Meyer
Sometimes the answer is nothing
Meyer
wayne fajkus wrote:Blueberries are tuff if the soil is not acidic. My attempts have been in large pots(cattle troughs) with peat moss and using rainwater. Period.
Peat moss and my alkaline well water doesnt work.
My alkaline soil and rain water doesnt work.
Blackberries thrive with my soil and water, so my focus is on them. Blueberries are a novelty here. In the same category as growing citrus here where it freezes. It can be done if you are willing to do what is needed. Neither will thrive without attention and care.
The sad thing. There are hundreds and hundreds of blueberry plants and citrus trees at the chain stores in my area. I shake my head at the total waste of all these plants that will be dead within the year. Yet i try to grow them.....
Something i have thought about, maybe someone smarter than me can give me insite. Acid wants to be neutral? You dump acid on the ground and it fizzes. Once it stops fizzing its no longer an acid? Or its less acidic? If this is partly true, then acidic soil taken out out of its environment will soon start neutralizing. From water added, etc. I just see it as a liftetime need of intervention, so growing the berries that thrives in your area may be the better thing.
Meyer
Meyer Raymond wrote:covered them with more soil (for two plants I used 3/4 of a sack of soil), then I covered with some straw which we had for the chickens, and then some more grass clippings (not too close to the plants) and then I found a bag of leaves and put that on top.
Striving to grow things as naturally, simply, and cheaply as possible!
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Meyer
Meyer Raymond wrote:As far as the more wild varieties go, unfortunately despite the fact that a lot of families have a little veggie garden in my area, the nurseries all tend to sell the same old, run of the mill plants, so I can't even find cool tomato varieties or any varieties that I can't buy at the store.
I had seen this thing with cardboard all over the place online talking about permaculture, are you saying that it isn't necessary?
Should I try to somehow fish out the cardboard? I could re-apply all of the mulch but would probably have to buy another bag of acidic soil. Should I try and wet the cardboard with a hose stuck in really low? Or would I drown these blueberries? Should I just cross my fingers and hope for a miracle of nature?
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"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
Meyer
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
Meyer
In the middle of the heap it was hot,
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
Meyer
Meyer Raymond wrote:Blueberryy emergency! Red leaf, i haven't dug it up yet and re-planted, is this a result of the heat from the grass clippings?
Please check out the picture and share your wisdom!
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
Judith Browning wrote:
Meyer Raymond wrote:Blueberryy emergency! Red leaf, i haven't dug it up yet and re-planted, is this a result of the heat from the grass clippings?
Please check out the picture and share your wisdom!
I don't know![]()
Maybe a few questions will help us figure it out though...
Were the plants bare rooted or in containers with soil when you bought them?
Were the roots circling the pot, looking root bound?
Has it been cool there since they were planted?
When you feel into the mound is the soil still hot? Is it damp or dried out?
My newly planted blueberries have a reddish cast to their leaves because we have had some cold weather since they leafed out but does not look like the leaf in your photo.
I see blooms on the bush...hard as it is to do we were told to pick them off the first year. I did not do it and my son did...big difference in growth so this time I am removing all of the flowers. Yours looks like an older bush though? Did it come with planting instructions?
Meyer
L. Tims wrote:To me it looks like the red leaf is some blueberry pigment leaking into the leaves. I had this happen when I grew glass gem corn one year, I think it results from inadequate fruit set and the pigment needing somewhere else to go.
Meyer
The plants were in containers and the roots were in circles in the pot, i didn't loosen them as i usually would when planting.
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
planted some borage (google translated, I've never heard of borage in English, we call it borragine in Italian), some butternut, arctic basil, lemon thyme and chamomile on top of the grass. I didn't have any more grass clippings, so I basically put the plant on top of the grass, covered with potting soil and put some dried leaves from my neighbor on top. Is that right? Should I add some straw? I can add grass clippings next time we cut. I am worried that if the wind picks up I am going to lose everything though. We get some pretty crazy winds, so maybe I should put these in the ground?
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
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Judith Browning wrote:Is there someone growing them commercially there?
We get our plants from a local blueberry farm, all known varieties for this area, where besides selling the berries he makes cuttings and sells gallon sized one and two year old plants.
He has just sold his farm this year so was trying to sell out all of the plants also. They were four dollars each (normally six dollars) so I bought twenty and have been planting like crazy and giving some to our sons. We already had seven in the ground, so I think we'll end up with twenty total...can't have too many
Sincerely,
Ralph
Ralph Kettell wrote:
Judith Browning wrote:Is there someone growing them commercially there?
We get our plants from a local blueberry farm, all known varieties for this area, where besides selling the berries he makes cuttings and sells gallon sized one and two year old plants.
He has just sold his farm this year so was trying to sell out all of the plants also. They were four dollars each (normally six dollars) so I bought twenty and have been planting like crazy and giving some to our sons. We already had seven in the ground, so I think we'll end up with twenty total...can't have too many
Hi Judith,
Would you mind passing in the name and location of the farm, if he hasn't sold all of his stock yet. We are local and would like to buy some also. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Ralph
"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young
Sincerely,
Ralph
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Chris MacCarlson wrote:The red color is nothing to worry about. It is a natural response that many plants have to high light/hot or cold temperatures, caused by anthocyanins which give the color.
Plants produce the pigment anthocyanin for a variety of reasons, but in particular with blueberries they produce it to protect leaves against high light/low temperature conditions, which can cause photorespiration, damaging the photosynthetic apparatus.
No "spilling over" of pigments from the seed - the color has a specific physiological purpose, of course.
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Erica Wisner wrote:
Chris MacCarlson wrote:
It's the dried and curled-up, reddish brown leaf that I am noticing. One or two dry/dead leaf tips could just be a minor injury, possibly due to a bruise, bump, or transplant stress.
If you get a lot more of those, however, the plant is struggling with something, possibly water supply. The years I was not able to water my bushes consistently with good water, that was how most of their leaves looked, not good.
Indeed, Chris. Because I love blueberries but I'm afflicted with 35 ft. of sand and a PH of 6.5, I knew it would be a struggle.
We have a large roof looking East, with a bigger gutter and rain spout to handle that. I dug a trench, 4'X 4'X 33' and lined it with 2 blue plastic tarps. I made sure not to *seal* that trench at the ends. I placed a 10" PVC, solid pipe from the spout to the trench, so I won't have water near the foundations either. I also placed 2 plastic barrels, one at each end, with a pipe, perforated, joining the PVC pipe and the 2 barrels [closed on top] so that, in sand, that water would go the length of the trench.
Then I filled the trench with the best soil I could get [imported, I didn't have chickens at the time]. The first couple of years, they struggled until I discovered aluminum sulfate. Once I applied the right amount to bring down the PH, they were fine. I have 5 blueberry plants and by layering, I plan to make a hedge. They look gorgeous in the Fall. The first frost gives them orange, red, purple hues that just delights the eyes! I have to adjust the PH every couple of years by placing a cup of aluminum sulfate to each plant.
At the end of the trench: Bonus! I got a volunteer Invicta[ I think] gooseberry.. I don't like the thorns but hey, free fruit is free fruit, right!?
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