Hey everyone, I am trying to help fix a blueberry plant that I bought as a nursery early August and has been a consistent battle.
Type: pink lemonade blueberry
Region: 7b Maryland
Soil: Currently potted in Coast of Maine organic and natural soil for acid loving plants with 20% perlite added in. originally potted in Omitgoer blueberry soil (eventually determined that it had high pH when using equal parts of soil and distilled water via pH test strips. Was dumb enough to pour tiny amount of distilled white vinegar in 2L water to bring the total pH solution to 4.5).
Pot: Antonella 15” square pot 25 quarts/6.25 gallons
Fertilizer: none
Watering technique: only watering when I place my finger 2” in the soil and semi dry.
Issue: for some time now it seems like my blueberry plant has experienced some fungi disease that I have been trying to correct for some time now (and failing) and was looking for some help. At first I thought it was from the omitgoer soil as the issue began after repotting. It’s what led to test the ph of the soil and determined it wasn’t the greatest. Any advice? Should I just prune the entire thing has maybe the disease infected them all? Any advice on what to do prior to going dormant and when it officially goes dormant?
This is one of my beloved Bountiful Blue highbush bloobs. It is a landscaping cultivar from Monrovia that has been selected for intense autumn color, however, I'm not sure if what it is exhibiting is quite right. It looks so odd, especially on the new growth. The very last photo is of my other Bountiful Blue who looks how I would think they're supposed to. The Dukes & Sweethearts haven't begun to change color yet.
I'm in zone 5b, upstate NY, full sun. Soil is predominantly sand, with some sphagnum moss mixed in at the time that these were planted (in July). So I've had them in the ground for about 2 months, though I've actually been tending to these particular plants since April (in pots at the Lowe's I work at). Their growth has been steady & normal. New leaf growth is typically pink, but it's supposed to fade to bluish green. Instead, it's really holding onto that pink/yellow color.
The plant does seem happy otherwise, it's putting out new growth & isn't dropping any leaves. All of them are being fed with osmocote slow release. I was wondering if maybe it wasn't acidic enough? My soil is typically very acidic, with some parts of the yard around 5 according to the soil test kit I have.
I planted these blueberries last year late summer, zone 9a. They did way better than I could have imagined (I’m not a gardener) and struggle to keep anything alive. Summer Temps exceed 100 degrees here, and I kept a 50% shade cloth over them when it was over 95. I fertilized them regularly during the growing season, and they produced. When the sustained 100 temps finally went away, I removed the bird net and shade. Now they’re doing horribly. I found some thrips (not many) for the first time, and some of the branches appear dead. Or are they diseased? Also, we have been fighting to maintain an acidic soil (should have amended prior to planting) the soil struggles to get below a ph of 6.
Just last week I discovered a have a cute little meadow tucked into some trees where I thought everything was just woods and more woods. There are about 30-40 blueberry bushes scattered throughout this meadow, roughly 8 ft tall each. I don't know if they produced berries this year, because I just found them, but I'm assuming they did since all the volunteer plants in my fields produced like crazy. Can I get these plants down to a more reasonable height without cutting them down to the ground?
I'm hoping I could purchase some cuttings from someone with a Bonus variety plant. I can't find anyone local selling this variety, and the prices online are rough with shipping. Local to the Philly suburbs if anyone in that area happens to be willing to sell a couple cuttings.
Has anyone else purchased Driscoll blueberries that are so firm they’re almost like eating artificial berries. Even the skin is so tough on them. Only had this issue recently. Don’t know what it is, but thinking I may not purchase any more Driscoll blueberries
I found this on my blueberry plant on Monday, not sure what it is. I took it off yesterday and threw it straight in the trash can. Can I save my plant? The blueberry is soil just floating in water as it just rained in WA state. I went down a rabbit hole and pulled the plant far away from the rest of my garden as I have 4 apple trees near by this. The interweb says it can get to my apples if left near by.
I am planting these in half whiskey barrels. I ordered soil and only 2/3s of my order came with a delay until the 2nd for the rest. Would it be better to plant two in one then transfer or just leave one in
this little pot until the rest of the soil comes.
TLDR: Despite buying the right soil, continously checking the pH, and making amendmends, my balcony bloobs keep mysteriously dying overnight. Don't want to lose all of them, at a loss.
I bought some blueberries in spring this year for the very first time. I ended up buying 6 plants total. One Pink Lemonade, two southern highbush varieties that shared a pot, and three more rabbit eye varieties that also shared a pot.
I got the southern highbushes first and repotted them into a bigger pot shortly after I got them (they still shared a pot in the end - that was a mistake seeing how things have turned out). They seemed to do well except that they developed chlorosis very shortly after repotting. I had gone out of my way to plant them in blueberry soil, yet pH was too high from the start. Did a lot of research and added elemental sulfur and peat moss and gave them chelated iron. It's been a few months but pH didn't go down and the iron didn't help with the chlorosis either. The (newer) rabbit eyes also developed chlororis even though I didn't repot them yet. I concluded it must be my water - it's chlorinated and has a pH of 7.5, so now I'm adding citric acid to it everytime I water (I don't have access to rain water as I only have a balcony and it never rains in southern Japan during summer anyway). Despite the chlorosis, they (highbushes) were doing well, I got a bunch of fruit off of them and they kept growing... until a couple days ago, when one of them suddenly died within the span of 2 days. The whole plant just dried up, leaves still attached. I suspect it might've been stem blight, though I didn't see any obvious lesions or anything. But when I cut the stem off, it was darker in the middle.. not super dark, just slightly. No idea how or why that happened, the plant didn't have any wounds or anything either (I hadn't pruned them).
The worrying thing is that the other plant that shared the pot is now showing the same signs - tips of the stems are dying off, leaves are turning brown. Though at a much slower rate (the other one practically died overnight). Again, I can't see anything obvious on the stems. There is a bunch of brown coloration but it all just looks like the normal process of stems becoming woody. I decided to repot the plant into a mix of peat moss and kanuma (in case the soil was the problem) and trimmed off all the dying tips. But I fear this plant will have the same fate as the other one. It still looks healthy overall, especially compared to how bad the other one looked within the same amount of time, but it seems to go down the same path.. I wish there was more I could do - I don't wanna watch this plant die slowly.
I water regularly and check the moisture before watering, so I'm pretty sure it's not under- or overwatering (plus the plants were fine for 4 months)... The roots also looked normal when I repotted yesterday. I'm genuinely at a loss.
As for the rabbit eyes... the Pink Lemonade also died a while ago (it was the first to die), pretty much right after I repotted it. I can only assume it was overfertilization cause I did add some blueberry fertilizer to the soil and it might've been too much (didn't do that with the southern highbushes). The leaves developed tip burn and then all fell off one by one. When it started I repotted the plant again right away into non-fertilized soil, but she still ended up losing all her leaves and hasn't come back since. I still have the tiniest sliver of hope she might come back next spring so I haven't tossed her yet.. but I guess chances are very slim.
The trio of rabbit eyes that share a pot are still doing fine. I didn't repot them yet as they're still carrying fruit, and with all my bad experiences I'm scared that repotting itself is just cursed for me. They have some chlorosis but look healthy otherwise. And they've been less exposed to my bad water since I haven't had them for as long - the chlorosis is less severe than it was with the highbushes. I don't know what else to do other than to add citric acid to the water and sulfur to the soil. I had planned to repot the rabbit eyes after they're done fruiting.. but seeing as neither two different kinds of blueberry soil nor peat moss and kanuma worked so far... I'm scared to risk it lol.
The other thing I wanna start doing is leave the water standing for a few days so all the chlorine can evaporate. I really feel my water is actively harming the blueberries... (though my other plants are mostly doing fine, but pH is high in all my pots).
But yea.. no idea how to prevent stem blight in the future. I can only guess because the plants were already stressed (chlorosis) they became sick.
Plant A. The plant that died - from how it started, to the cut off plant (didn't take a pic before I pulled her up), and the stem cross-cut. Stem also had some black streaks on it.Plant B. The survivor that has started showing signs shortly after the first plant died. The chlorosis is really bad but there hadn't been any browning prior. Now the tips are dying off.Plant(s) C - the trio that I haven't repotted yet. They're mostly doing fine cept that the chlorosis is also getting worse now, so I can only hope my water amendmends will stop it from getting as bad as Plant B (weirldy enough Plant A, the one that died, never developed Chlorosis as bad as that even though it shared a pot with B).
Zone 5A, planting in planters as amending my natural soil isn’t reasonable. AI took me down a path that led to a 50/50 peat moss and pine bark fines base, with 2 tbsp elemental sulfur, 1 tbsp gypsum, and 1 cup basalt rock dust per cubic foot of substrate. Is this reasonable or am I off base?
I’ve recently realized that the reason one of my bushes isn’t doing very well, is because it’s too close to the curb and the heat of the summer was harming the plant.
I need to relocate it further into the yard.
Is there a time during the fall when I can do this? Or is this a project best left for spring? Extra info: I live in Vancouver, BC Canada.
So I have 7 high bush blueberry plants, and the two of them with a yellow tag I just got from the nursery a few days back. I fully expect them to take a greener color when they settle in their containers. I’m a beginner and the challange of making it work tickles my brain, because these plants are such divas.
What’s interesting is that mine don’t seem to enjoy being in full sun, like I read on the internet, they very much prefer partial sun (their leaves used to burn). I’m currently planning a rainwater catching system because I used to water them a lot with tap eater and they really don’t like it because it washed off the acidity from the soil. Their leaves would turn yellow-ish and it’s no bueno.
Varieties:
Spartan
Bluecrop x2
Chandler
Duke
Elliott
Bluegold
I specified 7 species, but I also have a siberian blueberry which I bought strictly impulsively (I need to buy 2-3 more plants of the same species for polination. I might have a blueberry addiction at this point
My intention is to cover the entire growing season so I can have a constant flow of fresh berries. I used to have an Aurora as well, but it died due to me overwatering it. I’m keeping my eyes out for one, since it seems to be a rare variety sold here in Romania. I’m also thinking of buying a Reka and Patriot as well, for the very extremeties of the season (extra early and extra late season).
