I've done it now. I bought three new blueberry plants, and planted them last week. I noticed today they had budded. I say had, because we had a frost last weekend- temp got down to 28 or so.
Have I killed them? Will they continue to grow? what can I expect, and what should I look for? The buds look all dried up now.
I'm new at this gardening stuff... the flowers my wife planted look great. How is it the dandelions and weeds do okay, but good plants get burned?
Am I just worrying about nothing?
C1 [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
Hey C1,
Those weeds have better defense mechanisms thats what makes them so prolific. Your blueberries might survive the frost, for the most part they are fairly cold hardy.
A good practice with new plants is to 'harden off' the plants by exposing them to cool outdoor temps during the day and protecting them from frost (bring inside at night) for a few days or a week before transplanting them outside. Also look at normal weather patterns and don't transplant until the danger of 'hard' frosts is past. A 28F frost isn't a real hard one, so hopefully they will be OK. Just a wait and see thing now. [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
If a few buds survive, the plants may make it through this year. Don't expect much from them until next year if they do survive though.
Good luck with your gardening. Don't let this little setback stop you. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Since you haven't filled out your profile, I'm not sure where you live. Depending on which cultivars you purchased, they should survive the frost OK. I assUme that you mulched them when you planted them. If not, I would put a good mulch bed around them to protect the root system from any heavier cold. It will help with moisture later in the season.
Once they flower and start growing fruit, it is a good idea to pick all of those infant berries off before they grow, at least in the first year. This will put the plants energy into growing a strong root system and top growth, thus improve the berry crop in subsequent years.
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