Sulfur for acidifying soil

I am back to my blueberry problem, and would like to know if someone can give me some more advice:

We planted some blueberries and we know that the soil is not acid enough. We planted them with a mixture of peat, pine mini nuggets (half price broken bag!!), added a little Hollytone and a little bone meal.

But I really need to do something to acidify the soil a lot more. I have read that I should use elemental sulfur ( http://www.bachmans.com/tipsheets/soils/AcidifyingSoil.cfm), but I can't find any at Lowe's or the local farm store. Maybe I don't know what to look for? Any advice?

And once I find some, how would I apply it? I think perhaps stirring a (prescribed) amount into an area around each bush a couple of inches deep?

I would be most grateful for guidance on this, many thanks.

Perhaps some aluminum sulphate? When I watered it into the soil around my hydrangea it responded with intense blue blooms.

http://www.google.com/products?q=%22aluminum+sulphate%22&btnG=Search+Products&show=li&lnk=showgrid

If you live in acidic areas you may find it hard to find. But it is out there. Your bone meal isn't so good due to the calcium being an alkalizing agent. Amonium Sulfate is what I would use.

Elemental sulfur is often recommended as an acidifying agent but it is not such a good idea as it tends to kill off or suppress the beneficial fungi in the soil and it binds up the calcium so that it is less available to soil microbes. I learned that one the hard way after a supposedly "custom" soil broad cast brought my formerly 6.8 pH soil up to a pH of 8.5.

Well, thanks all. I am just a little confused about this, but I think a lot really depends on what area of the country the "adviser" lives and gardens in.

I will go with the ammonium sulfate then. Our soil is 6.5 - 6.7 (I tested it with a hand held pH meter), so I have pretty far to go, since I understand that blueberries require in the neighborhood of 5 or lower.

Sofer, any thoughts on how to best incorporate it into the soil now that I have the plants in already?

It is a simple spread around the plant and I would use a large scatter pattern. All inorganics go into soil really fast.

Hmm - you might want to get a soil test done. Some folks on another thread mentioned that those hand-held meters were pretty inaccurate.

Good luck!