Small, slightly curled. Not red/yellow. This is a Reka variety in a 20gallon fabric pot with wood chips and peat moss and a little perlite soil with 1/4 cup osmocote plus and a few tbsp of waterr crystals added to each pot when planted. I have 9 other blueberries planted in same mix that are doing fine, nice large green leaves. Ive tried flushing this plant with plain rainwater, probably 10 gallons or so, a week or two ago and that didnt seem to help. Ideas about what might be causing this? I have been watering all my blueberries the same, mostly with ammonium sulfate in rainwater and plain rainwater. I saw a previous post by fruitnut about not enough cold causing issues. Im in central ND and these were outside in the ground in containers all winter, under a layer of snow most of the time. All plants were in same area and I have another reka that looks normal, not small leaves. I have had these plants for 3 years now and I have had some PH issues when they were kept in the ground which is why I decided to do fabric pots.
All that comes to mind right now is winter freeze injury. Lack of chilling wonât cause that. Iâd think you get plenty of chilling. However according to the experts there is no chilling below 32F. So ND doesnât get as much chilling as you might think. As I said thatâs not likely the issue. Minus 30F could be an issue
Thanks for the response, while I have your attention, Im trying to figure out the best way to store these through the winter. As you know, it gets pretty dang cold here during the winter and several varieties I have arent really rated for this climate. Now that they are in fabric pots, if left outside they will be exposed to even more cold than they were in the ground. Options I have are
Leave them outside, covered with blankets in an area where snow tends to accumulate which should provide some shelter from the cold.
Leave them in unheated storage, this would shelter them from the wind and elements, but they would still be exposed to a lot of the cold, just not as drastic temperature swings as if they were left outside.
Put them in my heated garage. I keep my garage at 40f for most of the winter, usually its colder near the doors and my thermostat is on the wall between the house and garage. If I leave them near they doors, temps often hover near freezing,but depending on weather outside it can warm up some and then cool back down.
Also if I leave them outside I could get a bunch of wood chips from local landfill and cover them with woodchips to help protect/insulate the root area.
Ideas or suggestions?
I would put them on some kind of cart and when weather allows - take them outside from garage and take them back in when weather gets too cold. This way you will get your chill hours and protect from the cold as well.
I think over watering+bad drainage+not enough aeration of the roots may cause this effect on the leaves.
Iâd rate the garage best, in unheated shelter outside next, and outside under blankets last. If the garage truly stays between 30 and 40, thatâs ideal. You might want a combination. The garage being used during the coldest weather say Dec thru Febr but maybe Nov thru March.
Notice the same thing here with âBluejayâ and âPatriotâ grown in containers at Ph5 or maybe a tad below. âTifblueâ is unaffected if thatâs a clue.
They seemed to do better when I took their water from pH 6 ( equivalent to rainwater around here) to pH 5.
How do you make your water acidic?
I use Sulfuric acid I got at Ace Hardware. âLiquid Fireâ in the bright red bottle. Like 98% strength.
I dilute it down to about a 3% + solution taking proper precautions and then mix it up from there. That way itâs not life-threatening. I figure the intermediate solution is about half again as strong as brining vinegar-----not totally benign. Six capfuls of the quart size bottle makes a 3% solution for me.
From there, three or four capfuls of the dilute to a Home Depot bucket of water. The 1.75L bottle is an old liquor bottle.
So far it hasnât been too much of a pain, and in my alkaline conditions some of my other plants like an occasional acid rain.
Get a color change pH kit thoughâdonât guess.
I also use sulf acid, its cheap at napa, just ask for battery acid⌠I dilute it to 4 oz of acid / 2 liter plastic soda bottle of water.