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Mon, Jul 28, 14 at 14:30
| About 9 years ago, I planted a row of 6 blueberry bushes. One of them is a 'Sierra', and it is productive, but it has not sent a new shoot up since I planted it. Furthermore, the leaves are very sparse.....I don't know how it produces so many berries with so few leaves! Any idea what the problem is? I have a suspicion that the two things are related - that it spends too much energy making berries, so it doesn't have enough reserve to make new shoots. Should I strip the flowers next year, so it can build up some reserves, and maybe send up some new shoots the following year, or should I just take it out and plant a new bush? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by alexander3 6 Pennsylvania (My Page) on Mon, Jul 28, 14 at 14:32
| For comparison, here is a 'Jersey' blueberry bush planted in the same bed: |
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| Usually foliage that poor would be due to lack of chilling. That shouldn't be an issue in PA. I'd take it out and plant something better. There are a lot of posts about what works best in your area. |
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| You might try pruning some of the blossoms next year if the same thing happens, and see if it helps produce more leaves/shoots. Last year a Blueray of mine over-set fruit and I pruned the blossoms, and almost immediately new growth started, and the plant looked normal in 6 weeks. This year my Bluecrop did the same thing, but there were some leaves also, and I left it alone. Probably should have removed some blossoms. |
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- Posted by Fireballsocal none (My Page) on Mon, Jul 28, 14 at 20:10
| You didn't plant it for the leaves. Enjoy those berries! Unless you want the bush to grow larger? |
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- Posted by alexander3 6 Pennsylvania (My Page) on Mon, Jul 28, 14 at 21:50
| lol, I do enjoy the berries! It is small compared to the other bushes I planted at the same time, and since it doesn't make new shoots, I feel like it will eventually decline. also, I was wondering if this is some standard problem with some varieties of blueberry with a standard solution. Maybe I'l give it an extra feeding this year and strip the blossoms next year. |
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