My last call was too small last year for berries. No idea where it’s hiding this year right now. I have over 55 blueberry plants scattered all around currently
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Shiny Blueberrys (V. myrsinites) put into the blueberry patch, albeit in a large growbag. They don’t get much bigger than they already are, so I didn’t want to put them in the ground and have to bend over to do anything with them. Brings my blueberry species count to 3, with my Darrow’s and Southern Highbush.
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Did you get your Darrow’s local? Does anyone have an online source for them?
All local. They are from 3 different places but rarely set fruit despite flower all at the same time. Makes me think they are all clones from the same original wholesaler.
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What are people using to protect their blueberries? I have a blueberry covered in tulle but it has formed gaps over the years. I use clips to hold it together but I see birds looking for a weakness in them.
Curious what setups people use.
My other problem is my puppy last year chewed on several of my blueberry shrubs. He basically killed 4 of the smaller ones but didn’t bother a couple of the more mature ones that had taller stems. It’s possible he won’t keep doing that as he’s no longer a puppy but I’m debating putting them on higher beds, or just buying more mature plants
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This
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I just don’t get how you can synch them tight enough at the bottom of a multi stem shrub? My squirrels and catbirds would go right through a gap. If it something they’re interested in, I have to have netting to the ground and heavy wood planks over it or garden staples every few inches. And, squirrel will rip holes in it a few times a year to get in (like this weekend to raspberries and strawberries)
mine usually fly on the plants and use the stems to pick and run off with them. this is new to them so they haven’t figured out there’s a gap yet haha. last year i had a few robins, towhees, and other ones. this year, I have over 20 of each species fighting for them before they’re even ripe. if i’m not giving them/throwing them fruit from whatever corner i’m in, they’re taking it upon themselves to pick and eat. i usually have a few following me around the yard haha
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Only one of my 4 blueberry plants have browning leaves, they all have the same treatment and planted within 2-3 ft of each other. Does anyone know what could be causing this?
Looks like the sunburnt leaves some of mine get. Is that the blueray?
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Thanks, I’ll try a taller version as my taller blueberry is about 4 feet tall
Agree it looks like sunburn, it should recover. if its a problem in the future I would try Surround
It was a catbird that was looking for any weakness. They and their mockingbird cousins give my berries the most trouble. Robins are another one. My blueberries and black raspberries (and serviceberries) are most at risk, which makes sense as theyre all native to the US
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If you mean the northern highbush variety, OGW has them. If you meant Vaccinium darrowii, there’s some Etsy people with them.
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Yeah, that’s a Blue Ray. Though it’s the one from Fedco and not the one you gave me. The one you gave me doesn’t have any brown leaves like this one.
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Phytophthora Purgatory:
Both of these plants either started out with sub-par root balls and/or were potted up too quickly resulting in very likely root rot conditions. I set them off in the shade for a couple of months after multiple rounds of Garden Phos to try and help the roots and they’re just now sending out new growth. That Brightwell used to have a significantly larger canopy but I cut it all off to try and let it focus on roots. The Northland used to be twiggier but it’s filling out.
I went away for the weekend and some birds went through the thin layer of tulle to steal a whole bunch of ripe Blue Jay blueberries. At least they still left me plenty of blueberries.
I really need to replace this next year.
It’s relatively well known that Vacciniums, including blueberries, and other plants will flood their leaves with anthocyanin to protect themselves against UV (sunlight). I had a younger plant acclimating itself to newfound light levels post-cross country shipment and thought this was relatively illustrative:
You can specifically see where one of the leaves provides shadow to the other and when you lift that leaf up you see normal green.
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They do that when the soil is not acidic enough too I’ve noticed.
Yep. Red is generally the universal sign of blueberry stress of some sort but usually with pH imbalance there’s more varigation and chlorosis. These will be repotted but it’s from BU who I’m certain used the right soil plus these plants started doing this when I put them in more sunlight.