Potted blueberry bush leaves turning yellow and red and no blueberries!

Hi all,
I purchased a small blueberry bush from Wilkinson's 2-3 years ago that I have growing in a large pot in the garden.

The bush itself has been growing well, though it only produced about 4 sour blueberries last year and nothing at all this year. I am totally new to gardening of any kind (hence starting small!). Now the leaves have gone yellow and some are starting to turn pink/red. I googled it and some have said it is down to the soil being too alkaline (I do live in a chalky hard water area, but I believe it was potted up with multi-purpose compost-though that is also likely to be too alkaline!).

I mostly leave the watering to the rain, though during the recent heatwave, my mother has been watering it with grey water (washing up water). Could the tap water be causing the problem? (Unfortunately we have a teeny tiny garden with no room for a water butt, hence grey water use!).

How do I best solve the problem? Do I need to cease watering with tap water? Do I need to change the soil with a special type and if so, where can I get it?

I did try adding diluted apple cider vinegar to washing up water as a quick way to acidify the soil. (Saw this as a tip elsewhere online). But this has done nothing!

I have also been quite neglectful and haven't fertilized the soil since potting it up, so could do with some advice on that front too-can I just use any old plant food from a supermarket/pound shop?

Thanks so much in advance! I am really keen to save money by growing my own blueberries and would be really sad if the bush didn't survive!

 

Hello and welcome.

Blueberry bushes need acid soil/ericaceous compost, otherwise they do exactly as you describe, sort of struggle along and hardly produce fruit.

I made the same mistake as you before I learned this. Then last year, I removed it from its pot, shook off a lot (but not all) of the old compost, cleaned out the pot, and repotted in ericaceous compost. This year ist grown loads, and is decked out in big juicy blueberries.

 

I'd do exactley what Clueless advises and also just water with rain water if possible

Welcome to GC ...Vegan_jen

 

Thanks for the welcome and the swift response .
I haven't seen ericaceous soil for sale before. Can I get it from somewhere like B and Q? I'm absolutely new to gardening and usually get my stuff somewhere cheap like Wilkinson's or a supermarket, but they only have standard compost.
Thanks!

 

Yes you can get it from the DIY stores no problem....

 

I've noticed nowadays that some of the big name retailers don't call it ericaceous compost any more, so if you can't find it, look for 'Rhodedendron, Azalea and Camelia' compost, which I've seen lots of places calling it these days.

 

Excellent thanks, I'll have a look!

 

Probably not a good idea to repot now, especially if you are going to remove old compost and and disturb roots.#
I get some sequestrene, and water it with that, it will sort it out short term, although I doubt the affected leaves will actually green up, you will probably have to wait until you get some new growth.
You can then repot into Ericacious compost early next spring.

 

You can buy it in most garden centres and other places, but this is the stuff.
http://www.lovethegarden.com/product-details/murphy-sequestrene-plant-tonic

 

I agree with Pete. I forgot to mention earlier, I do any repotting in late autumn when the plant is shutting down for winter, or early spring before its properly woke up. I would only mess with the roots in summer time if it was an emergency, ie if I was convinced I was going to lose it if I left it.

 

Oh ok, will the bush die if I were to repot it now then? So should I just wait another month or so and repot it then? Or get some sequestrene and wait until spring to repot? (Or get sequestrene now and repot in a month or so? lol).

Thanks, haven't heard of that stuff before (not surprisingly since I'm a newbie haha!).

 

I'd wait till spring to repot.
But the sequestrene will allow you to leave it as long as you like.
Just as long as you add more next year.

If you live in a hard water area, (chalk in Kettle), and occasionally use tap water when watering, a once a year dose of sequestrene would not do any harm regardless of the potting compost.

 

I'd do it in autumn