[johnfh]

Does anyone have any idea what is wrong with this blueberry plant? I purchased three plants  last summer and they have all been treated the same. Potted in ericaceous compost and mulched with pine needles from a tree in my garden then covered in sawdust collected near a saw bench in a local wood.  The one that was the best now looks very sad but the soil has not dried out and all have been kept fairly moist.  Has anyone any suggestions as to what the cause might be?

[BabbyAnn]

it does look poorly    My first thought is that the compost had dried out but you say the soil has been kept fairly moist so I'm not sure.  I'm wondering about the sawdust - maybe it contained a preservative or something which has leached into the soil, or maybe the bush has been in contact with some kind of weedkiller?  What about some pest in the soil such as vine weevil which may have eaten the roots?  Or the pot has been in a very hot sunny location and got a bit overcooked?

Sorry I don't have an answer.  Is the plant still alive - if you scratch the bark, is it still green underneath?  If it was me, I would trim off the dead growth and repot the plant in fresh ericaceous compost and at the same time inspect the roots, then give the plant a liquid feed to give it a boost.

[mumofstig]

Have you been watering it with tap water, cos they don't like that at all

[sunshineband]

We do water our blueberries with tap water because that's what come out of our hose  ,and our water is very hard and chalky.

I know they don't like limy soil and so we add flowers of sulphur once a year to the soil to try to counteract this.

As for johnfs's bush, it does look quite stressed as the leaves have gone their autumnal red and there are not many of them.

I'd move it into the shade, keep it moist, take off the sawdust mulch just in case it has something unpleasant in it and give it a feed of azalea food or something for ericaceous loving plants.

Hope that helps 

[Lardman]

I have no clue what it might one of mine is unhappy but not that bad.

I know its the wrong time of your but Id don't think you have a lot to lose in taking it out of the pot removing the compost and replacing it with fresh ericaceous compost.

Examine the root ball for damage and the compost for unwanted intruders like an ants nest.

[sunshineband]

I have no clue what it might one of mine is unhappy but not that bad.

I know its the wrong time of your but Id don't think you have a lot to lose in taking it out of the pot removing the compost and replacing it with fresh ericaceous compost.

Examine the root ball for damage and the compost for unwanted intruders like an ants nest.

or vine weevil grubs 

[johnfh]

Thanks for your responses friends.  Will let you know if I find anything significant.