Blueberry plants all died suddenly

furndire

I've got problems with blueberry plants as well. I thought they were all going the same way as a cranberry plant that just dropped all its leaves and dried up, but they are trying to grow. There seems to be quite a bit of new growth, but they certainly aren't doing as well as last year when I had them in pots. I bought some compost from B & Q, but the majority was from a local garden centre. We are in a hard water area, so I'm going to try watering with rain water, and see if that helps. Its gutting really, as last year I used to go out nearly every morning and pick a few to eat.

misspenny

is there anything can do if i can only water with tap water, havent got space for a water butt on allotment till we do a bit of moving round and replace the 2 dodgy homemade greenhouses left by prev tenent, goona get one decent sized greenhouse and a shed and put guttering up on both for some waterbutts but for the time being only choice is to catch i bit of rain in a bucket or use tap water, we have 4 plants in a raised bed of ericacious compost, whcih has then been coverd in weed control fabric and bark mulch (oh is obsessed with weed control fabric and bark mulch and we still have just as many weeds as anyone else so his plan didnt work).

ALIBOBSY

I thought the problem with tap water is only if you are in a hard water area, as the plants like acidic soil and hard water being alkali isn't good for the plants. In soft water areas like I live in the water is close to neutral PH so shouldn't be a problem. What type of water do you have?

ali x

katiel

There I was smugly thinking this has nothing to do with me when I realised that one of my three potted blueberries was exhibiting much the same symptoms - leaves going brown from the outside and fruits starting to shrivel. So I have just popped down to the RHS advisory service at Wisley to ask what they think. Answer is that I probably didn't give this particular plant enough water during that really hot week. Suggested that if I cut it back it may have a chance of recovery. Also there was a tortrix moth attached to the piece of plant I took in, but that was unlikely to have caused this particular damage.