BLUEBERRY PLANTS - Normal for autumn?

pansyface

I just took delivery of three blueberry bushes that I ordered online from (a new to me) ”reputable” supplier.


I have never seen a living blueberry bush in my life before so I don’t know what is normal.

Two of the bushes look perfectly normal to me. Green leaves, green stems, no browning of either, no puckering.

The third, had I seen it in a garden centre, I would have looked at with pity. Although it is the largest bush, the ends of two major stems are brown and dying back, the leaves are browning at the edges, quite a few are puckered, and the stems have brown marks on them.

What am I looking at? Is this sort of appearance normal for autumn or is this bush suffering from something? If so, is it suffering from transport damage? Is it suffering from disease?

Before I go waving my arms in protest at the company, I should be very grateful to hear the opinions of people who know about blueberries and their little ways.

pansyface

anybody?

raisingirl

Not normal. My earliest fruiting one is beginning to 'turn' as it usually does for autumn. It goes a glorious shade of ruby red and then drops it leaves. No puckering and no die back of stems. I'm no sort of expert and can't guess what yours has suffered/is suffering. But I'm pretty sure it's suffering from something

pansyface

Thank you for that.😊

JoeX

I don’t know about blueberries but mine don’t look like that at any stage 

pansyface

No, I can believe that.

Here is another photo of the plant when it was being unpacked after the delivery.

As you can see, most of the plant looks OK. But the older, bigger stems have these deformed leaves and crozzled tips.

Dovefromabove

Aphid damage?

Ours are turning wonderful shades of red and orange now. 

pansyface

Yes, aphids are a good idea.  Yes, thanks for that one.

I can’t see any diseases that blueberries are supposedly prone to catching. Aphids might well be it.

Dovefromabove

I was just thinking that if the damage is on the older leaves they were probably young and tender leaves when aphids were most rampant.

We’ve only been growing them a couple of years or so ... but so far they appear to be tough as old boots ... and very attractive to blackbirds 🙄 

pansyface

Blackbirds we are not short of. 27 last winter. I suppose they’ll tell their friends...😟