A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 new blueberry plants- are they dying?

Hello all,
I just planted a pair of blueberries in a raised bed with fresh garden soil. I fertilized it with Mir-acid, my mom said that should take care of making the soil acidic, the packaging stated that blueberries like acidic soil.
The plants have been turning a reddish color over the past few days - both the stems and leaves - is that normal?? Help! I think I may have fried them with the Mir-acid. This is my first try at growing fruit so I'm a little lost.
Thanks!

Claire,
You wouldn't happen to have a picture for us,
would you?????


And be patient with growing things, and don't give up..
*blueberries are one of the more trickier one's to start with..*

Claire...have you had cold weather? The stems will turn red in winter, and I think they're adapting to being put outside after being in a warm store and starting to break dormancy...if the leaves aren't getting crisp, they could be having a protective reaction to sun and cool temperatures. They weren't really meant to be in leaf yet, anyway...keep us posted. And for sure don't fertilize any more, that's not good for any freshly planted shrub, etc.

Dave - thanks for the winter info - the temp dropped from 75 for a week down to the 40's and 50's. I bet thats the problem.

And weezie I tried to get my picture to upload, but my camera is screwed up, sorry no visuals!

Thanks for the help!

Blueberries need VERY acidic soil to survive and produce. In the 4.5 range. Simply using Miracid is not enough. Amend the soil with peat moss and garden sulphur to aid in reducing the soil's pH but don't expect results overnight. It can take years to move a soil's pH by 2 points. Get a soil test done. As far as chilly temps go, I'm guessing that's not the problem. Blueberries are very hardy shrubs.

I was wondering how to post a picure - I finally got my camera working and have a picture of my blueberr shrub. I tried to paste into this window, but it didn't work. Thanks!

You need to store it on the net somewhere first then copy the address from the properties (right click on the stored pic) I use www.photobucket.com for my storage , there are others too

After you get your pictures into Photobucket,
Take that one picture you are looking to post,
and copy the URL, then go to the FULL REPLY FORM
on a reply box and click on the IMAGE box.
*a blue http:// will show up, either delete it
or back space on it and it will go away*
Then Paste your URL into the box that comes up and
click your ADD REPLY button..
*I think that's all of it*
If not, let us know....

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h292/cfoust/hyac.jpg

Wow I think I did it! Thanks for your help. Here is the blueberry.....

That wasn;t a blueberry - that was my pretty grape hyacinth(speling?).

Sorry - here it is

oh man, I can barely see that??

Claire,
Can you make it a bit bigger????

Claire, you may have copied the url for the thumbnail picture. Either that or it's a dwarf.

I can't figure out how to make it bigger. My camera is busted so I took the picture with my cell phone, that is most likely the problem!

It is a young tiny plant...may qualify as a dwarf:) but it has been stable over the last week, no further reddening, so that is good. I need to add some peat to the soil - I'm allergic to sulfur so I can't use the strong stuff.

Anyways....from that tiny picture does that color look normal??
Thanks for your help and putting up with me!!

To me, that color looks like fall time..
Like it's getting ready for fall, you know what I mean??

Can you see any new green buds anywher'es along
the stems at all???

There are new buds - but the weird thing is they look like that same reddish color. The stems are green, but the leaves and buds are red.

This is what I get for buying a shrub from Walmart

Just wanted to let you know that my blueberry plants now look great (though tiny), they are green and sprouting new leaves....i guess it was a temp issue! Thanks for your help, i'll post pictures when i get my real camera up and running.

We love to hear updates !!