Boredom leads to a Blueberry

[StoneCloud]

@Leo in N E Illinois

Wow I did not know this about you, but now I do!!! That is great.

I really appreciate you taking the time to share all your knowledge on them with me, I need it as they are new to me also and I don't know much.

On the topic of acidity. I've been trying to find something that I can apply to this and other trees that is a combination of acid and also iron, is there something out there I don't know of like this? I've looked but couldn't find the 2 in one product.

Here is a pic of the tree today:





Also I've noticed this on some new leaves recently and it has been wet for a week straight recently. Do you think that it's fungus or just effects of the heat? Any help is appreciated!!

 

[StoneCloud]

I've just got to say, @StoneCloud, that I love the title to this thread of yours!
It gives me a chuckle every time I see it.

"Boredom Leads to a Blueberry --> LOL!!,

Thanks

Well I'm glad!!! I guess it can be interpreted in a few different ways as well hahha



And btw @Leo in N E Illinois those blueberries look so freaking good!

 

[GSCarlson]

I couldn't sleep last night, so I was reading this thread. Long story short, I was outside at 2am with a flashlight, trimming the long suckers off my blueberry.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Sulfur, as it dissolved, will increase soil acidity, bring pH down. It dissolves slowly, releasing a little acid at a time. This is why you add it to soils.

There are a number of products that supplement iron, & manganese, they're usually in the sulfate form, or as the EDTA salt. Iron and nutrition is separate problem to solving soil pH issues, so there probably are no products designed for both issues.

However, if your soil is too alkaline, or too heavy in calcium, the high pH will inhibit, or even totally block uptake of iron, manganese, and other necessary minerals, even though they may be present in the potting media. Solving soil pH first, will make solving nutrient issues easier.

A good modern fertilizer will have all the macro and micro nutrients needed. Mira Acid, even though a rather old formula, has iron and manganese. Dynagro, MSU formulas, Peter's Professional fertilizers, and a host of others have good macro and micro supplement formulas.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

The Browning to new leaves is a fungal rot, a "water mold". In the field it looks like brown flags. It is brought on by excess moisture, high humidity and warm temperatures, especially if it stays warm and humid at night. If weather dries out, and humidity drops below 75% the infection will stop without doing anything. Sun, good air movement both help stop the spread. If your blueberry is tucked in with a crowd of other trees, move it to a more exposed position.

"Organic" control, you can remove affected leaves and stems, and dust cut edges with cinnamon, or the red sap from a species of Dracenia called Dragon's Blood.

Daconil or Clearys 3336 are good systemic fungicides. Read labels, follow safety directions. Remember if you use a systemic, check the PHI, or pre harvest interval. It will be the number of days it takes to clear the fungicide out of the fruit, that is if you want to eat the fruit. PHI will be on the label of fungicide you chose.

 

[StoneCloud]

Thanks @Leo in N E Illinois

I thought it was fungus.

The tree is in full sun from sun up until 4pm and is on a bench that is most exposed of them all...... and constant breeze. However it has been humid, still no breeze, and hot over night for weeks. I avoid watering the leaves but as soon as we had rain for a week straight it started.

I have Daconil but have hesitated to use it as it's only a few leaves and I have been cutting them off.

I'm also going to get the sulfur, thanks for that reminder.

I'm not too worried and just going to leave the tree alone as fall is around the corner and it's not that bad.

 

[sorce]

am minority partner

Majority worker!

No need to fert! That's fishy!

Sorry I didn't connect you two earlier!

@0soyoung I been thinking of Frary's boredom and a bush thread since this one!

Sorce

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@sorce - the partners ponied up the bulk of the cheddar, I spend more time there than they do, so even at fat old arthritic man speed, I it looks like I get more done. They do more in one weekend than I can get done in 2 weeks. August to September I do more goofing off than work.

@StoneCloud - yep, that sounds like all the environmental triggers needed to get that fungus growing. It will stop as soon as humidity and temps drop. It seldom kills bushes in the field, but those shoots it kills won't flower or fruit the next year. It is an economic significant disease for farmers.

Sounds like you have a handle on it.

 

[evolutionrevolution]

One last thing.

..Do not use turface, as a substrate..

'Doh! Just potted this collected blue berry for the first time and used equal parts pine bark, Oil Dry ( Bentonine calcium) and lava rock...

Think I should report without the clay? I really want this one to survive...I collected it and had it in regular nursery soil for 2 years. Now today in this pot with above mentioned mix.. It had been doing very well in regular soil with Epsoma Soil Acidifier applications... Will she make it!?

I believe it to be a pretty old plant . Pic is horrible. It's actually in an oval pot but you can't tell from photo.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@evolutionrevolution
Depends on your water quality. If the water you use is very low in dissolved calcium, you probably won't have a problem. If you collect, and store rain water, you probably won't have a problem. If your water has high dissolved solids, a lot of calcium carbonate, dissolved limestone, then you probably will have trouble.

In my nursery flats, where I bring blueberry plugs from tissue culture up to a size big enough to plant out in the field, I use a blend of peat moss and fir bark, with about 10% hardwood sawdust to feed the endo-mycorrhiza that blueberries associate with.

In a bonsai pot, I dry and sift to remove fines, then add this at 50:50 to pumice. That is what I do.

Your blueberry has already been with you two years. I don't know what regular nursery soil is, usually it is mostly fir or pine bark, often 100% bark. Yes, keep using your Acidifying Epsoma.

So, if your water is over 225 or 250 ppm total dissolved solids, I would consider it medium to hard water. If that is true, then make up the mix I described, and repot. That mix will help compensate for the hard water. Also try to use rain water if you can to water your blueberry.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

SO to re-cap,
My recommended blueberry mix is roughly
40% to 50% pumice
25 to 35 % fir bark, or pine bark or a mix of both, composted for one year is ideal, fresh will work if you can not take the time to compost it)
15% to 25% Canadian peat moss
5 to 10 % hardwood sawdust - this is to feed the endomycorrhiza that blueberry depend on.
Mix then sift. You will loose a lot of the peat, and much of the sawdust when sifting. I pre-sift these two items to keep the percentage up, but the exact percentages are not critical, so you don't have to make this too complicated.

optional
5% horticultural charcoal. - this too seems to help the mycorrhiza.

after mixing and potting up - add:
one tablespoon of elemental sulfur, per ''gallon'' of potting media - I have medium hard water, this is to provide long term slow acidification, & nutrition (sulfur is a macronutrient). Use the coarser grind labelled for soil acidification. It will take about one year to dissolve. Repeat once a year. If you can only get the very fine powder, intended as a fungicide or pesticide - add only one teaspoon per gallon, and repeat the dose once every 4 months. The finer powder dissolves quicker, lasting about 4 months.

Note, I grow Vaccinium corymbosum - northern highbush blueberry. The huckleberries and blueberries native to South Carolina might not be as sensitive to lime, calcium salts, as the pure northern highbush types. The cultivars of blueberry sold for southern climates may contain several different species native to the southern Appalachian region in addition to the northern highbush parent, and some might be more tolerant of calcium than others.

Example - my highbush cultivars Huron, Toro, and Sweetheart were not harmed when I used a fertilizer containing as much calcium as nitrogen, it was a 12-1-1 with 13 calcium and 4 magnesium. This fertilizer killed dead 100% of the Duke and killing 80% of the 'Bluecrop' and 'Jersey' cuttings that it was sprayed on. On the other hand 95% of the Huron, Toro and Sweetheart were not affected at all. All growing next to each other.

Both Toro and Sweetheart are complex highbush hybrids with Vaccinium species including rabbit eye blueberry and a southern native huckleberry, mixed in with its northern highbush blueberry ancestry. So from this I believe some of the southern Vaccinium may be more tolerant of limestone, or calcium in their environments. But I have no replicated, peer reviewed science to back up my observations. I don't know the breeding that went into 'Huron'.

Vaccinium angustifolium is the northern lowbush blueberry. I believe it is even less tolerant of calcium than the highbush blueberry. The lowbush blueberry usually stays under 1 foot tall, is more a creeping shrub, spreading by branches that come up from the roots almost creeping along like a rhizome. They are good for kusamono, and small shohin and smaller size bonsai. Fruit is small but excellent, the archetype for blueberry flavor.

 

[evolutionrevolution]

@Leo in N E Illinois

Thoughts on a good time to collect? Turns out i'm sitting on an old blue berry patch and have lost of old ones on my property, like my picture above.. Thanks for the blueberry love!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

By me, blueberries are deciduous, and I collect before new leaves appear in spring. I also transplant large bushes beginning middle of August, and do so through until the ground freezes. August is when night temperatures begin to drop below 65 at night. For SC, this might not happen until September. Late summer transplant season starts with the cooling down at night.

The night cooling signals most deciduous trees & shrubs to send out a flush of new roots. Repotting & transplanting just before the flush of new roots is perfect timing. Many conifers this also works with.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

June 3 update - fruit developing, should be ready for first picking by June 28.



May 15 - 25 flowers



Autumn color 2017

 

[Underdog]

I have 2 berries left on mine Dang birds...