# How to Plant Vaccinium Chippewa
Things You'll Need
- Sulfur
- Organic material
- Spade
- Bucket
- Hand pruning shears
- Sphagnum peat moss
- Plastic tarp
- Sawdust, pine needles or shredded leaves
Instructions
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1
Test the soil pH with a home soil-testing kit. Apply sulfur to lower a soil pH higher than 5.5. Mix 1 pound or 2.5 cups of sulfur per 100 square feet in sandy soils to lower the pH by 1 unit, or mix 2.0 pounds per 100 square feet to lower the pH by the same unit in clay soils.
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2
Test the pH of the soil in the fall, about three to four months before planting the blueberries. Apply any additional sulfur, if needed. Spread 3 to 4 inches of organic material over the soil, and then till it into the soil with a spade to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Form 4-foot-wide and 9-inch-high raised beds if the soil is loamy.
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3
Soak the roots of the dormant, bare-root plant for an hour in a bucket of water. Prune small side branches and head back the main branches with hand pruning shears, removing about one-half of the plant.
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4
Dig a hole 12 to 18 inches deep and 2 to 3 feet wide. Mix the removed soil with moist sphagnum peat moss on a plastic tarp, making a 50 percent mixture of peat moss to 50 percent soil. Space plants 3 to 4 feet apart.
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5
Set the plant at the same depth as it was at the plant nursery. Fill the hole with the mixture of soil and peat moss. Tamp the soil down, and then water the plant until the soil is evenly moist.
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6
Apply 2 to 4 inches of mulch in a 2-foot diameter around the plant. Use sawdust, pine needles or shredded leaves. Each week, water the soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches.
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