Kitchen Garden Forum

Can anyone tell me what is wrong with my blueberries. It is 3yrs old and I repotted into a bigger pot in spring and I have loads of berries on but instead of plumping up they are shrivelling up. I am gutted.

Is the bush in good overall health? Perhaps you're not giving it enough water.

Blueberries are really heathland berries and should be grown in
Ericasous compost and watered only with rain water not tap water.
The soil should be a pH of 5.5.

Beryl.

Thank you for your replies. The bush seems okay apart from the berries. The leaves seem fine. We have had quite a bit of rain lately so it has been watered with rain water, it is also planted in eraciouse compost and I fed it with eraciouse feed. I guess I,ll just have to keep an eye on it and if the leaves start to change I might tip it out of its pot and replace the compost. I would hate to lose it now as it is quite a big size now.

Do you feed the plant at all? Perhaps it hasn't got the nutrients it needs to develop all the fruits. If its in a pot then any nutrients could have been already used up or washed through when watering.

mrs l wrote:We have had quite a bit of rain lately so it has been watered with rain water

Blueberries need to be watered regularly and thoroughly, so that the compost is not allowed to dry out. Be sure that the rootball is getting a good soaking, and that it is not only the surface which is getting watered.

it is also planted in eraciouse compost and I fed it with eraciouse feed.

Ericaceous

I guess I,ll just have to keep an eye on it and if the leaves start to change I might tip it out of its pot and replace the compost.

I wouldn't rush to disturb the root ball if something starts going wrong with it, not at this time of the year when it is in full growth.

The leaves on my blueberry bush did not look very healthy today so I have tipped it out of its pot and cleaned all the compost of the roots and it was wick with vine weevil grubs and eggs. I only had a small amount of compost in so I have put it in a small pot with a little compost until I can get some more tomorrow. I hope it can recover!

mrs l wrote:it was wick with vine weevil grubs and eggs.

Oh crikey. I'm very sorry to hear that. You were right to turn it out of its pot — I stand corrected. When you get a voracious pest like Vine Weevil, drastic steps are required. I would keep it in the shade for now, to give it a sporting chance of recovery.

Dear Mrs I. Send for some NEMASYS, a nematode which you water into the compost and it kills vine weevil larvae. I had the same problem with my strawberry plants and though I did as you have, I couldn't be certain I had got all the grubs. My plants are doing really well and I am going to apply it again in September as a belts and braces job. Cheers.

Once you've repotted into new compost you may need to prune the top growth. This depends on how much of the root system has survived the vine weevil attack. If the roots are few, you'll need to reduce the demands made on them by the top growth. Its drastic, but gives the plant a better chance of recovery.

Thanks for your replies. I had thought about trimming the shrivelled berries off but will take Markens advice and cut off the top growth. I also never thought about keeping it in the shade for a while so I will do that. It had vine weevil on it last year and treated it with nematodes but didn't think I had them this year as there was no leaves eaten. Ah well fingers crossed!

Is it too late to take cuttings this year?

I am also having blueberry trouble. My 3 year old plant seemed to die whilst i was away on holiday in May. I dont know if it dried out but it has also been suggested that a cat may have used it's pot as a toilet as the other blueberry next to it is thriving. All of the leaves have gone brown and fallen off. I have moved it into the shade and trimmed the branches back to reduce the work it has to do to recover but no signs of life. how long should i give it before i give up?

My aforesaid blueberry bush's leaves also turned brown and dropped off so I am just going to leave it until next year and see what happens, I have scraped a little of the bark of and it still seems to be green, an indication that it is still alive-hopefully.

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