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Blueberry bush lost all its leaves
Steve 309
Posts: 2,753
in Fruit & veg
For her birthday in the spring I bought my aged ma a blueberry bush. It's about 2 - 3' tall, with about 5 main stems, in a pot (too small for it) of ericaceous compost. It's produced a little fruit. Last week it lost all its leaves and is looking a bit sorry for itself. Is this likely to be early autumnal leaf fall or is something wrong? She's been watering it assiduously all summer - possibly too much at times?
Any ideas? Apart from potting it on, how do I prune it?
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Leaf Drop is always caused by stress of some kind.
Usually by Under/Over watering. My blueberry bush is still in full leaf.
Apparently the leaves started to go brown shortly after that very wet week we had, so I suspect over-watering - not sure the pot is too well drained....but don't they like wet soil?? It's in a very sunny spot.
Drainage issues kill a lot of plants, learned this mistake. I always make sure theres a good size hole at the bottom of the pot, and I only put 1 crock over this hole.
This stops a build up of soil around the hole and means the water can drain away easily.
Yes. When I repot it I'll do that.
I did read that you should only water blueberries with rain water e.g. from a but, not from the tap
Yes - Mum knows that. It's cos (hard) tap water is alkaline and blueberries need acidic conditions. Could well be underwatering too - or more likely, inconsistent watering. A much bigger pot will help this too I s'pose.
Bluebs don't like tap water. Get her to try giving them rainwater
She is. Do keep up.
Actually since it now has nary a leaf it won't need watering till spring anyway.
My blueberry in a pot had done really well this year, gave 3 kg of fruit, and looks very healthy. I have, dare I say it, watered it with tap water, but have fed it regularly with ericaceous feed. It needs some pruning, so will look at the RHS site. Thanks Buddyboy.
Hope your Mum's blueberry bush gets better, Steve.