Forum home› Fruit & veg
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

When to repot blueberries

BouncingBackBouncingBack Posts: 142
in Fruit & veg
We bought two small blueberry bushes of different varieties last year, which were already flowering and produced lots of great fruit until aphids decided to get themselves involved and it was an enormous battle until autumn. They grew so well that I even needed to prune one of them back - largely because the new stalks and leaves were so infested with aphids there was no other way to remove them. They seemed to prefer one plant to the other despite them being next to each other under a net once they fruited.

I have two pots in the next size up from what they're currently planted in, and wondered whether I should repot them since they grew so vigorously last year. When is the best time to do this now that one has started growing leaves and the other has buds? Or should I keep them in their current pots? I don't know the volume of their current pots or the next size up, unfortunately. Please see the photos - the two pots on the left are the blueberry plants and the large pot on the right is currently empty and the next size up, and I have two in this size.



Unrelated - is the olive tree in the copper pot going to grow more leaves or is it a lost cause? I don't think it's supposed to have shed them...

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Mine are about 6 years old now and in 15L pots - which look similar in size to the pots yours are in.
    I repotted mine from 10L pots last year as they were getting a bit root bound.

    They only need repotting if they're root-bound, which isn't easy to tell in those pots.
    Mine are quite sturdy and I was able to pull them out of the pot to check during winter before any buds appeared.

    Your olive should have kept its leaves, but it may not be dead.
    Give it a while and see if it shoots. It may be that just the leaves were affected

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    This winter will have hit olives growing in pots. Mine has almost lost all of its leaves but is still alive. Leave yours alone for another month or two, then you should see new growth showing. They are pretty tough. It is a good idea to remove about 4 ins of soil from the the top of the pot and replace with fresh top soil. A small feed will be appreciated. Mine had full sized olives on it last year for the first time. It was thick with flowers, a lot of which dropped but the fruit which held did well. It has had fruit for a good few years but they never grew much bigger than grapes. I began to think about buying an olive press but decided to wait another year or two. I understand I will need more than one small tree to produce a bottle of oil.
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    Going by my experience, I don't think blueberries are that fussed about being potted on. I did it last year in the really warm weather because it was hard to keep them watered in the smaller pots. The pots were probably twice the volume of the old and they never missed a beat, producing fruit all summer.

    It's better to only slightly increase the pot size like you are wanting and it would be better to do it now they are about to spring into growth. 
  • BouncingBackBouncingBack Posts: 142
    thevictorian said:
    Going by my experience, I don't think blueberries are that fussed about being potted on. I did it last year in the really warm weather because it was hard to keep them watered in the smaller pots. The pots were probably twice the volume of the old and they never missed a beat, producing fruit all summer.

    It's better to only slightly increase the pot size like you are wanting and it would be better to do it now they are about to spring into growth. 
    Yes I found keeping those little pots moist last year pretty difficult, especially as they need rainwater and we don't have a water butt. Was advised by the bloke at the garden centre to give them brita filtered water in dry periods if we didn't have a water butt. So they got the fancy water! Are they a plant that aphids are particularly fond of? They seemed to get a lot more attention from them than my other plants in the garden. 

    I'll leave the olive tree be for a few months, thanks for the advice about removing and replacing a few inches of soil too, I'll definitely do that. It produced minute olives last year! 
  • thevictorianthevictorian Posts: 1,279
    I've never had a problem with aphids on my blueberries but I've only grown them for 3-4 years now. If I find them on any plant I wash them off with the hose or squish them gentle between my fingers (just lightly grip the stem and gentle pull up through the little blighters).


Sign In or Register to comment.