It looks bad, stop fertilizing it. Foliage pro is not the right fertilizer for blueberries. I would stop using it. When you say you're adding vinegar, I hope it is diluted down and not pure, as that makes an excellent weed killer{{gwi:807}}. My guess is nitrate toxicity from the foliage pro. Blueberries prefer ammonium based nitrogen. They can process nitrates, but are slow to do so. Your other plants may be better adapted, and not as bad, so not showing signs of toxicity. The Rabbiteye in Pink Lemonade is a different beast. Use acid based fertilizers for azaleas like mir-acid or other urea based fertilizer. Ammonium based are fine too. Every single plant species is different. hardly any require exactly the same thing. That advice is sorely lacking on this forum{{gwi:807}}. The 5-1-1 mix would be a lot better for blueberries, no lime though! Keep soil moist, it looks too dry to me. They like it moist, not wet, but moist. At this point I'm not sure you can save{{gwi:807}} it? It looks bad.
Until it recovers and starts to grow do not fertilize, and start with 1/4 dose, and increase with time.
Here's a good slow release for blueberries

Here is a link that might be useful: Gertens

This post was edited by Drew51 on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 10:26

I don't believe that is anything to do with sunburn or disease. Looks to be nutritional. I agree with Drew that the Foliage Pro is not the answer for bb's. Too much nitrates (6.1% of the 9%). That very well could be part of what is contributing to the chlorosis and necrosis issues.

Having looked at lots of pics recently of various bb nutritional imbalances, I'm wondering if there isn't an issue with magnesium deficiency in there as well. The red striping on the leaves, and the older leaves showing greater chlorosis than newer/upper leaves (the group closest to the camera that are not showing an iron deficiency) would indicate magnesium deficiency. Are leaves at the top of the plant any different than those within the photo?

I don't agree with Drew on a cessation of all fertilization as I suspect the plant is deficient. A proper, mild fertilization program would be in order IMO if that is the case.

What other plants is FP NOT good for, since we're on the subject?

@drew - definitely not dumping vinegar. its my acidifier to get my fertigation mix (FP, Protekt) down to ~6pH

i agree re: gritty mix being too dry. been using a 5-2-2 mix of bark, turface, lava rock. pretty much all my plants seem to love it. will ditch gritty mix for this when time to up-pot.

@charina- all the leaves seem to be about the same condition, not really anything affecting top vs bottom, new vs old, etc. the only weird thing is the dying stems, either whole stems or just the tips go brown, then almost black.

im guessing the nitrates must be the issue. the other BB plants are getting the same FP, Protekt regimen. but they are either in gritty mix and doing so-so (1 bluecrisp), or 2 sharpcrisp are in 5-2-2 mix with MG shake n feed CRF, doing much better. since MG CRF has 10 out of 12 parts ammonia/urea, only 2 nitrate, it would explain why they are ok and the ones without CRF are zombie/barely hanging on.

went ahead and ordered some jacks classic special acid mix as its soluble and has micronutrients. seems to have good reviews as BB fertilizer.

i think im going to just pull it out of the gritty mix and repot it into the 5-2-2 mix i use. it'll stress it a bit, but frankly i wonder if it really can be saved, so why not? im thinking i'd flush out any excess nitrates/salts from the gritty mix tied up in rootball. is regular tap ok or maybe mix up some pH 4 or 5ish water for the flushing out?

or i may just buy another one from nursery (and hide it from wife)

"What other plants is FP NOT good for, since we're on the subject? "

I can't think of any, it's an excellent product. I myself have not used it. Mostly because I have been trying a friend's fertilizer,
http://www.plantsthatproduce.com/gm-16-8-24-ff-5lb.html
It is only for certain plants.

For blueberries I'm also experimenting. Blueboy1977 has the best blueberry plants I ever seen, grown in pots, and he uses only an organic fertilizer. Proof is in seeing them. Amazingly healthy, productive, huge, dark green, beautiful! He has been using MicroLife Azalea 6-2-4 , So I'm trying it myself.
FP is complete and all too. I will probably try FP at some point, sounds like a winner. I just have a lot of other stuff on hand at the moment. The ratio in general is correct for most plants, but again some need different ratios. no two species are alike.
Brainmedicine, first as a med tech, I like the handle!
Sounds like your plan of action is correct, good luck with it.

On giving sick plants fertilizer. If this plant does have a nitrate overdose giving it more nitrogen is the last thing you want to do. If you must organic only. Cottonseed meal, Holly-tone only.
People see BER in tomatoes and give the plants calcium. That will not work even though the plant has a calcium deficiency. Some super bad advice around here all the time. In the 5-1-1 mix it is stated to add lime. Lime takes 6 to 9 months to work. At that point your soil is almost at the point of being replaced, well almost at it's half-life. Again this place is loaded with bad advice.
Also I myself don't and never will use protekt . I use diatomaceous earth of the proper size instead of perlite. and DE is loaded with silicon, I also use DE food grade as an insecticide. So my plants in ground or in pots are exposed to hundreds of times more silicon than they will ever need.

Oh I did think of another plant group FP would probably kill and that would be carnivorous plants. Any others are beyond my knowledge of plant groups. One should research and talk to people who specialize in the plants they wish to grow, they will know what to use.

@drew- I am curious to know what form of DE you use in 5-1-1, I've never seen it in a size larger than a kosher salt type particle, which I would think would be too small? In my experience Protekt has definitely made a difference in pest resistance and fruit development, but I'd love to just add DE to mix once and be done. Are you getting 1/4" size or similar?

As for the lime in 5-1-1 it's to counter the acidifying effect of peat moss in the mix, as not all plants want 4.5pH media. You dust peat with lime, moisten with d bit of water and let sit for 2 weeks to get reaction going before using 5-1-1 mix for potting. Some immediate affects, some long term. Either way, my mix has no peat or lime. Although I wonder if I accidentally got some gypsum in it when I was mixing different batches up.

I'm curious to know why you would recommend organic fert in 5-1-1 mix. I'm guessing it's because it's almost impossible to N burn with organic - but as the mix is not soil and doesn't have soil based microbes how are the organics broken down to usable form?

@drew- and as a med tech you may want to take back your compliment on screen name. I own brewery/bars/restaurants - the brain medicine to which I refer is the one favored by Homer Simpson - beer. Generally not appreciated by those in medical/trauma care fields. But thank you nonetheless.

for anyone who is curious just wanted to post a follow-up. i got a little busy and so i didnt get a chance to make more 5-1-1 mix, so its still in the gritty. but i did spend about a week flushing it out, then let is rest for a few more days.

i bought some of the jack's acid special and have been fertilziing all my BBs with that now. lo and behold- it came back to life. new leaves coming out all over. and the old leaves are still showing bits of rusty/red here and there, but even they are a darker green than they were before in the photos.

so- im an official convert to acid type fertilizers for BBs. no more Foliage Pro for blueberries. now i just need to get them out of the gritty mix and i'll be set to go.

thanks to all for the help and suggestions, especially @drew51 and @charina

Cool! Good job, that plant was bad. Nice work turning it around! Oh, sorry missed that question on DE. I use Optisorb oil absorbent. particle size is better. The best I think is CarQuest Premium Automotive Oil Absorbent. I'm going to look for that myself. I just finished off the last of my Optisorb today. I got it at O'Reilly's. Both products are 100% DE I'm going to start some sugar snap peas in containers. A winter crop. I could use a touch more.

CAREFUL with using DE as a Pesticide!!! the same thing it does to bad bugs- basically death by a thousand cuts- it also does to good bugs. Especially BEES!

i now only use food grade to dust the suface of the soil mix, and to coat the lower stems to protect against crawling bugs that go up and down morning and night. i basically just get the trunk or main stems wet, blow some DE on it so that when it dries it stays in place and does its job. since the bees basically just fly around the flowers there's really no reason for a bee to go near it.

but if you dust the whole plant, especially the flowers and buds, you'll end up killing the bees along with the aphids, cutters, etc. especially on plants that will fruit and bloom continuously like tomatoes, beans, strawberries, etc.

I agree use only on soil, but the DE I was talking about is as a soil amendment to replace perlite. You would not use food grade. It is powder you use horticultural grade. Found in oil absorbent products. Particle size is 1/4 inch to 1/16 inch. and smaller. It is also sold as an amendment, but hard to find. The absorbent products are cheap too. Here is Optisorb...

nice. i know they have it at oreillys so that should be an easy find. maybe i'll split the turface and the DE so i get a bit of both and hopefully hold more water. especially for blueberries and my cane berries, they all seem to dry pretty easily.