop with key macro and micronutrients to push root development and develop a balanced canopy structure.
Secondly, O-Mix Blueberry Mix 15-15-22.5+TE, supplies enhanced potassium during the generative part of the crop cycle. O-Mix Blueberry Mix 15-15-22.5+TE should be applied from flowering until harvest.
You can read more about O-MIX Blueberry NPK Fertilisers aiding early establishment in our New Season Blueberry Feeding guide!
Seasonal Feeding Guide
The O-Mix Blueberry soluble powders range comes equipped with a ratio of key trace elements to promote plant health and growth.
The combination of nutrients aids plant establishment and longer-term blueberry plant health and nutrition.
Calcium in Blueberries
The correct dose and form of calcium fertiliser in blueberries helps improve blueberry quality, fruit firmness and shelf life. A pilot trial by Berry Gardens showed that an application of CalMax Ultra on blueberries produced an improvement in skin firmness, flavour and nutrient composition. Calcium is an immobile nutrient within the plant and transportation must occur with the presence of liquid.
CalMax Ultra is a unique formulation containing calcium nitrate and AXM, formulated for foliar application to a wide range of crops. AXM acts as a “pump primer” to ensure calcium is effectively transported into plant cells, even in periods of low metabolic activity.
It means the formulation significantly improves the uptake of Ca within individual cells compared with other formulations of foliar calcium. The increased leaf, flower and fruit calcium allows for longer storage life and less risk of physical damage as well as greater resilience to physiological breakdown. Calcium applied to the soil of blueberry crops will largely bypass the fruit, whereas foliar calcium in the form of CalMax Ultra will be directly absorbed for the growing fruit.
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Enhancing Rooting Further
Whilst rooting is aided with the utilising of O-MIX Blueberry soluble fertilisers it can be further enhanced with the use of key OMEX products. Firstly, Biomex Plus, which is used to stimulate the growth of blueberry plant roots and increase tolerance to abiotic stress through colonisation of plant roots.
Biomex Plus is applied as a growing media amendment at planting. The “Biomex” part of the formulation works by colonising the roots of the growing plant with the beneficial bacteria Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. The colonies secrete compounds in the vicinity of the root hairs that help to increase availability and uptake of nutrients.
The “Plus” part of the formulation supplies plant stimulating phosphite along with potassium and micronutrients chelated in a unique way. Treated plants are better able to compensate for stress from abiotic factors (e.g. too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too much salinity).
Past the establishment phase, rooting can be further promoted with foliar fertiliser Kelpak.
Kelpak is a biostimulant containing concentrated extract of the kelp species Ecklonia maxima. It’s globally renowned for improving rooting and plant health on a multitude of crops.
Kelpak on soft fruit promotes a strong healthy root mass to support the plants through early establishment. Sequential sprays of Kelpak during flowering and early fruit set improves pollination resulting in better fruit shape and a more consistent size across the crop.
Combined with CalMax Ultra, Kelpak further improves the fruit quality as well as encouraging better fruit set.
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Sulphur is used in blueberries, like other crops to help form proteins and therefore support growth. A dose of Sulphomex will deliver ammonium, a form of nitrogen available to blueberries and sulphur to a blueberry crop which can prevent or correct a sulphur deficiency.
During the early part of the season, low ambient temperatures, can prohibit feeding a blueberry crop as often as desired for fear of saturating the substrate with too many fertigation cycles. Under these circumstances, a foliar feed of Sulphomex can deliver fine particles of ammonium and sulphur to the bush supporting early season protein synthesis and growth.
Elemental sulphur can leave sulphur deposits on the foliage, increasing the chances of a phytotoxic reaction by the plant. Sulphomex applications in comparison, do not leave a deposit on the leaf and can be combined with a range of plant protection products.
View SulphomexRead the latest blueberry fertiliser technical updates here.
Supporting Vegetative Blueberry Growth