not sure it has anything to do with your leaf problem, but it could. Mulch should never be so close to the stem that it touches it. I suggest you pull the mulch back a couple of inches from the stems. It could help. :-)

thanks greylady-gardener, i'll be sure to pull it back so new shoots can break through. i'm not sure why i went so crazy with the mulch, now that you mention it. anyhow im starting to think my problem might be a potassium deficiency, along with some kind of powdery mildew. im not quite sure yet. as i said i'm new to blueberries. actually they have given me nothing but problems since i bought them. i prepared in advance and built a special acid, micro nutrient and organic matter rich soil mix. did everything my best to ensure good results. when i first got them, they were a light green and starting to bloom. they then turned red when the temperatures went down, which had me on edge for a while. then one night there was a frost apparently, and that wiped out all of my flower buds, completely killing my harvest for this year. but then, after all of those headaches, they rebounded. once the soil warmed up a bit, the leaves darkened, and shined right up to a beautiful emerald green. the red tones went away, and everything was going great. then about a week ago i noticed some white marks/splotches on the upper portions of a couple leaves that didnt come off with water, and now im having these leaf issues. which leads me to the conclusion its powdery mildew, but everything i read says powdery mildew doesnt set in until mid/late summer. also the burning/necrosis of the leaf tips of the new growth, seem to indicate a potassium deficiency. this is all such a headache, i just want them to get settled in so i can stop thinking about them all day.

also, because i posted in more than one forum; canadian gardening, great lakes gardening and container gardening. gardenweb has marked my original account as a spammer or something, and wont let me reply to posts, so i had to make a new account. will my original account be unblocked after a while?

not sure about your account. You could contact GW and ask about it, or you could ignore the original account and just go with this one.

Sure sounds like you did your homework and also did everything that you thought you should do for the new plants, but maybe you did too much. Maybe the conditions for such young plants were just too rich all at once (I certainly don't know but am just speaking as someone who has killed many a plant with kindness) :-)
That and the crazy conditons we have all been expereincing, could make for a very confusing situation for your new plants that are having a hard time adjusting to their new environment. They may have not been in the healthiest conditon and were not able to overcome or fight off whatever is happening to them. I hope that you can get some more knowledgeable help from someone else.

Lots of possible problems. Over fertilizing? over watering (can cause nutrient defiencies)? is there good drainage? Was the winter too harsh (given that these are containered plants the roots are more vulnerable to freeze and thaw cycles).