Tops Dying Back in Japanese Blueberry

Q. I’m having a problem with my Japanese blueberry trees. Some are fine but the two on the end appear to be drying out from the top down.  Do you have any idea what’s causing this? The soil is not dry and they all get the same amount of irrigation.

A. The usual problem in damage or death to the top of a tree can be found on the main trunk just below the damaged area. I am guessing something has damaged the tree at that point.

            The reason for the damage could be several. Borers cause mechanical damage to the trunk and shut off the water going to the top. Diseases in this same location can do exactly the same thing.

            Because Japanese blueberry is relatively thin barked, sunburn from our intense sunlight can kill the trunk in that location and shut off water to the top. Humans can cause damage to the trunk and shut off its water supply as well.

Top of dead stem on readers Japanese blueberry

            I think we can rule out pathological diseases in our climate. The two most likely culprits are mechanical damage to the trunk by borers or the same type of damage caused by sunburn.

            Inspect the trunk at the location just above the healthy area of the canopy. Use your fingers and see if you can pull away any loose bark. Borers tunnel just under the bark usually on the side towards the most sunlight. This kills that part of the trunk and the bark peels away easily.

            If you don't see bark peeling from the trunk at this location, look for discoloration of the trunk on this side facing the sun. Sunburn to the trunk can happen in one hour of intense sunlight during the midday or late afternoon.

            If it is borers there is nothing you can do to raise the dead area back to life but you can protect the tree from extensive borer damage with an insecticide soil drench once a year.

            In any case, you'll be forced to remove the dead top from the tree with a pruning shears or saw this winter. Once you do this, it may open remaining branches for sunburn as well. Give them as much protection as you can.

            I would not do it now because the sunlight is too intense and will probably cause even more damage to the lower, healthier part of the tree.