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Fruit & Orchards Metro NY Gardener

Growing blueberries

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

Hi all. I've had potted blueberry shrubs in very large pots, for a few years now. They have been doing well, all these years.

More recently, the shrubs were getting too big for my small balcony, so I had to move them up to our 4th floor rooftop. (I periodically have to remove them from the balcony when the building owner has to do work on the roof...)

Anyway, last year, while they were up on the (white-painted) rooftop, I had them behind the elevated rooftop stairwell/egress. So while they were getting strong indirect light on the roof, they also got a bit of 'cover' from the wall of the stairwell/egress to the roof. They also did well last year, up on the rooftop, and in that location.

It was only very recently that I moved my two plants back up to the roof. When I moved them a few weeks ago, they were looking very good....all new green leaves, and the start of the flowers all over the shrubs.

However, because the landlord no longer wants anything on the rooftop FLOOR, I had to put the pots up on elevated beams of sort, on the rooftop. I then tightly secured the pots to the beams, so they won't fall over in the wind. But now that they are on the beams, they are no longer shielded at all by the stairwell/egress wall. So they are in full sun all day, on a 4th floor rooftop.

It had probably been about two days since they were watered. When I went up today, I was struck by the fact that the green color of the leaves was no longer a deep rich, 'new leaf' shade of green. They looked a bit 'washed out' or lighter in color. I was also struck by the fact that...the leaves were also showing tinges of pink/red, similar to how they might do in the FALL.

I can't imagine that my simply not watering them for the past two days would have caused the leaves to suddenly 'turn' like that.

Is it possible that their being in full sun on a 4th floor rooftop really isn't good for blueberry shrubs? Maybe all that sun is what really caused the leaves to turn like that? Maybe I need to see if I can possibly move them back behind the egress, where they were last year?

Thanks!

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Comments (9)

Embothrium
3 years ago
Roots might be getting too hot
Lynn Nevins
Original Author
3 years ago
Ah...so maybe I should just add more mulch to top of soil.... I admit that any mulch I had there before had pretty much broken down into the soil...
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vgkg Z-7 Va
3 years ago
"Hot roots" for a container plant is usually the result of direct sun shining on the container, esp if it's a dark color which can get pretty hot in direct sun for hours on end. Mulch won't help if this is the case.
Lynn Nevins
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks....hmmm.... guess I'm gonna have to come up with another solution...maybe even give the now-very mature plants to someone else. I'd rather that, and that they have a 'good life'. I think of my plants almost like offspring...raised from infancy...my responsibility...and...I just can't accept a plant 'dying'... ;-)
Lynn Nevins
Original Author
3 years ago
Today I was back up on the rooftop to check my shrubs. I felt the top of the soil, as well as the outside of the pot, and neither felt warm (i.e., like the roots might be getting too hot....at least, not at this time of year...or yet...).

Which made me wonder...maybe the plants look very different to me (i.e.,, the dark green leaf color is now very 'washed-out' looking), not necessarily because there's a problem with the overall plant or the roots...but maybe that's just how blueberries and their leaves naturally look...in the wild.

Blueberries in the wild do typically grow in a clearing...an open part of a forest...yes? As mentioned, my blueberry shrubs have typically been in a part sun/part shade setting. So perhaps it's just that I'm used to my shrubs' leaves being a darker green...and now that they are in full sun, it's made the leaves fade in color. Could that be it?

I'm hoping that maybe there's a way I COULD still keep these pots up on the rooftop, because otherwise I may have to give them away...as there's no other place I can fit these now quite-large plants...
berryphile
3 years ago
Why don't you try some shade netting? Blueberries are not in full sun in their native environment. They are in dappled sun.
Lynn Nevins
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks. Never heard of shade netting, but will check it out!
berryphile
3 years ago
Farmers in my area of Japan use it because we have some pretty hot, intense August temperatures. I would think that people in Southern California and Nevada would use it because they have issues with sun scald on shrubs.
Lynn Nevins
Original Author
3 years ago
Ah....I thought the shade netting might be something I could drape onto the plant itself. But it seems it must be hung over the plant. Unfortunately that won't work for me....I've no place to 'hang' such a thing... ;-(

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