[paintedlady]

I'd already written this post in an earlier post (ericaceous) but realised it might get missed and I had a couple of questions that I hoped someone might be able to help with

I moved my blueberry bushes from my garden to the allotment yesterday armed with bags of ericaceous compost and fish, blood & bone plus manure & compost from the plot. I was quite surprised just how shallow the roots are but they spread out sideways - still a weight to lift up and carry.

AFTER I'd put them in the new home and patted myself for a job well done, one of the other plotholders said I should have put some iron sulphate down as well. I'd never heard of this - is there any reason other than possibly a fertiliser? The allotment has acidic clay soil.

Secondly, one of the bushes always was small but with a name like "Pixie" you sort of think perhaps it is a dwarf variety. However, the root ball was very small even for the size of it and within the roots & old compost, I noticed lots of round yellow structures (about 2mm in diameter), clearly eggs of something as they were crunchy when squashed. Fearing I might be transferring a pest to the new site, I haven't planted it. Does anyone know what these eggs are, and are they possibly the reason why the bush never did well? The plant itself looks okay, the roots not.

[noshed]

Don't ask me, I killed 2 blueberry bushes (I think with chalky tap water). Yellow eggs don't sound good though - are they vine weevil?

[paintedlady]

I looked up vine weevil, and there was a reference to the eggs being so small that you can't see them without a magnifying glass.  The ones I came across were really quite large and perhaps slug or snail (?) but they were definitely yellow and they were located more underneath and inside the root ball rather than on top.  As I'm typing this, they look remarkably like the emoticons (but without the faces!!!!  No I haven't been drinking)

You know what is so annoying is that I had my camera with me to take photos of the plot but I was too knackered to be bothered!  I even left my favourite fleecy jacket in my shed - its probably full of spiders now!

[gobs]

Can be anybody's really, slug eggs sound similar, if you sure it's eggs and not some galls, then just wash the roots and plant so, if in doubt I would leave in a pot for a season and see.

The iron, I don't know, I'd say if it ain't bad don't fix it. Acidic, bog plant sort of thing, not much nutrition there, where it naturally grows, I'd guess.

[Trillium]

I think the iron sulphate is simply to help acidify the soil more. It can't be too acid for blueberries, which are THE most acid soil loving plant there is I believe. Sounds like you've done well enough with the soil you brought and other items. I'd just scratch some iron sulphate into the soil twice a year if you feel more comfortable about it. Blueberries aren't deep rooted plants since they grow in acidic rocky soil where there's often not enough soil. Which is a key reason why they need regular watering (with rain water, not tap) for their shallow root systems. I mulch mine like crazy.

As for the eggs - can't help you there but I'd be squishing what I could find and washing the soil off the roots to not transfer them. Pixie could well be a dwarf variety - though why anyone develops dwarf blueberries is beyond me  :roll:

[spudulike]

Blueberry compost from pots, yellow things. It is possible these are not eggs at all but slow release fertiliser.

[Wildeone]

i've got snails as pets and their eggs look very similar to slow release fertiliser!

[gobs]

I think the iron sulphate is simply to help acidify the soil more. It can't be too acid for blueberries, which are THE most acid soil loving plant there is I believe.

Good point, Trill. I got away from post, thinking of iron supplement for deficiency which they are apparently prone to, not that I've encountered.

Pixie is def a dwarf.

Slug eggs and fert thingie can look very similar but I think PL is well above that level of gardening, besides I don't remember ever finding any slow release stuff in any eracious compost I ever bought.

Noshed, I do very commonly water mine with tap water.

[The Thin Blue Line]

It could it be that it is slug bait made of iron phosphate pellets that disrupt a slug's digestive system is reportedly safe round plants, pets, and  birds. It's sold as Escar-Go ™ the pellets are 3mm, and yellow.

But dont hold me to it with out seen them (yours) with mark I eyeball

[paintedlady]

The blueberry bushes had been planted in my garden for the past 2 and half years.  I thought they would look both pretty (I love their autumn colours and reddish branches in winter) and useful (provide fruit), but the only site I had was smack in the middle of the lawn.  Mowing the lawn (electric) started to get complicated, and the number of times the cable would get caught up in the branches I can't count. :roll:   Hence, new home.

So the fertiliser idea sounds good, but I doubt it by now, and of the 5 bushes (all from the same garden centre at the same time), only that one had them.  They really did resemble yellow polystyrene balls/slow release fertiliser but when I squashed one between my (gloved!) fingers, it had a distinctive crunch sound like thin egg shell.

Well, I have potted the dubious plant so we'll see what this year brings.  Thank you everyone for your input, but if anyone else has any ideas I would really appreciate it.

[cudders]

I've recently planted two blueberry bushes but they dont look too good. I put in lots of ericascious compost too.

What else can I do??

Cudders