mervwa
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Blueberry is beginning to dry up? (with pictures)

Hi all!! I've been looking for a forum or answer to what is going on with my blueberry, I read all about drought etc etc but I don't think thats it because I water regularily and recently gave it a repot with nice fresh acidic soil because it started drying up in the old one .. does anyone have any idea what could be going on? havn't had this happen with blueberries before.
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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

More details please. How long have you had the plant? Location looks like a balcony? When did leaves start to dry?

What is are the temps and weather like?

Could it have been exposed to whipping winds or sun when it was still tender and not used to the balcony environment?

How high up is the balcony? Is herbicide drift a possibility? What is out there? Any farms or weed-free landscaped areas? Could your building have been “cleaning” the side of the building or windows with some sprayed/blasted on product?

Did you water thoroughly before and after repotting and keep it out of direct sun?

I realized you said you’ve grown them before — similar location in containers? What kind of potting mix? Being woody shrub, they should be in very well draining mix — what are you using for the larger drainage aggregate?

ETA — trying to moderate my tone...sorry I was in rapid fire interrogatory mode :roll:

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

OK, I was on the cell phone before. I came back and looked at the zoomed photos on my large tablet. And it seems to me that the drying out happened quickly. The dried up leaves are green with no sign of prolonged drought.

In the 2nd photo, some still-alive leaves have regular droplets of something along the leaf margin. If these were sticky, I would suspect sucking insects — but I’m not really seeing other evidence of that — and if these are naturally exuded dew from the leaf structure, the situation becomes very curious, but at least we know the plant was still alive at that point.

Guttation: A Pressure Relief for Plants // Missouri Environment and Garden News Article // Integrated Pest Management, University of Missouri
https://ipm.missouri.edu/MEG/2009/6/Gut ... /index.cfm
In a sense, guttation is Mother Nature’s way of allowing plants to relieve water pressure that can build up in their tissues under certain conditions.
It would help to know where you are and what season you are in.

For now, I would gently hold each branch and basically violently shake to remove irreversibly dried up leaves, trim off terminal tender branches that appear to have curled up and shriveled. Don’t feed and Do not continue to water heavily since the poor plant no longer has the leaves and growths to absorb/use the moisture. Right now, I’m seeing what looks like live buds in the leaf nodes of the semi-green branches. Keep it in semi shaded location and see if it will recover and start unfolding these buds IF this is a growing season in your area. If you are heading into fall then it might be best to just let it go dormant IF you have a dormant winter season.

mervwa
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hi! sorry, I tried to write as much as I can but I’m living in Australia, Melbourne. We’ve just recently entered Autumn (fall) I live on the fourth floor of an apartment, my two other blueberry plants have no issues and are doing very well, even got a good harvest this year from one of them. I transferred them to a garden and got this one recently, it started drying up when a sudden heat spell hit and it was extremely hot for a good couple of days, but it didn’thave Signs of drought and I watered it regularly, I tried giving it fresh soil (because I left it in the original pot) and thought it might do better but it didn’t, it’s still alive that’s for sure.. my other two are thriving and have even grown quiet a bit.

I’ll try what you recommended! Fingers crossed I can save it :(

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Since this was a recent acquisition, I think it may not have been acclimated enough. It burned in the "extreme heat". The other plants are older and probably are acclimated so they were able to tolerate the conditions better.

If the plant is still alive, I would try to shelter it more and see if it recovers. It may still drop leaves and if the leaves don't recover in a few days, you have to decide if you are going to choose to leave them on or cut them off so the plant does not continue to lose moisture. Stressed plants need careful watering.



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