| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| HTA ID | HTA-0632 |
| Title | Henry's Garden — Growing Blueberries |
| Era | KRON-TV (San Francisco, ~2005–2013) |
| Station | KRON-TV Channel 4 |
| Program | Henry's Garden (KRON segment) |
| Role | Host |
| Segment Type | Henry's Garden |
| Duration | ~04:31 |
| Source File | Blueberries.txt |
| Record Version | V1 (Transcript Only) |
Henry and Buzz explore how to grow blueberries successfully in the Bay Area.
Speaker 1 00:00 The last of the blueberries. Speaker 1 00:02 Wrong color, Henry. Speaker 1 00:03 They're blue. Speaker 1 00:04 No, no, no. Speaker 1 00:05 Not the berries. Speaker 1 00:07 It's the foliage. Speaker 1 00:08 Stop eating my blueberries. Speaker 1 00:09 The foliage color that I'm more concerned with. Speaker 1 00:12 Yeah, you're at the end of the blueberry crop, Speaker 1 00:14 but we got problems. Speaker 2 00:16 Yeah, the foliage. Speaker 2 00:17 Excuse me, Che. Speaker 2 00:18 That's the camera. Speaker 2 00:19 You're in the way. Speaker 2 00:20 Excuse me while I get rid of the dog. Speaker 2 00:21 See this? Speaker 2 00:22 Fetch. Speaker 1 00:24 Works every time. Speaker 1 00:24 Works every time. Speaker 1 00:25 I wish it worked with you. Speaker 2 00:26 Actually, I can't get past the camera. Speaker 2 00:30 Okay, here at Henry's garden, we're going to talk about blueberries, but we're also going to talk about soil, P-H-H-H-H, Speaker 2 00:37 which is a scary kind of a scientific thing that really does affect your garden, in fact. Speaker 1 00:41 It does, but there's only a few plants that really it matters that you have to be concerned. Speaker 3 00:44 I don't even know what P-H stands for. Speaker 3 00:47 Kimmy, I'm surprised. Speaker 1 00:48 Well, it stands for pho. Speaker 3 00:49 It stands for pho. Speaker 3 00:50 I know that you have high pH acid and alkaline, but what does P-H stand for? Speaker 1 00:55 pH stands for a percentage of hydrogen, and you're talking about a scale that runs from 1 to 14, with 7 being neutral. Speaker 1 01:03 Anything above 7 or 8 or above, I should say, is alkaline. Speaker 1 01:06 Anything below 7 basically is acid. Speaker 1 01:09 And we have certain plants that like an acid soil. Speaker 2 01:12 Let me just recap here for the benefit of the viewers who have normal intelligence like me. Speaker 2 01:17 Basically, 7 pH right in the middle. Speaker 2 01:21 Anything high is alkaline. Speaker 2 01:23 Low is acid. Speaker 2 01:24 many plants are acid loving. Speaker 2 01:26 For example, blueberries. Speaker 1 01:29 - Azaleas, camellias, Speaker 1 01:30 a lot of the other shade loving plants, Speaker 1 01:32 hydrangea is another one that falls into that category. Speaker 1 01:35 So with blueberries, we wanna sit there Speaker 1 01:37 and improve this whole look because there's issues. Speaker 1 01:40 It's not growing. Speaker 2 01:41 - Right, before we even get to other issues, Speaker 2 01:43 let's finish the pH issue. Speaker 2 01:45 You want blueberries growing in a slightly acid soil. Speaker 2 01:49 How do you know if your soil is acid? Speaker 2 01:50 How the pH is? Speaker 2 01:52 - Well, you have to test it Speaker 1 01:53 because there's no way of telling just by looking after the novice. Speaker 1 01:57 Not even for the professional novice. Speaker 2 01:58 We tested it by carefully, scientifically grabbing one of these silly little kits Speaker 2 02:04 and putting in a certain amount of soil. Speaker 2 02:06 It just gives you a ballpark figure. Speaker 2 02:08 And you put in soil, you throw in a little of this powder that they give you, Speaker 2 02:12 then you put in a little bit of water, and then you wait for a while. Speaker 2 02:16 So take a look at the color. Speaker 2 02:18 See that color? Speaker 2 02:19 and that looks to be at best neutral and maybe slightly alkaline. Speaker 1 02:24 Okay, and so for our blueberries, it's too high. Speaker 1 02:27 Right, we want it to be down like the yellow here. Speaker 1 02:29 Exactly. We want to be around 6. Speaker 1 02:31 Anything 6.5 to 5.5 or 5 would be perfect. Speaker 2 02:35 Excuse me, let me do a test to see people understand what's going on. Speaker 2 02:37 Kimmy, does this make sense? Speaker 3 02:40 Let's see. Yes, green is good. Speaker 2 02:43 No, not for blueberries. Speaker 2 02:46 Yellow is good. Speaker 2 02:47 You know what? Go to your garden center and ask them. Speaker 2 02:49 get one of these kits and then say this is my result. Speaker 2 02:51 But basically, if your soil is not alkaline Speaker 2 02:54 and you are trying to grow blueberries or hydrangeas Speaker 2 02:58 or azaleas, you want to use something like this. Speaker 3 03:01 - And one thing you might want to point out too, Henry, Speaker 3 03:03 is that places that get annual summer rainfall Speaker 3 03:08 have acid soil. Speaker 3 03:09 We don't get annual summer rainfall, Speaker 3 03:11 so basically our soil is alkaline. Speaker 2 03:14 - So we don't have enough acid for these plants. Speaker 2 03:15 - So we don't have enough acid for these plants. Speaker 1 03:16 - And also the water sources too, Speaker 1 03:18 because some of the water quality based on where it's coming from tends to vary during the summer months. Speaker 2 03:23 Okay, so real quickly, we're growing acid plants in this little section here. Speaker 2 03:28 We're going to try to add some acidifier. Speaker 2 03:31 And you want to be some acidifier? Speaker 3 03:33 I have some pine needles. Speaker 3 03:35 Look at, I have... Speaker 1 03:36 That's a natural acidifier. Speaker 3 03:37 It is, and it works well, Buzz, because I dined on blueberries from this little plant just by adding pine needles this spring. Speaker 1 03:45 But, Kimmy, this is more readily available in the morning. Speaker 1 03:48 people's houses. This is coffee grounds. Coffee grounds is a perfect acidifier. Speaker 1 03:52 Okay. Besides being in a compost pile you can apply it but the problem... Speaker 1 03:56 Wait a minute, it keeps your blueberries awake. Yes it does. The problems with the Speaker 1 04:01 natural acidifiers is you don't know how much to put on to sit there and change Speaker 1 04:06 the pH. We need to come down about a one degree. So we don't know how much of the Speaker 2 04:12 the natural... Go to your garden center and ask the professional to find you the Speaker 2 04:18 right amount because at this point it gets way too complicated ladies and gentlemen. Speaker 2 04:23 And while these two try to figure out what the heck they're doing, I want to thank you Speaker 2 04:26 for watching, Henry's Garden. Speaker 3 04:31 Thank you.