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I have a blueberry plant that is about 4 months old and a couple of weeks ago I noticed that the tips of the two main stems (the ones that the plant came with when I bought it), and some leaves are getting dry and dark.

I live in Valencia, Spain, which is a wet and sunny city.

I moved the plant from the sun to a room with light but not direct sun, and also I'm starting to apply berries fertilizer. Also noticed that the soil I used, the acidic one, has 7 pH.

I'll attach some pictures of the plant.

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Alina
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EdgarAP
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2 Answers2

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Edgar we need more information to understand the big picture for your problem. Blueberries are bog plants. Blueberries need pH of 5.5 to 6.0 max. 7.0 is too high.

I've just viewed your pictures. This blueberry is in a pot. Plants in pots have to have potting soil. Sterilized potting soil out of a bag. No water holding gimmicks no fertilizer added to that soil. Sterilized is the key. Is that pot filled with sterilized potting soil or garden soil?

From what I see, that plant needs NPK, a basic fertilizer. You said you are using fertilizer. What exactly are you using for fertilizer? I made up this little ditty; Less is best, more is death and none is dumb. Does that help? Please tell us what you are using for fertilizer, for soil. What are your plans for this shrub? Is this indoors or on a patio?

Ideally, this potted blueberry MIGHT flower and produce blueberries on a covered patio with pH adjusted soil (there are potting soils made for acid loving plants). Forget your blueberry thriving in doors. Have you guys been getting snow and freeze? Is this normal?

If you have a covered patio, take your plant out there for the day but make sure you bring it in at night. I have blueberries both in my greenhouse as well as outside the greenhouse. They are used to dormancy and cold.

Moving a plant from indoors to out of doors in the sun can kill plants. When a plant is set out of doors even on a covered patio it needs to be acclimated to temperature changes that don't happen indoors. You have to bring plants back indoors for the night. Moving plants from out of doors and direct sun to the indoors will also kill plants if not properly acclimated. More information, please. As soon as possible.

stormy
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  • BTW, you should use a plastic pot (for acid plants). Your pot will be damaged by acid, and it will release bases: this is bad for plant and pot. – Giacomo Catenazzi Jun 06 '18 at 06:09
  • Thanks for your answer, I'm using hydrangeas and azaleas soil, the bag says "for acidophilic plants", exactly this: https://goo.gl/images/mv4zq9 . The fertilizer I'm using is fertilizer for strawberries and berries, this: https://goo.gl/images/j7HsmK , and I'm using it because the seller recommended it after I show him the pictures of the plant. The plant is now indoors, in my bedroom concretely, but has been on a balcony before that, I moved it because in the morning it receives a very intense sun, but at the afternoon is on shadows. – EdgarAP Jun 06 '18 at 06:13
  • Here in Valencia doesn't snow, and by the night the temperature doesn't decrease too much, is kinda warm. I don't have any specific plan for this bush, it can be at balcony or indoors, but I don't know how to acclimate it. Thanks for your answer, hope it is the info you need! – EdgarAP Jun 06 '18 at 06:20
  • P.d: I also have a room which is sorrounded by translucid windows, so it's like a greenhouse. Could it be an option? – EdgarAP Jun 06 '18 at 06:21
  • Send a picture of this room. It sounds as if you live in blueberry heaven. Why struggle to keep a plant indoors when you have no worries about freezing? Do you have a covered patio? Cut the fertilizer directions in half. If your plant doesn't have enough light to do photosynthesis, you might be adding too much. Acclimation means taking your plant out of doors in the sun for 10 minutes a day for 3 days (this is generic directions only). Then you go to 20 minutes per day for 3 days. Then you go to half an hour for 3 days. Then 45 minutes for 3 days; an hour for 3 days...etc. – stormy Jun 06 '18 at 06:32
  • Don't worry about the pH right now. If the soil was made for acid loving plants that is the best you can do for now. Have you tested this soil for pH? Ummmm, could you translate some of the info on that bottle of fertilizer? I'll go try to find an English version. So embarrassing to know but one language. Blueberries prefer some partial shade but intense sun would have been okay if that is what your plant is used to. Taking it inside would be the stressor. It belongs out of doors. Do you have a yard or just a balcony? Let's acclimate it back to the balcony. If you have any reemay....? – stormy Jun 06 '18 at 06:41
  • I moved the plant indoor because I thought that the sun will burn it. Aren't the blueberries used to the cold? I thought it's weakness was the direct heavy sun... I'm not at home right now, I'll answer your questions then. Thanks! – EdgarAP Jun 06 '18 at 13:44
  • This is the room: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cjjTppyVaGVLcxrz2 . Now it's raining, but it uses to be sunny and by the morning receives direct sun, so it's warm inside. I don't have a covered patio, just a balcony. – EdgarAP Jun 06 '18 at 15:18
  • The bag of the soil I put on the pot says: "MIX SUBSTRATE with fertilizer NPK 10-4-16 1 g / L Acid plants. Blonde peat, vegetable compost, black peat, coconut fiber and guano. pH (H2O): 5 Conductivity (m / m) 50 Organic Matter / Dry Matter: 85% Bulk Density: 0.35 kg / L 20L". I just realized that, measuring the soil pH the metter marks 6-7 pH, so maybe is not so accurate and the pot soil is lower than 7. The soil metter is just this: https://www.amazon.com/FIXKIT-Moisture-Function-Gardener-Outdoors/dp/B01KZTDRV4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1528298489&sr=8-4&keywords=fixkit+soil+moisture+meter – EdgarAP Jun 06 '18 at 15:23
  • The fertilizer (for strawberries and berries) says: "rich in potassium", "For any berry farming kind", "Organic fertilizer: NPK Mineral 3+1+5 with micronutrients. 3% Nitrogen, 1% P2O5, 5% K2O. Micronutrients: 0'1% MgO, 0'6% Sulfur, 1.5% SO3, 1'2% Sodium". And also it says one use by week from March to October, and twice a week from November to February, and use a full cap for each 3'5L of water. Cut the half is to use it each two/four weeks or to use the half of the measure? – EdgarAP Jun 06 '18 at 15:39
  • Update: The pH meter is not working properly, it seems to be measuring the light amount when is in pH mode, because if I cover the light sensor the needle goes fully down. – EdgarAP Jun 06 '18 at 16:22
  • If you used potting soil that is for acid loving plants, I doubt it is 7 pH. Perhaps 6.5 pH. 3-1-5 should be just fine right now. Wait to see the reaction of your plant at this stage. Do not add every week. Your plant is in a pot and not out of doors in the sun trying to photosynthesize. Excess chemistry won't help the plant make its own food. It can kill your plant. Where is it this plant lives? It looks like a covered patio, I hope? Why do you have these stakes? Blueberries are shrubs. Stakes weaken the supporting stems, like a cast on a broken arm? The muscles atrophy. – stormy Jun 06 '18 at 23:10
  • Yes, the soil bag says 5 pH, and the pH meter seems to not being working properly. The plant is now in the greenhouse-like room, but before that it was on a covered balcony that by the morning receives direct sun. The stakes came with the plant, but I suppose it's time to remove it. About the black dry tips, should I cut it? And one more question: What do you think about using coffee grounds to give nitrogen and acid pH to the soil? Thanks again for your answer! – EdgarAP Jun 07 '18 at 06:05
  • Coffee grounds do not give nitrogen. They do acidify a bit but you already have 5.0 pH soil. Any lower and nothing will grow. coffee ground and chemistry – stormy Jun 07 '18 at 06:08
  • What a beautiful room! Great for tropical plants, indoor plants that love low light. Not blueberries. Covered porch is ideal. You don't even have to acclimate to put it back out under a roof. – stormy Jun 07 '18 at 06:21
  • I've written other comments...not sure if they will show up or not. If not I'll grab you and take you to a chat room of our own. Grins!! Why was this plant in direct sun if you have a covered balcony? Please give as much information as you can, don't worry if it doesn't seem pertinent right now. Let's see if my other comments made it...I'll be back Edgar! Love that glass...wonderful wash room, yes? – stormy Jun 07 '18 at 06:25
  • Thanks Stormy! You're right, that's the wash room haha. It receives some sun, but at the time it took the picture it was raining. The balcony's roof is indeed the above flat balcony, so it doesn't no provide as much shadow as the plant needs (I think), because in the morning the sun is in a direct angle. By the moment I'll put it back on the balcony, behind a ficus. Another question I have is: should I cut the dark and dry tips of the stem? I did it when the dry zone was about 1cm, as you can see without result. – EdgarAP Jun 07 '18 at 16:27
  • Should I, as Giacomo says, change the pot to a plastic one? – EdgarAP Jun 07 '18 at 16:32
  • I forgot to say that Valencia is a sea side city, and it's tap water is very hard and full of lime, so I water the plants with filtered tap water from a Brita jar. Is it OK? – EdgarAP Jun 07 '18 at 17:50
  • It is better than non filtered. Lots of salts...you'll see deposits eventually on the top of the soil, really shows up on the rims and outside of clay pots. Just change out the soil more often, soak and scrub the pot...you'll be fine. I always prefer clay or even sand cast concrete for pots. They breathe. I've not seen where the acid in the soil made the pots release bases, alkaline. Plastic releases its own chemistry...check the pH using at least two pH meters or tests. Terra cotta is clay. Clay holds onto chemistry very well. Sand cast concrete is different than concrete and its chem – stormy Jun 08 '18 at 00:19
  • If you've got lots of lime in your water you will have to augment your soil with sulfur or transplant into fresh acidic potting soil (best). Doesn't matter what the pot's composition is anymore if you are watering with alkaline water. Your water will take the pH up in that soil over time. Just something to live with while living in paradise. Just transplant more often? In fresh soil. Do you have access to distilled water? That would work to help keep the soil acidic longer. Test and let us know okay? – stormy Jun 08 '18 at 00:25
  • I think I can get osmosis water. Will it serve? And, should I cut the black tips? – EdgarAP Jun 08 '18 at 05:58
  • Your first picture, you should cut just above that live bud pointing away from the center of the plant off into the left of the picture just below that plastic tie. Cut at an angle so that a drop of water landing on your cut will roll away from the bud. Leave 1/8 inch of stem above that bud. No more no less. Remove those stakes. Cut the other stems off the same way always choosing a vigorous bud pointing away from the center of the plant. Angled so water doesn't pour over the bud. Use alcohol on your scissors or bypass pruners. Osmosis water ok. – stormy Jun 08 '18 at 08:18
  • Well, I cutted two buds lower, the black stain was bigger. If you see the picture, the bud below the one you told me was slightly black, and now was totally black about an inch around. Hope it doesn't happen again. – EdgarAP Jun 08 '18 at 16:17
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Actually the black tip is due to a broken branch or poor pruning. The cut should have been made just above a node to produce a side shoot. Because wood was left between the node and the cut, the plant does not see the point in feeding that area and it is dying.

You could leave it but it could get infected. Or you could prune it again, just above a lower node to stimulate a side shoot. That would be best.

The cut should be made at an angle away from the bud pointing outwards. No too close... it will kill the bud... not too far....you’ll get the same problem. The angle should be about 45 degrees ish.... use a sharpe secateurs.

Blueberries are ericaceous and you should provide that soil for them not standard compost. A top dressing every 4 weeks will give it enough nutrition. Liquid feed is only a quick fix. Growing in pots is actually fine, any pots... but terracotta is best for the roots to breathe

user33232
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  • Hi and thanks! I did the cut just above the bud, leaving no wood above it. The cut was made in angle, I did it with an alcohol cleaned scissors, but the stem was very hard and the cut wasn't as clean as I wanted to. But I think the black stain is appearing again :( – EdgarAP Jun 09 '18 at 13:05