Hi All. You were so helpful last week when I posted, I would like to ask
your advise again!

I have a miniature blueberry bush - Vaccinium corymbosum 'Northsky' - on
our balcony. I have had it around three/four years and it seems to
flourish, and each year produces a mass of flowers, but it never fruits. It
is supposed to be self fertile, so not having another plant isn't the
problem here. We live in N. Derbyshire, the balcony is south facing, so it
gets plenty of warmth and sun during spring/summer months. It is in full
flower again at the moment but I know they will just fall off and that will
be it - no berries! Any thoughts would be much appreciated! Thank you!

Tracey

On 13 May, 11:20, "Tracey" wrote:
Hi All. You were so helpful last week when I posted, I would like to ask
your advise again!

I have a miniature blueberry bush - Vaccinium corymbosum 'Northsky' - on
our balcony. I have had it around three/four years and it seems to
flourish, and each year produces a mass of flowers, but it never fruits. It
is supposed to be self fertile, so not having another plant isn't the
problem here. We live in N. Derbyshire, the balcony is south facing, so it
gets plenty of warmth and sun during spring/summer months. It is in full
flower again at the moment but I know they will just fall off and that will
be it - no berries! Any thoughts would be much appreciated! Thank you!

Tracey

It sounds as though you may have a pollination problem. How high up is
your balcony? If you aren't getting the insects, you could try hand-
pollinating with a sable paint brush. Put the tip of the brush in the
centre of the flower and twiddle it around. It's all a bit laborious
but I have done it successfully on apricots which were flowering in a
cold spring and there didn't seem to be many pollinators around.

Jonathan

Tracey wrote:
Hi All. You were so helpful last week when I posted, I would like to ask
your advise again!

I have a miniature blueberry bush - Vaccinium corymbosum 'Northsky' - on
our balcony. I have had it around three/four years and it seems to
flourish, and each year produces a mass of flowers, but it never fruits. It
is supposed to be self fertile, so not having another plant isn't the
problem here.

I suspect it may well be. Allegedly self-fertile hides a multitude of
sins. And it may not be the named cultivar on the label.

Obtain a small cutting off someone elses blueberry and put it in a vase
of water nearby if you don't have space for a pair. We used to do this
to get our lonely pair tree to set fruit before it had a mate.

We live in N. Derbyshire, the balcony is south facing, so it
gets plenty of warmth and sun during spring/summer months. It is in full
flower again at the moment but I know they will just fall off and that will
be it - no berries! Any thoughts would be much appreciated! Thank you!

If it is still in flower try a soft paintbrush to pollenate them and/or
find a piece of another different cultivar in flower at the same time.

Regards,
Martin Brown
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Thank you Jonathan and Martin for your quick replies! We are on the second
floor, so not too high, and we overlook a large garden with lots of fruits
trees - in fact a massive pear tree stretches right up and beyond the height
of our balcony so close we can almost reach out and pick the fruit.
Hence we seem to get plenty of insects, mainly wasps as they come for the
pear tree, but also bees, butterflies, ladybirds, hover flies. I will try
the paint brush trick though this afternoon - thanks for the tip both of
you - and I will also try and get a cutting or another plant.

Tracey

In article , (Tracey) wrote:

the balcony is south facing, so it
gets plenty of warmth and sun during spring/summer months

Other comments about fertilisation may well be right but I wonder if it is short of water?

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

"Steve Harris" wrote in message
...
In article ,
(Tracey) wrote:

the balcony is south facing, so it
gets plenty of warmth and sun during spring/summer months

Other comments about fertilisation may well be right but I wonder if it is
short of water?

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

Thanks for the suggestion Steve. I always make sure the plants are well
watered in warm weather and the blueberry only gets watered with rainwater
whenever possible as that's what was recommended on the info tag that
accompanied the plant. So I don't think that's the problem. I tried
putting some coffee grounds on the soil the other day to see if that helps
as I read it can.

Tracey

The message
from "Tracey" contains these words:

Thanks for the suggestion Steve. I always make sure the plants are well
watered in warm weather and the blueberry only gets watered with rainwater
whenever possible as that's what was recommended on the info tag that
accompanied the plant. So I don't think that's the problem. I tried
putting some coffee grounds on the soil the other day to see if that helps
as I read it can.

Ideally you'd compost them. Adding fresh grounds or tealeaves (for
example) will reduce nitrogen. Of course, too much nitrogen could just
be a problem too,

However, it is difficult to overwater a blueberry - remember, the North
American blueberry is otherwise known as the 'swamp blueberry'.

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote in message
k...
The message
from "Tracey" contains these words:

Thanks for the suggestion Steve. I always make sure the plants are well
watered in warm weather and the blueberry only gets watered with
rainwater
whenever possible as that's what was recommended on the info tag that
accompanied the plant. So I don't think that's the problem. I tried
putting some coffee grounds on the soil the other day to see if that
helps
as I read it can.

Ideally you'd compost them. Adding fresh grounds or tealeaves (for
example) will reduce nitrogen. Of course, too much nitrogen could just
be a problem too,

I won't add any more, hopefully the small amount I added just the once will
be ok.

However, it is difficult to overwater a blueberry - remember, the North
American blueberry is otherwise known as the 'swamp blueberry'.

Ah interesting, I didn't know that!

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig


Thanks Rusty!

Tracey

The message
from "Tracey" contains these words:

However, it is difficult to overwater a blueberry - remember, the North
American blueberry is otherwise known as the 'swamp blueberry'.

Ah interesting, I didn't know that!

I have just (FSVO just) got a blueberry thus labelled. It is tiny ATM,
but has set fruit all by itself.

Thanks Rusty!

Another thought struck me: the last blueberry I had was killed by vine
weevil. It started its decline by not fruiting. I believe you can get a
'biological' control for vine weevil, in the form of some sort of
harmless (not to vine weevil though!) nematode.

Even if your problem isn't vine weevil, it can't do the blueberry any harm.

aside

Give your rhubarb at least one bucket of water a day!

/aside

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

"Rusty Hinge 2" wrote in message
k...
The message
from "Tracey" contains these words:

However, it is difficult to overwater a blueberry - remember, the North
American blueberry is otherwise known as the 'swamp blueberry'.

Ah interesting, I didn't know that!

I have just (FSVO just) got a blueberry thus labelled. It is tiny ATM,
but has set fruit all by itself.

Thanks Rusty!

Another thought struck me: the last blueberry I had was killed by vine
weevil. It started its decline by not fruiting. I believe you can get a
'biological' control for vine weevil, in the form of some sort of
harmless (not to vine weevil though!) nematode.

Even if your problem isn't vine weevil, it can't do the blueberry any
harm.

aside

Give your rhubarb at least one bucket of water a day!

/aside

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

Thanks Rusty!

Tracey

Regarding Northsky not fruiting -- all the sources I have checked say it is not self-fertile, or only poorly so. You need a pollinator. Northland, Northcountry, and Northblue would do the trick (that is, assuming that bees are visiting your plant).

Donna

- - - - - -
Tracey said:
I have a miniature blueberry bush - Vaccinium corymbosum 'Northsky' - on
our balcony. I have had it around three/four years and it seems to
flourish, and each year produces a mass of flowers, but it never fruits. It
is supposed to be self fertile, so not having another plant isn't the
problem here.