southern highbush blueberries

[Leafmite]

Neem oil makes a good dormant spray. You might just need to use a higher concentration. Dormant spray...it can be any type of oil that won't harm the plant but will suffocate and discourage pests. We used a Neem oil product for the last six or seven years of growing fruit trees.

[kvet]

Thanks. I'm pretty sure it was too low a concentration, using recommended tablespoon per gallon dilution. The tablespoon was somewhere between 10-20g of oil, and it just makes the water smell like neem oil, barely gets it to be a "coating level".

Now to figure out how much soap or lecithin I need to emulsify the oil with water. My last attempt got me about 3/4 of the oil mixed with the water, so, clearly I need more. But, the white fly population does appear to be reducing after just one application!

Given that the bushes lose their leaves, they are not an ideal sound privacy screen here, so maybe I need to look for something else:
- grow in container
- 3-4ft high (plus container)
- dense foliage, to block out sound
- winter bright full shade, summer full sun
- wind
- edible

Feijoa / pineapple guava would probably do well, but I already have one in the ground (it's my favorite fruit).

[estación seca]

Guava, Psidium guajava. Eugenia uniflora. You might be warm enough for other Eugenia or Syzygium species including the various jambus.

[kvet]

I've had it with the blueberries. I was all set to repot them around thanksgiving but I can't seem to control the white flies without resorting to non-organic pesticides, they are just bonkers on these three bushes. Going to junk them soon as I have some time, and replace probably with potted feijoa (aka pineapple guava) since these appear to be totally free of any issues in my "yard" already, I love the fruit, and I think they can do all right in pots. I might consider your other suggestions ES, since I do enjoy tropical fruits. Thanks for the help

[estación seca]

Don't give up yet. White flies tend to be cyclical year to year. There must be natural predators; after a year or two of attack the white flies tend to disappear. Yellow stick traps work very well to knock down populations. Make your own by smearing yellow pieces of plastic with petroleum jelly. Dangle them among your blueberries.

You can also use insecticidal soap or 70% alcohol to kill underleaf larvae. Both work extremely well. During the recent insanity the price of alcohol has become very steep, so I'm using more soap spray.

I find it relaxing to go outside on a warm day to get a tan and spray all the leaf undersides with soap solution from a spray bottle. Be sure you don't mix up your beverage and your soap spray.

[kvet]

ES: I took your advice and didn't give up, today I got to repotting these things.

One plant (emerald) was too far gone, junked. Remaining two (o'neal and pink), were repotted into a 10 gallon mix of peat and perlite with some slow release ferts. I will check the pH in a couple weeks, and if not around 5 or lower, note to add more acidifying stuff. Before transplanting, I tried some aesthetic pruning then soaked the bushes upside down in a bucket water mix of neem oil, dish soap, pyrethrin, and azadirachtin. Left over mixture was then used as a soil drench -- I did not realize neem oil could be systemic. Hopefully, that won't impact any bees once these things bloom. I will spray with this mixture again in a few days, and keep at it. There's only bright shade in the spot right now so no concerns about burning.

If this ends up too rough a treatment then, oh well, I'll find something else in the spring!

---------- Post added at 02:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:47 PM ----------

Oh, and btw.. I hadn't mentioned I was already doing yellow dangly things and they didn't work at all, white flies just ignored them. I haven't tried spraying with rubbing alcohol, will do so if this last attempt doesn't work. There are few enough leaves I can probably just use a paper towel and rub the leaves, too.

[kvet]

The pink blueberry seems to be doing well, while the O'Neal is beginning to pick up. I noticed this morning a whole lotta webs around it, and I cannot tell whether this is spider webbing or spider-mite webbing. I hope it's the former of course!!

[Jeff214]

I've grown many varieties of southern, northern high bush, rabbiteyes, in pots. I just pot them in pure peat moss and fertilize with ammonium sulfate. They should double in size at least each year. Nearly all of them could take down to 0 oF even in pots.

Don't give up yet! Blueberries are lovely plants, in bloom, leafed, and in fruit.

[Eli Vizsla]

My blueberry pink blueberry is doing very well. We already picked about 20 fruits but it’s a bit sweet for me compared with store bought fruits. Still continuing to bear fruits under grow lights. My other blueberry plants went dormant and not doing anything.