Blueberry pink lemonade not fruiting

[flynch]

I bought a blueberry pink lemonade 4 years ago in a 12cm pot. It's now in a 30L pot and around 4 and 1/2 ft high but hasn't fruited, flowered or produced fruitbuds. It's in erroneous compost and have two other blueberries that have produced no problem. I have never pruned it. I'm I doing something wrong or is this variety just a waste of time? Has anyone gotten fruit off it? Seriously considering getting rid of it but have spent time and money on it so would obviously prefer to get it fruiting if possible.

[Kirk]

Where did you buy it from?
Cannot see much that reports problems although there is on that would seem to indicate that the bush naturally like warmer climates then we have and that this could be the problem.

Pink Lemonade Blueberry not producing fruit | UBC Botanical Garden Forums

Link above is someone in BC Canada having same and the response is that the bush is from SE USA so warmer and that this could be the cause.

As it is still alive after 4 years then it must be in the right soil etc.

Reason I asked where did it come from is that of 2 images of the variety one looks like a blueberry, the other resemble more a cotoneaster as far as the berries go. Just wondering if you actually got a blueberry.

[flynch]

Re

I bought it from yougarden it was only about 15cm tall. I might try it in the greenhouse and see what happens.

[ancee]

Do you water it with rainwater and use ericaceous compost? I'm new to blueberries, just bought some twigs from the pound shop and the above 2 points are the only directions on the box! Sorry my helpfulness isn't really helpful!

[TrixC]

I have one of these that I bought a couple years ago. The first year it produced no fruit but last year it produced masses and they were fabulous - sweeter than regular blueberries. The plant is semi-evergreen and much smaller than yours, only about a foot high. Mine is in a super sunny spot with four other blueberry varieties.

[Zelenina]

I thought I’d just look this up quickly, but it turned out to be more complicated and less quick than I expected. Long post coming up.

Pink Lemonade is in fact an interspecies hybrid. It’s male parent is Delite, a variety of Vaccinium virgatum, commonly known as rabbit-eye blueberry or southern black blueberry. It's native to the southeastern United States.

Its female parent has only a breeders’ code name and is mainly Vaccinium corymbosum, the northern highbush blueberry. This is native to a wide area going as far north as eastern Canada. But it also has quite a bit of Vaccinium darrowii, the southern highbush or evergreen blueberry, in its back-breeding, plus a little bit of Vaccinium tenellum, another south-eastern species.

Northern highbush is the most widely cultivated species, and that’s probably what your other bushes are, flynch. Both it and rabbiteye are self-infertile, and must have two or more varieties to cross-pollinate each other. Southern highbush is usually self-fertile, but fruits better with cross-pollination.

Another interesting aspect is polyploidy. Vaccinium darrowii is diploid with the usual 2 sets of chromosomes. V. Corymbosum is tetraploid, with 4 sets of chromosomes, and V. virgatum is hexaploid with 6 sets.

The result of all these crosses is that Pink Lemonade is also hexaploid and self fertile. Although it probably fruits better if cross-pollinated by another hexaploid variety e.g. a rabbiteye blueberry.

So there is a combination of more cold hardy and more heat tolerant species. But even the heat tolerant ones seem to be hardy down to -10 or -12°C. I haven’t found any figures for Pink Lemonade’s own cold hardiness, but it generally seems to survive UK winters fine. No-one here has mentioned them being killed by too much cold.

But another complication with blueberries is chill hours, which I’ll write about in another post because this one is already plenty long enough.

The pedigree and some other info is here https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-a...nk-lemonade-1/

I got other info from various places, including plant suppliers and Wikipedia for all the species.

[Zelenina]

Blueberries like chilling.

In order to flower and fruit properly blueberries need a period of cold during the winter. The plants are frost hardy but the flower buds are not, so the length of chilling needed usually corresponds to the length of winter in the native region of each species. So naturally, northern species require a longer period of chilling than southern species so that they don’t start budding and flowering while temperatures are still too cold.

A chill hour is an hour below 7°C. Some say only periods between 1°C and 7°C are effective as chill hours, and not colder periods, but that seems to be controversial.

The most commonly grown species, V. corymbosum, the northern highbush, needs 800 or more chill hours. Southern species need less chilling, sometimes as little as 150 chill hours. Pink Lemonade with it’s mix of southern and northern genes is said to need 300 chill hours, though some sources say only 200.

In the UK there is generally not going to be a problem of too few chill hours. Certainly not for you, flynch, wherever you live, because your other blueberries don’t have any trouble blossoming and fruiting. But it might be a problem in the very mildest areas of the country, or if the plants are kept in a warm place indoors all winter.

A more likely cause of your problem is that the plant tries to make flower buds after it’s had its required 200-300 hours of chilling, but it’s still winter and too cold for the flower buds to form properly.

So maybe the solution is to keep it outside or in an unheated greenhouse for only part of the winter, then move it into a warmer place. Or maybe keep it all winter in a place that gets cool but not very cold.

I’m not sure how you work out when it’s had enough chilling. I suppose you could measure max and min temperatures every day and do some calculations, or maybe just by trial and error. If it doesn't flower this year, you might have left it in the cold too long already, but hopefully not.

[vixylix]

Interesting Elfeda! You've semi-answered my question but I'm going to ask it anyway

What do people do with their blueberries over winter? I've just had some babies delivered and don't know whether to get them outside or keep them in

[cheops]

I leave mine out all winter snow hail or ice. And once again I see they are bursting into leaf as I type.

[bario1]

Mine are left outside, and seem to have survived their first winter no problem.

[Zelenina]

If they're the northern highbush type, which are the ones usually sold in the UK, they are very hardy and can stay out all winter with no problems. If you want to be sure you can goggle the variety name for info. I have two Patriots that survive winters outside here in Slovakia, and a third one I can't remember the name of.

[Losos]

I have two Patriots that survive winters outside here in Slovakia, and a third one I can't remember the name of.

Wow, they must be tough (We spent 11 years near Liberec and regularly had -20C in winter so I know what your plants have to live through in winter)

Just wanted to thank you for extensive details of history of 'Pink' blueberries, I bought one from Pomona Fruits last year and was really hoping that we would get some fruit this year. I also purchased another variety as they said two are better than one for pollinating.

Perhaps I could 'bump' this thread up from time to time during the year, either to report a huge and tasty crop OR maybe abject failure

Mine have been outside all winter (Suffolk, England) in large 'Air-Pots'

[flynch]

Thanks everyone for your replies, maybe I'm being over generous with the fertilizer. Will try experimenting and see if I can get it fruiting.

[Zelenina]

Wow, they must be tough (We spent 11 years near Liberec and regularly had -20C in winter so I know what your plants have to live through in winter)

Hi Mr Salmon. Nice to meet someone who knows this part of the world. I'm in one of the warmer parts of Slovakia, just over the river from Hodonin and Breclav, so it doesn't usually get that cold. But this winter it nearly did, down to -17C at least once. And I think my blueberries are still alive.

Just wanted to thank you for extensive details of history of 'Pink' blueberries, I bought one from Pomona Fruits last year and was really hoping that we would get some fruit this year. I also purchased another variety as they said two are better than one for pollinating.

You're welcome. Is it Pink Lemonade or another pink one you bought? If it's a hexaploid one it might not get pollinated by a more usual variety.

Perhaps I could 'bump' this thread up from time to time during the year, either to report a huge and tasty crop OR maybe abject failure

Sure! It's always good to know about the results people get.

Mine have been outside all winter (Suffolk, England) in large 'Air-Pots'

I sometimes visit Suffolk. Winters are quite cold there too.

[Losos]

Yes it is the 'Pink Lemonade' and I just had a look and lots of buds starting to show so fingers crossed. The other one is 'Sunshine Blue' which is also looking good at present time. We've been in Suffolk two years and no snow (Memories of shoveling two foot of snow from our driveway to get the car out are slowly fading )