collecting a wild blueberry bush

[tantric]

i brought in a blueberry bush, or bush stump? two days ago. i carefully collected the soil around the roots (mostly shallow, one deep) and placed it in a 8" deep clay pot with squeezed moss in the bottom. it faltered immediately, of course, so i put it in ICU. i've read about misting systems for blueberries, but this guy perked right up when i a)buried the pot and b)covered it with a 20gal aquarium. now i'm spray misting often, looks good. pics soon. while getting the tank out, i found this old contraption that i think was meant to show watches - it's a hexagonal cylinder with a spinable center with about 12 levels of dishes, all clear plexiglass.....well, i really need some new blueberry bushes, and it seems custom made for mass propagation (it spins for pete's sake!). we'll see.

 

[Cadillactaste]

Are you keeping this indoors or outside? Photos?

 

[tantric]

its outdoors in an east facing rose garden cum tomato bed. apparently i'm lacking some skill or genetic ability to use a webcam to take decent pics...they're awful, but i did try.

and another bad angle

 

[sorce]

I'm not eating those tomatoes!

Cant see the pictures?

Sorce

 

[tantric]

man, i grow heirloom tomatoes in the deep south in my garden - come midsummer, i'll have to stand guard and beat people off with a stick - your loss ;-)

 

[tantric]

willie (i wanted to name him for the girl from willie wonka who turns into a blueberry, but i never got around to it) was doing well, but twice now i've seen brown spots appear overnight on the leafs, which then wilt. i had a flasback to college mycology and immediately removed all of them, zonked the dead leaves with bleach then sprayed neem solution on willie...who got better quickly til two days later and did it again. ideas?

there is no rust on the original blueberries from the patch.

 

[M. Frary]

I'm not eating those tomatoes!

Sound yummy don't they?

 

[tantric]

Sound yummy don't they?

they are Rutgers, which i've never grown before. last year it was Surrender Indian Curry, which is firmer and less watery/more concentrated, but essentially the same flavor. i have several other types, too. but also lots of Early Girls because, quoth my father, "the only people who buy farm tomatoes are old people, and they only like early girls and they only buy them by the side of the road". yep, i'll be on the roadside....but heirlooms for everyone else (and old people like them, too)

 

[sorce]

man, i grow heirloom tomatoes in the deep south in my garden - come midsummer, i'll have to stand guard and beat people off with a stick - your loss ;-)

I was just joshing ya!

cum tomato bed

I mean, I don't eat tomatoes except for on Whopper Jr.'s.
And I'd mess with the Pee Pee Pumpkins. But THOSE kind of tomatoes, I gotta draw the line somewhere!

Jokes over....my apologies for inappropriateness If necessary.

Sorry to bug you so much on pics. But those are kind of hard to see.
Oh. I saw the aquarium there. The hex propagation sounds fun. If love to see that too!

I got one of those old displays I'm gonna make a turntable out of. Square and wood. Good stuff!

Sorce

 

[tantric]

i'm having a problem controlling the heat under the glass it's killing the leaves (the brown spots). i tried a few things, but the best and simplest is watering the plant via a small pot (with a hole in the bottom) filled with ice cubes so that they drain into the blueberry's buried pot. one potfull lasts through the morning, until the blueberry is out of the sun, and Willie loves his ice water. next it'll be mint juleps and peeled grapes, i suppose???

 

[GrimLore]

i'm having a problem controlling the heat under the glass it's killing the leaves (the brown spots). i tried a few things, but the best and simplest is watering the plant via a small pot (with a hole in the bottom) filled with ice cubes so that they drain into the blueberry's buried pot. one potfull lasts through the morning, until the blueberry is out of the sun, and Willie loves his ice water. next it'll be mint juleps and peeled grapes, i suppose???

Where I live if you take any blueberry, raspberry and such from the ground and transplant it they brown out and fall over quick. I found that if collected and placed in a nursery pot with organic substrate in the shade they do best. They still wilt for a few days but come back ok the first season. Second season they shine and do well. Not certain why but that is what works here.

Grimmy

 

[tantric]

willie is doing better. he no longer needs the ice water drinks and doesn't wilt during the day. i've propper up the aquarium cover a bit, giving him some air, and will gradually increase this over the next two weeks

 

[tantric]

a few days ago i tried air layering a stem from an older bush, so far, so good. i assume if you mess up an air layering, go too deep, your mistake is readily apparent?

also, some bushes show magnesium deficiency, others iron in another patch, but my father says i can't correct for this until fruiting is over - true or old wives' tale? can i feed the bush i'm layering from an organic nitrogen fertilizer to encourage leaf growth? i pruned all the berries on that branch, of course.

 

[tantric]

update. well, i now understand that what i tried was foolish...but i've learned some interesting things. my bush, willie, is now out from under the glass, though his pot is still buried. no more wilting or spots or such. lesson - the potted bush needs high humidity, but cannot tolerate high temps. i nearly let him slip away before i figured this out. i had his pot buried and an 20gal aquarium over it - humid, but stifling. i solved it by giving him ice - a smaller pot filled with ice with a hole in the bottom positioned so that the cold water drains into his roots. that did the trick. without it the heat was killing the leaves.

i'm going to leave him alone for a bit and research whether or not i can fertilize to get new leaves......

pics are a problem right now - my main computer, a netbook asus cheap as dirt running linux, is in pieces on my work bench while i try to figure out why it isn't getting power. the back up isn't mobile, and my free govment cell phone takes horrible pics. yeah, it's like that...

 

[tantric]

i managed a pic - i really don't understand why this one facet of technology simply refuses to work for me, but it's a trial.



it's still a horrible pic, but at least it contains information - you can see the main 'trunk' and even where new leaves are putting on. so, is there any hope for bonsai or should i be happy with a potted blueberry? i really brought this plant in because i was pretty sure it would get killed in the next mowing regime, so nothing lost. i am rather happy he lived, though.

yes, i'm asking for guidance and will accept it as humbly as i'm able.... ;-)

 

[just.wing.it]

i managed a pic - i really don't understand why this one facet of technology simply refuses to work for me, but it's a trial.

View attachment 77118

it's still a horrible pic, but at least it contains information - you can see the main 'trunk' and even where new leaves are putting on. so, is there any hope for bonsai or should i be happy with a potted blueberry? i really brought this plant in because i was pretty sure it would get killed in the next mowing regime, so nothing lost. i am rather happy he lived, though.

yes, i'm asking for guidance and will accept it as humbly as i'm able.... ;-)

Here's my blueberry. I screwed up royally in this poor thing. Didn't do any research before barerooting it and potting it. Two of three main branches died. But the plant lives on, in a ridiculously small amount of soil.

 

[GrimLore]

Didn't do any research before barerooting it and potting it.

I have never seen ANY berry bush respond well to bare rooting and they seem to do best if potted in a well draining simple substrate. Even when healthy and established I have never had luck giving them more then filtered sun. My Wife moved the last one I had this past Spring to a sunny location with no other changes and it sure looks dead to me

Grimmy

 

[just.wing.it]

I have never seen ANY berry bush respond well to bare rooting and they seem to do best if potted in a well draining simple substrate. Even when healthy and established I have never had luck giving them more then filtered sun. My Wife moved the last one I had this past Spring to a sunny location with no other changes and it sure looks dead to me

Grimmy

Dang.... Well, I think it had more to do with the fact that I did the work after the berries were gone. From what I understand, no deciduous trees like root work of any kind after the spring growth. But, hey, 1/3 of the tree held on. We'll see what happens from here. I've already been told that it's a 1 in a million chance it would survive till fall. So it's now my 1 in a million blueberry.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

You are in Georgia, most likey the blueberry you collected is one of the 'Rabbit Eye' blueberry species. I am only familiar with the northern highbush types, so my comments might not directly apply to 'rabbit eye' types. You are correct, blue berries are sensitive to high heat, especially the roots. Often found on hummocks, nebari well above the water, roots often run down into cool water. Generally all blueberries are shallow rooted. The need a very acidic soil, pH 4.5 to 5.0 is ideal. Symptoms of Magnesium & nitrogen defficiency will show if soil pH is not low enough.

Media for growing pots, I carefully sift dry peat moss throwing out anything that goes through 1/8th inch screen. Of commonly available media, only peat moss is acidic enough to keep blueberries happy. Kanuma is ok for azaleas, not acidic enough for blueberries. I use a blend of 33% sifted peat, 33% perlite, 5 - 10% hort charcoal, and remainder is kanuma or fir bark depending on whats on hand. The more calcium in your water, the quicker this mix will break down. In my medium hardness water, two years is about the longest I let this mix go.

there certainly are other mixes that work, I am not familiar with them.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

pruning:
Natural habit of high bush types is to send up a shoot from the roots. First year it is a tall whip without branching at all. normally the terminal bud dies over winter. 2nd year branching begins, usually the cane will arch over somewhat. Over the second winter the branches on the underside of the arching stem tend to die, Often main branch will die past an upper branch. Side and upper branches form flower buds. Again, most terminal buds on branches die, and the 3rd year extension is from buds further back on the branch, and on the upper side of the branch. 3rd sprimg the flowers bloom, and summer will bring fruit. Mason bees (a native solitary bee) and Bumble bees are best pollinators, honey bees are only 50% effective. Northern highbush are self fertile, some lowbush are not, I don't know about rabbit eye types fertility.

so to keep branches from dying off, none of the branches canbe shaded relative to the others. Bending a branch below horizontal is likely to last one or two seasons, then the branch will expire in favor of a more vertical branch. Cascades are not likely to work. While a branch may live 20 years, it will be difficult to keep fine ramification past 4 or 5 seasons. Fine twigs are sacrificed to a strong bud elsewhere on a branch.

all this said, Blueberry do make cool bonsai, you need to plan for this succession of branches, Style will be one of constant renewal. Fruit will happen on branches from 3 to maybe 6 years old, then that branch will abort in favor of youner buds and branches.

flowers, fruit, Autmn leaves, interesting nebari, eventually rough shredded bark on older parts, all make for interesting bonsai or kusamono. I am a fan of using blueberry for bonsai, but it is different from your average trident maple. No styling will be 'permanent', but the nebari will get larger and larger over time.

have fun

the curious habit of aborting terminal buds and branches on underside of main branch needs to be planned for. If a branch on the top side of the cane gets some size to it, often the main branch will die in favor of the upper branch. You end up with arching branches with repeated climbing curves. A branch can live a decade or two, but ramification may be difficult to retain.