Blueberries in So. Cal – Sunshine Blue

Question

I live in Zone 10a. I have a potted self-pollinating Sunshine blueberry bush that’s supposed to do well in Southern California. The pot is maybe 12″. I moved it from my front porch (4-6 hours sun) to my community garden with full sun last May. It keeps blooming and starting to fruit, but then the fruit never matures and eventually falls off. A heat wave last summer turned all the leaves brown, but I moved to partial shade next to a tomato plant and it recovered. Then the blooming/bud thing happened in the fall/winter. We’ve had a ton of rain in the last couple months. Now it’s dropped most leaves again. I feed it with azalea food, but not for a couple of months at least. I try to keep it moist, but not over-watered. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

If the fruits are very small when they fall off, poor pollination may be the cause. Self-pollinating bushes can still have poor yield due to pollination problems:
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/invest_in_pollination_for_success_with_highbush_blueberries

This could be improved by attracting bees to your garden using plants they prefer.

Blueberries also need even more acidic soil than other acid-loving plants like azaleas. You may want to have a pH test done to make sure your pH is low enough.
http://articles.extension.org/pages/29216/soil-ph-for-blueberry-plantings
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/blueberries/lower-soil-ph-blueberries.htm