[Grubbypaws]

My Blueberry Spartan has started to look very ill indeed and I do not know what is causing it. The leaves are turning magenta from the central vein out and then shriveling up. One whole stem seems to have died and the blueberries are shriveled and falling off.

It is in a container with ericacious soil, watered with rain water and generally treated in a way no blueberry bush can complain about.

Has any one any ideas of the cause. Is it likely to be contagious?

[Nobbie]

Look up blueberry fire blight, I think that is what killed my two bushes at home. Sounds similar to what you are describing. Bad luck

[Grubbypaws]

The bush has now completely died with the leaves still attached so I am sure that you are right 

I bought it from the RHS on line shop. I have informed them of my problem and they have offered to send me another plant or to refund. My concern is that the original plant was diseased when I got it and if I ask for a replacement plant I risk introducing another diseased plant into my blueberry collection 

They say that the nursery has just got a new supply of 'spartan' in which seems to imply that they did indeed have a problem with the last batch.

Has anyone else had problems with RHS plants?

[Grubbypaws]

I don’t know whether to worry or not. My Ozark blue produced a veritable mass of berries but they have stayed tiny. Now some are simply shrivelling up and falling off. I don’t know whether it is  rashioning because there are too many fruit or whether this is another manifestation of fire blight. Some of the ends of the stems also seem to be dying back. Help 

[Growster...]

If possible, Grubbypaws, can you keep it in its pot for another year?

One of ours died back to nothing a couple of years ago, and then started to re-grow from the tiniest leaf shoot! It hasn't fruited this year, but has good strong branches now, so hopefully it'll get going next year!