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Blueberry bush and ants! Help!

9 years ago

This summer my blueberry all but died when a neighbor failed to water it while I was out of town. Kept it in tub of water to keep it moist. It started coming back so I took it out of the tub of water. Had some green leaves! Then over the past few days I noticed the leaves starting to shrivel up and die. The soil was moist so I didn't water it more. I moved it into more sunlight thinking that would help. Still the leaves continued to dry up and die. This morning I noticed ants have made a bed in the pot. I'm assuming they are the culprit. Here's what happened when I sprayed the soil around the bush! Do you think my lil blueberry stands a chance? What should I do now to try to get my dear blueberry bouncing back again? Any hope?

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Comments (6)

rpost78
Original Author
9 years ago
Here's another picture of it.
ericwi
9 years ago
We have ants living in our yard, and we have about 20 blueberry shrubs, as well. They seem to coexist just fine. I have never had much success with attempting to resurrect a blueberry shrub damaged by lack of water.
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fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
9 years ago
Ants aren't the issue. The only time I've had ants on mine was when the plant was infected with scale or aphids.

All you can do at this point is cut off all the dead and give it a chance to grow back. Don't drown it by soaking in water. Set in partial shade and see what happens.
lsoh
9 years ago
I am not an expert. I've been growing fruit in pots since 2010. I'm growing over a dozen fruiting plants, including 4 blueberry bushes, in 14 gallon containers. But I'm still learning. I've had problems with ants probably since day one. Because I'm paranoid about what I put in and around my edibles, I don't have a solution. Ants are clearly visible on the soil surface and when I move the pots, a mess of ants and eggs are easily visible. I think the ants find my soil mix to be a nice home. You'd think that getting flooded once a day would discourage them, but it doesn't. However, my plants appear to be healthy despite the ants. So I doubt the problem with your plant is actually the ants.

As fruitnut pointed out, your ants could be a symptom of another problem. My cherry tree had aphids. The ants were running up and down that tree like the trunk was the LA freeway at rush hour. I had to get rid of the aphids.

My potted plants require daily watering. Given the information in your post, it's very likely that the plant is suffering from water issues.

If someone has a safe way to discourage the ants, I'd like to know about it.
carolstropicals
9 years ago
Hi, if you want to get rid of ants use Dried Molasses. You can find it at certain stores that carry specialty gardening. Just call ahead. (don't buy the liquid - it will clog up your sprayer)
I started using it - throwing it all over my gardens to help the soil. The soil was transformed and everything began blooming and sprouting again.
The biggest blessing is that I now have no ants nor snails.
I put it on once a year now just throwing it in the gardens. I can't remember if it was immediate - give it a little time or throw more on.
They teach this in classes here in Houston.
lsoh
9 years ago
caroltropicals,

Thanks.

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