Blueberry flowering in November

Hello everyone. I'm a new member. I've had various blueberries in pots for some years and have proved good croppers the last two years. Three weeks ago I moved them into a dedicated raised bed. The soil is ericaceous and the ph is 5.5, the same as the pots. One bush has now started to flower. Any ideas?

 

Hello moray and welcome to GC forums,

It could be the shock of moving them or the weather. They sometimes do have a few flowers out of season.

 

For some years now, many strange things have taken place with plants across the world. The once reliable flowering and fruiting calender has become disarranged as I am sute most gardeners have experienced. Agreed for instance some variations have for time in memorial differed a bit, between plants growing in the south compared to those grown in the north. This is quite natural. However in most recent times. Some plants have, as it were, been forced forward sometimes as far as a month. In cases such as experience by this thread's author. The sudden appearance of flowers on fruit bushes, may be a novelty. Personaly I would be inclined to remove any out of season flowers. WHY? Obviously the purpose of growing fruit bushes etc is to produce fruit. Out of season flowers will not be correctly pollinated and thus although some form of fruit may appear, it will be far from the norm. Also, the biological makeup of plants may restrict the plant to perhaps a single flowering/fruiting period, that will always be brief. So. Althogh out of season flowers may be fascinating, to keep them may actually cost you a flowering and possible fruit yield in the future. Hope this is of some interest.

 

Hello Logan and Mike. I think you're right. The bush (a patriot) has cropped
Hello Logan and Mike. Thank you for your replies. I think you're right. The bush ( a patriot ) is four years old and has cropped well the last two years in a pot. Being established it may have taken a knock when transplanted. I have three other varieties a year younger not obviously affected. The ph (5) in the new bed is slightly different to the pot though not radically. I live just south of Edinburgh and throughout November we had mild weather. 2 weeks ago we had 3-4 sub zero nights in succession which seems to have arrested further growth. As I read this together with your replies it seems there's some straightforward answers! Thanks again. Richard.

 

Plants, and all living things are opportunistic and give a try of reproducing in unlikely conditions just in case the unlikely conditions turn out to be the new normal.

This has become very apparent with the climate change and the unusual seasons we have seen lately (not a new thing mind), so the records of the past 200 years of gardening in Britain are no longer applicable today. The climate is different, the cultivars are different, the purpose of growing any plant is different.

As @Mike Allen wisely says, if you are growing the plants for the crops, it's a good idea to remove unseasonal flowers so that the plant will not waste energy in trying to form fruit on the expense of the main crop.

If growing just for fun, I'd leave the flowers in place or cut them for indoors decorations. My mature Rosemary is opening some lovely flowers just now, I'll cut them for Christmas decoration

 

It all depends on how many flowers there are, if it's just a few I'd leave them.