Has my blueberry died?

[Rossa]

Have a dwarf blueberry Tophat in a pot on our south facing patio. Last couple of years it has flowered and we've had a few berries. It's supposed to be self-fertile. It was a present, more for decoration than anything.

Anyway I'm wondering if it's dead as nothing on it at all. The stems are still red from winter, it has what look like buds on the stems but no action. Surely it's far too late now for anything. However it is still upright and doesn't look dead.

Is it worth cutting it right back? If so, by how much? It's only 15" high in a 12" pot.

Thanks.

[FROSTYFRECKLE]

It sounds as if it still has it's autumn foliage. I wouldn't cut it back. My blueberries are all over the place - the early fruiters still have their white blossom and the later fruiters are setting fruit now. Winter certainly played havoc with our gardens.

[piskieinboots]

I have four different blueberry bushes - all in pots, covering early, mid and late fruiting, I hardly ever prune other than to cut out cross-over branches.

If it were me, I'd leave it alone for a while yet and see what happens.

[piskieinboots]

....My blueberries are all over the place - the early fruiters still have their white blossom and the later fruiters are setting fruit now....

Yep, ditto that this year

[abby]

I bought 2 new blueberry bushes early this year the one I paid most for has curled up its toes and died and the cheep and cheerful is going great guns...

[Rossa]

Sorry, may not have been clear. It has no foliage at all !!!

Just stems with little buds on them. That's why I thought it must have died, though it is still red not gone all brown and really dead (whatever that is, after all dead is dead). We keep looking at it wondering whether to hold on or put it in the compost heap.

R

[Madasafish]

It's dead. Deceased.

Firewood or shredder.

[piskieinboots]

scrape at the bark and see if there is any green underneath - do it a fair way down the stem.

Piskie
Give Blueberries A Chance Club

[FB.]

It doesn't sound good, but since we had such a long cold winter, I'd wait a bit longer.
I suggest clipping the end off one of the twigs to see whether the wood is still damp and greenish, or whether it is dry and dead.
We've had a very dry spring and blueberries are quite sensitive to soil drying out - has it had enough water?
Containerised plants need lots of watering. Blueberries also dislike tap water - they need rainwater.

[Rossa]

I'll see if it's still looking green inside the stem and it has been watered but maybe not enough as it has been dry this year.

The tap water thing maybe what has caused it as that's all it's had for the last couple of years. Think I read recently that using tap water reduces the acidity because of the lime in the tap water. Though we don't have lime in our water in Yorkshire or so they say.