Blueberry plant leaf malody.

17 years ago

Howdy. I'm a college student and, unfortunately, I can't bring my blueberry plants up with me to college because of roommates and small dorm rooms and what not. And the lack of a window.

But all that aside, I noticed when I was down over spring break that one of my plants had purple splotches on the leaves. The newer leaves don't have them, just the 'older' leaves. Now older doesn't mean from last year, older just means they were the first to grow as the bush that's being afflicted died last year and a new one grew in it's place from the old root system I would assume. So they're all relatively new leaves.

Now I'm home for summer and noticed that the splotches are still there. Mind you the bush is a lot bigger now, and I haven't done anything adjustment wise to the soil or anything since spring break (my parents water them for me) so I'm starting to worry a bit about why they're there.

But I'm not sure what's causing the splotches on the leaves. They're fairly regular, there's a lot of them and they're pretty good size. Not every leaf is affected, though, and they're primarily on the top side of the leaf though some are on the bottom side (though that may just be a top side splotch showing through).

Is this a deficiency of some kind? I was thinking maybe an iron deficiency or something. My pH for the soil is right at 4.5 so it's not that it can't take up the nutrients (or I don't think it is) so I'm hoping it's a deficiency and not a pest.

Any ideas?

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Comments (3)

jellyman
17 years ago
Blewb:

Agree that PH is not the problem, since high PH usually results in yellowing, not purpling leaves. And I also doubt it is an insect problem. It sounds to me more like one of the fungal diseases than can affect blueberry plants. If so, it is not likely to go away spontaneously, and it may spread to your other plants if they are in close proximity. The standard recipe for treating fungal infections is to take out and destroy the affected canes, then treat with an effective fungicide. That is an unusual story about the dieback and regeneration of this plant from the roots. Any blueberry plants that have died back for me have ended up dead as a doornail.

I think I would write off the plant if many of the leaves are infected. A new plant might be a lot easier to deal with and cheaper in the long run than trying to treat the one that is ill.

You talk of the possibility of taking the plants to college. Are these plants portable in the sense that they are in containers, or are they in the ground?

Do a search for "blueberry diseases" and you can find various sites that describe them, some with illustrations.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
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blewb
Original Author
17 years ago
Yes, they're in containers.

And it either grew back from the root system or from some leaves/fruit/whatever that worked its way back into the soil because I'd clipped off the dead canes last year. and it doesn't look like it's coming from the old dead stump but maybe it's sprouting out from under ground.
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blewb
Original Author
17 years ago
Ok I finally got around to taking pictures. They're a bit out of focus but you can see in the background some more in focus leaves rather than what I was trying to shoot.

I googled blueberry plant diseases and searched for purple spots but the only purple coloration that they mention are based on the stems, not the leaves. These are on the leaves only.

Also the third link included is a picture of my two plants. They're both the same age but the one on the left (Tifblue, the one on right is Climax) is the one that 'died' and is now afflicted with whatever this stuff is. The Climax is perfectly fine except for one branch that a caterpillar seems to have snacked on.

Not entirely sure how to get the images to show up on this forum. Image tags don't seem to work.

Leaf:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p281/Spiffunk/Blewb1.jpg

Leaf2:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p281/Spiffunk/Blewb2.jpg

Plants:
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p281/Spiffunk/Blewb3.jpg

I'd really like to hear ideas if anyone has any.
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Blueberry plant leaf malody.

Comments (3)

jellyman

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Blueberry plant leaf malody.

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