Do these look like 3 year old plants to you?

chelsea_2016

10 years ago

I've purchased a lot of blueberries online this year and Finch nursery said these are 3 year old blueberry plants. But compared to all the other plants I've got they don't seem 3 years old. First photo shows the 3 plants out of the box. Each square on my floor is 9 inches. I'm not real happy with the middle ones structure - it has one "bull" stem and a second very short stem that has had many branches cut off it resulting in a bunch of tiny branches from it.

So at what point of dissatisfaction do you contact the company or let it go? I have another plant with its main branch having a 90 degree angle to it. I'll post a pic.

Comments (9)

chelsea_2016
Original Author
10 years ago
And here is a pic of my 3 year old sweetcrisp I got a month ago in a 10 gallon pot. Has a lot more branches
chelsea_2016
Original Author
10 years ago
And here is the pink lemonade blueberry with the 90 degree angle in its stem. Worth contacting the company over or do I have to do some severe pruning next year?
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Bradybb WA-Zone8
10 years ago
If they were mine,I'd plant them and let them grow.Not too much pruning is needed the first few years
They all can sprout new shoots from the crown,given time and TLC. Brady
bamboo_rabbit
10 years ago
Chelsea,

What were the three other varieties? Sweetcrisp is a vigorous grower.

It is possible that the plants you bought are 3 years old, they were just not raised with ideal care. That said I see 2 years worth of growth on those 3. Sadly that is what you tend to get with mail order from a lot of places. If the plants were as tall as they stated they would be......

Plant them and give them good care and the should respond well and make up for their somewhat stunted start. Don't be in a hurry to prune them as they need all the leaves they can get. Make sure the PH of your water is perfect and frequent very light applications of ammonium sulfate and they will size up fast.
drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
10 years ago
Well, I would just keep them and do business elsewhere in the future.
They do seem small, my plants that came in don't look any better. Although I didn't pay very much for them.
I would not trim the pink lemonade, just let it go. I have ton's of branches come out at that angle on mine. Seems OK to me.

Those plants could be three years, just not grown well.
chelsea_2016
Original Author
10 years ago
Ok, thanks guys. These 3 are O'Neal, Brightwell, and Southland.
drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
10 years ago
If you complain, they may send you new plants, but they will be the same or worse. I was not happy with mine from Bay Laurel. But they are growing. One was damaged badly, but it is looking really good. I don't feel bad about the plants now. They are decent. I dogged them at the time.
But overall the plants are decent. No their fault it was damaged.
windfall_rob
10 years ago
Is the bushy growth on the middle plant normal in color?
If you bend it does it shatter or break easily

It looks a lot like a plant I had that got infected with witches broom
But it's hRd to tell at that size and resolution
cousinfloyd
10 years ago
The worst experience I ever had dealing with a nursery (and I've dealt with several) was trying to straighten out a problem on a Finch order. I was satisfied with the quality of the plants I got (except that they weren't exactly the ones I ordered), but if my experience with their customer service dealing with problems is any rule, I'd recommend taking your loss now and saving yourself the extreme headache of dealing with them over a problem.