What makes blueberry leaves turn red

More mummy berry information. These primary shoot blight infections occur when spores are rain splashed and wind carried from mushrooms cups developing from mummfied fruit on the ground under bushes.

Mummified blueberry and fruiting bodies of mummy berry fungus. Potassium Deficiency — K deficiency results in marginal leaf burn. It is not common, but has been observed in very sandy soils. Potassium deficiency in blueberry with characteristic marginal leaf burn. Overfertilization — Overfertilization also causes marginal leaf burn. In young plants, too much fertilizer can lead to death. Drought Stress can cause browning of blueberry leaves. Water demand for blueberries is typically highest in the Northeast during the month of July when average precipitation is very low.

Veinal yellowing or bleaching is caused by injury from Solicam norflurazon herbicide. More herbicide damage information. Blueberry mosaic associated ophiovirus causes leaf discoloration in mosaic patterns. Leaves may be crinkled. The discoloration can vary on a single branch, from bright green leaves with irregular scatterings of pale-yellow splotches, to bright pink and yellow splotches interspersed with pale green spots.

Blueberry mosaic virus symptoms on a highbush blueberry in late June. Blueberry mosaic virus on highbush blueberry in late June. More information about blueberry mosaic associated ophiovirus. One known cause of reddening of the leaves is excess nitrogen. Finally, how much water have they gotten? Another known cause is too little water, marginal leaf burn caused by drought. Let me know, and I'll keep investigating. I haven't checked the pH recently but, when I planted them two and a half years ago, I dug holes about a foot deep and 3ft wide and filled them with a mixture of Azalea mix and peat moss, so it should be very acid.

Each planting hole has about 1. I fertilize the plants with ammonium sulfate, which was recommended by Bernadine Strik when I took the OSU extension course on growing berries two years ago.

She said that's the only fertilizer you need for blueberries. I water the plants with micro-jet sprayers two per plant. I use tuna cans to measure. Unfortunately, this plant is getting a lot more water on one side than the other side this year.

That's partially because the foliage is blocking the spray on one side and partially because of overspray from the plant next to it on the other side. I was hoping the excess water would get drawn over to the dry side, but maybe that's too much to hope. The leaves that are turning red are on the side that's getting too much water. I looked it up and learned that red leaves can also be a sign of phytophthora root rot. The roots on the other side also might be suffering from drought stress, since they're not getting enough water.

Does the side that the leaves are turning red on indicate which side is having root damage? Is there any way to tell from the look of the leaves whether they're turning red from drought stress or phytophthora root rot? If I bring in the branch with the red leaves to the Master Gardener's Clinic, would they be able to tell which it is or if it's something else? It's really hard to change the micro-jet sprayer configuration at this time of year because the stakes are embedded in native soil just outside the planting holes, and the native soil is decomposed granite.

I was able to dig out one of them this morning and move it closer to the other side of the plant, but I don't know how much that will help. I really appreciate any advice you can give me! Thanks for the additional info! If you've been trained by Prof. Strik, you've had the best! It affects young leaves first. Magnesium deficiency can lead to plant disease. Sprinkling Epsom salt around your blueberries increases the magnesium in the soil. They infect blueberries in the spring and cause blossom blight.

Aphids spread the disease as they hop from plant to plant. It only takes a few minutes to infect all your blueberries. An aphid control program will help prevent these blueberry diseases. Use your meter to monitor soil. I think the dose to use in 2. A safe low amount, so 25lbs is going to last you a long time! We better get these plants to health so you can use it!

You can use it every time you water but I would stop around August 1st to allow plant to harden for winter. I guess that depends on your zone. Except maybe grass and June bearing strawberries. OK, I see you're in TN. So maybe September 1st stop fertilizing till spring. You may also want to apply more sulfur in the spring, it takes 2 to 6 months to work.

See where your soil is at in the spring add every 2 months till it is where you need it. Since you have a bag might as well use it. And even with the acid and A sulfate, the normal soil of your area will slowly absorb it. So you need to always keep track of PH. The acid could leach out to the surrounding soil and be absorbed and buffered by it.

Good luck, keep us up to date! I myself have raised beds so the PH is more constant and not leached into the ground as fast. I use rainwater, sulfur, and A sulfate. I don't need to use battery acid, but once in awhile I do use city water, so i keep track of PH also. I just tasted my first BB of the season.

A HB variety, cultivar is Toro, yum!! Huge berries, delish! Btw you have to store the ammonium sulfate tightly closed as it loves water and will get hard as a rock if exposed to the air.

So you would pour a teaspoon of ammonium sulfate into 2. I'm wondering if it is safe to drop the pH of my water down to 5 via battery acid and then add a teaspoon of ammonium sulfate in the same bucket and give one to each of my blueberry bushes.

Would I get any crazy chemical reaction? Yes you can acidify to pH 5 and add a teaspoon of You need to acidify the water every application but don't apply more than twice a week.

Your plants are severely nitrogen deficient. The will fix that in about a month with strong new growth. Also your plants may not need 2. They are small and probably have a small root zone. The 2. Nope that would be fine. Just make sure the plants are not dry when you water. The AS won't lower the PH of the water just the soil over time, some. I think what's nice about AS is it probably allows the plant to uptake nitrogen in a high ph environment.

As the ph is lowered while present. It's a good way to feed the plant. Most good soils have the other elements. I also though use an organic fertilizer. Once plants are established, I probably will only use AS in the spring if at all. Currently I have a blueberry organic fertilizer, but once gone will use an off the shelf acid organic fertilizer.

Inorganic or organic they work! I like using kelp to add trace elements. Tom Spellman mentions in an interview that he observed trees doing better with just 2 applications a year. I trust his word on that. I would like to grow more blueberries as they are a touch of a challange and I like growing plants that are not easy to grow.

Actually these are if conditions are right. I probably should be growing orchids, but the flower payoff isn't enough anymore. Been there done that, got the t-shirt with cacti. I added a teaspoon of AS to one misty and one O'Neal in case it is the wrong stuff I will wait and see what happens in the next couple of weeks.

That bag will last me 50 years. What I will probably end up doing is give one plant one application of AS per week while another 2 applications of AS per week. I like to experiment and see what works best. It's been a few weeks and now all my plants are looking much better and are growing like crazy.

I imagine they will continue to get greener as time goes on. I did a science experiment on two Misty's. The right one had a treatment of 1 teaspoon of ammonium sulfate mixed in 2. Here is the side by side comparison photo:.