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andrew_boada

What ails this Elliott Blueberry Bush?

Andrew7a
9 years ago

This Elliott blueberry bush isn't thriving like its neighbor, a Bluegold bush, which I planted with it last fall. They're situated about 3.5 feet from one another, get almost exactly the same amount of sunlight, and are in the same 6.7pH clay soil in a bed that is heavily mulched with leaves and pine needles. Five feet to the left of the Elliott is a Rhododendron that is extremely vigorous. Given its neighbors' health, I tend not to suspect soil problems.

Yesterday I cut off three canes, which you can see lying in front of the bush in the photo below, because all the leaves they were producing were fluorescent red and yellow, with green veins, and were extremely stunted. The canes also had what looked like reddish brown lesions on parts of the bark, which are just visible in this photo.

On the healthier looking Bluegold bush, the young leaves emerge a reddish color, much like what you see here on the Elliott, but unlike the Elliott, they have become increasingly deeper green with age. (The Elliott was about two weeks slower to bud and leaf than the Bluegold.)

If anyone can tell me anything about the Elliott cultivar or can identify by eye what's wrong with this plant (or can tell me if I'm just overreacting to what amounts to nothing), I'd be very grateful.

This post was edited by Andrew7a on Fri, May 9, 14 at 23:58

Comments (14)

  • Andrew7a
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Here is the Elliott's next door neighbor, located just over a yard to its right.

  • Molex 7a NYC
    9 years ago

    i think you might have cut off some healthy wood, Elliot flowers and fruits late. take a close up picture of the leaves por favor.

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    9 years ago

    Looks under stress, probably the extremely high PH, give Bluegold time, and it too will look bad.

  • ericwi
    9 years ago

    Blueberry shrubs can emerge in the spring with red-brown leaves, that will persist for about a month, or maybe 6 weeks, before turning fully green. I am not sure if this is a "real problem" that needs to be addressed, or simply a function of cold soil, and possibly the lack of sufficient magnesium around the roots. Plant leaves need both magnesium and iron in order to develop chloroplasts, and when the soil is cold, the roots do not take up these metals efficiently. It could be that it simply takes extra time for the mycorhizzal fungi that inhabit the soil to develop. These fungi are known to assist the plant in absorbing nutrient from the soil. My guess is that your blueberry shrub will look OK by June 15.

  • charina
    9 years ago

    I'm not seeing anything amiss for early season. Most likely just a buildup of anthocyanins likely due to cold soils and early season inability to uptake P as a result. Nothing needed but time and warm temps.

  • Andrew7a
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the replies everyone. It has indeed been a late spring this year. I guess wait-and-see is the best policy.

  • riverman1
    9 years ago

    I would agree with others, give it time, in the spring the soil temps are low and plant has trouble taking up nutrients. I would,however, fertilize right away with a tablespoon of ammonium sulf to begin dropping the ph. I have 20 plants and some varieties thrive and grow easily here while others struggle. You may have to experiment until you find some varieties that do well for you. For me it's Reka, Jersey, and Toro. Others growing but these do the best for me.

    RM

  • Andrew7a
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Riverman, do you know if there are any varieties that tend to perform relatively better than others in clay?

    Yes, my soil's pH is on the high side for blueberries, and it's also higher than most silt loam soils in my area, which tend to have pH values in the 5.7-6 range. The bed these blueberries are in borders the concrete foundation of my house, which might be acting as a kind of giant soil anti-acid tablet. In the past, the spot was also frequently irrigated with tap water, but it won't be any more.

    I've got urea+formaldehyde fertilizer. Think that'll help get the pH down much?

  • riverman1
    9 years ago

    Urea forms of nitrogen won't help drop it much, get some ammonium sulfate, it's not expensive and you should be able to find it at Lowes or Home Depot. I don't think you will find a BB plant that thrives in clay. What I did was dig a hole 30 inches across and 15 inches deep and filled with a mix of soil and peat moss. In your case I would use potting soil and peat. Plant your berries in this mix and they should do fine.

    RM

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    9 years ago

    Keep us updated, I still think it is a problem. If it was cold that produced the redness, both would show it. So I disagree with those conclusions. The advice about the ammonium sulfate is good. Available at Amazon too. Cheap stuff! Only use 1 teaspoon per 2.5 gallons at most.
    I would start with 1/4 teaspoon, not to hit it hard. You may also want to go buy Holly-Tone Organic Fertilizer. I have been using it this year and I'm impressed with results. I got a huge bag cheap at a hardware store going out of business, selling everyhting at 1/2 price. And I have been using it on brambles and blueberries, both are growing like crazy this year. I'm impressed with this product!

  • Andrew7a
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the advice, Drew. The fertilizer has been applied.

    This spring was a bit more of a temperature roller coaster than usual. Both bushes started budding towards then end of March [Bluegold] and early April [Elliott], and the leaves started coming out in earnest when we had a good week of temperatures in the mid 70s to low 80s. This nice weather was immediately followed by a front in mid April that gave us freezing to near freezing temperatures for a few days. That cold seems to have been harder on the Elliott, which lost a few buds, than the Bluegold, which shrugged it off.

    If it's my soil that's the problem, I'd be interested to learn why it seems to be affecting the Elliott much faster and more dramatically than the Bluegold. Right now, the Bluegold by all appearances doesn't seem to be aware that it's in the wrong soil. Its leaves are steadily becoming more emerald green and it's putting on new growth.

    About amending the soil: I bought these bushes late last summer as a kind of impulse buy because the hardware store I was in was going to throw them away. I didn't know anything about blueberries at the time and just shoved them into the ground in a sunny spot near some azaleas and a rhododendron. The soil they're in is silt loam and has a bit of a hardpan about a foot to 18" down, but it has also been enriched from years of leaf mulch. I'd go ahead and add peat or pine bark to the soil as many have recommended, but I'm afraid now of disturbing the bushes' roots and of creating another soil barrier for them to work their way through. I'm also a little reluctant to go digging around near it because there are a few bumblebee nests in the bed, and I don't want to risk wiping out these useful pollinators.

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    9 years ago

    Yeah I would not dig the bushes up. You can lower the PH by adding sulfur, or applying the fertilizers mentioned. I agree for as much good as amendments might do, the disturbance is bad. As far as the Bluegold, if it's not broke don't fix it. It probably is the cold that changed the colors on Elliot. I was probably wrong about that. The Elliot seems more sensitive, less adapted. If the condition continues, this fall while dormant, dig it out and amend soil.Otherwise you can amend soil by adding pine bark mulch, elemental sulfur, or the fertilizers mentioned or all three!

  • Andrew7a
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    OK, after having given the bush fertilizer, and allowing a week to pass, the bush is now significantly greener. The leaves that had a generally reddish tinge are now either green, or are green with red spots. New growth is now appearing. Unfortunately, something is eating that new growth. I don't know what. Same goes for the other bush.

  • charina
    9 years ago

    Now that the frosty nights are past I'm my area, my bushes that were purple tinged are greening up as well. Most came out green, but some light frost and a week of cold nights turned most off color like your Eliott.

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