Why are my sunshine blueberry’s leafs turning hard and black?
Basically the question above. My legacy plant growing in the same pot is doing just fine, but the Sunshine seems to be struggling. We’ve been getting a lot of rain lately so I haven’t been watering as much, is it just thirsty? Should I give it some fertilizer? I’m in Zone 8a and planted them about two weeks ago.
I’m new to growing fruits so I’m a little lost! I’ve only grown herbs and garlic before. I hope they can be saved!
Any recommendations for a good fertilizer? I mostly just use some home compost, but it’s a small bit of veggie peels and left over coffee grounds in my garlic bed.
Coffee grounds good for acidity, which blueberries like. I would mulch mine with pine shavings from the hamster store once a year for an extra kick, then I did mostly nitrogen (organic chicken manure) in the spring (leaves coming out) and fall (leaves falling off), and a citrus mix (this one, should be available at your local garden store). I believe it has a micro-nutrient supplement, but honestly, if you've got your blueberries in ground and with a decently acidic pH, this is totally unnecessary. The same brand has a berry mix, but whatever, its a more balanced feed with micros. Blood and bone mix would do pretty much the same thing, and apply that during/ before flowering (timing depends if you are high bush or low bush/ early or late). The biggest thing I learned about blueberries in the time I was growing them was how much they LOVED being trimmed. Mine responded very well to trimming and would pump the years after a trim.
My fertilization schedules are always centered around life stages. Nitrogen for new leaves/ branching; micronutrients (and maybe sulpher) for flowering/ fruiting. I'm basic af.