Recently shipped blueberries dying leaves.

12 years ago

I recently recieved a shipment of two dwarf blueberry plants, Tophat and Northsky. They arrived in small containers fully leaved and more or less looked fine. I placed them in a sunny location and planned to keep them there till they seemed strong enough to be transplanted into something bigger.

Now both of them are have something happening to their leaves. It started on the northsky first and what happens is the tips of leaves start to dull to an almost beige color. As it spreads the leave wilts but they havnt become dry. All of the northsky's leaves have this and the Tophats leaves are just starting to show it.

I'm not sure if this is a side effect of shipping stress or something else? I suppose anouther question would be if the Northsky could recover and grow some new leaves and if there is anything I could do to prevent the Tophat from sharing the same fate?

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Comments (10)

denninmi
12 years ago
A couple of thoughts for you. First off, are these newly formed leaves (this year's growth?) or are they last year's leaves. Sometimes, when they put some of this stuff into cold storage to hold it, it retains the prior years leaves, which hang on green until it's time for new buds to pop, then they die. So, that may be a possibility. I haven't observed this on blueberries, but I have on some other types of woody plants.

Otherwise, are you keeping them in good conditions? Keeping them watered, protected from extremes of temperature, that sort of thing?

A photo would help if possible.
Tithis
Original Author
12 years ago
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a270/Tithis/100_9024.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a270/Tithis/100_9023.jpg

Yeah, they've gotten quite a bit worse than yesterday :/ Basically all the current leaves are dead, although it looks like there are still buds.
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Bradybb WA-Zone8
12 years ago
Tithis,
Those don't look right.Is the top part of the stem on one dying?Are they in the same pots and soil as delivered?I'd probably take a look at the root condition.
What nursery did they come from?They should be contacted. Brady
bamboo_rabbit
12 years ago
It sure looks like sunburn to me......they were probably growing in a greenhouse under less than full sun and they were set out in the full sun......not your fault but that sure is what it looks like to me. If they had been allowed to go dry the leaves look completely different.

They should leaf back out.
denninmi
12 years ago
Yeah, those look bad. Hard to say whether or not they'll come back, depends on the cause. A couple of theories -- sunburn/windburn, frost, overheating in shipment, application of strong fertilizer, some kind of root rot. It's hard to know for sure, because a lot of things will cause the same general appearance.

I would definitely contact the vendor and ask for credit or a replacement if possible.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years ago
They arrived in small containers fully leaved and more or less looked fine. I placed them in a sunny location and planned to keep them there

==>> so.. you took them from a dark box.. and put them into blistering sun ..

i havent even looked at the pix.. but i will tell you that you put a stressed plant in sun.. and burned the leaves ..

life is all in the buds.. so if those survive.. you should be all set..

ALWAYS.. consider where they came from.. and then properly temper or harden them off.. to both SUN and TEMPS ...e.g. if they came from a warmer zone ... say z7.. you cant leave them outside at night in z5.. until about may ..

if its not sunburn.. they got frosted ... [i did go look at the pix.. ] .. or both.. plus shipping stress ..

ken
Tithis
Original Author
12 years ago
Figured I'd give an update. One of the plants did end up dying (it was a Northblue, not a Northsky) but the Tophat still has leaves and after a little die off is showing new growth.

The nursery I ordered from is sending free replacements for both(I didn't think the Tophat was going to make it) The new Northblue should arrive any day now and the new Tophat won't arrive till fall. I'll make sure to properly acclimate them this time :)
calliope
12 years ago
Another thought. Sometimes fruiting starts are packed in a substance other than soil. In fact, often they are in media just short of sawdust. It is easier to obtain phytosanitary permits that way (no soilborn diseases) and also lighter to ship. This is the norm if bought in chain stores in paper tubes and often happens in shipped stock. The plants should be moved over to appropriate soil as soon as received, even if it means into pots if you need to hold them for planting. They will be very sensitive to sunlight and temps if in pots and should be acclimated.
bamboo_rabbit
12 years ago
Tithis,

You live and learn......gardening is mostly learning by screwing up anyway:)
iammarcus
12 years ago
Tithis I know how you feel, I lost 3 sweetcrisp and a Herbert under similar circumstances. Only I potted them up and kept them indoors, it didn't help.
Dan