Dying plants & some observations

Blueberry plants are suffering from discoloured leaves and lacklucker fruit production. They look as though they are dying :

Interestingly, there seem to be mushrooms appearing in some of my vegetable beds. Does anyone know what species these are and if they are edible?

Its difficult to identify fungi from photos and definitely unwise to say whether or not they are edible. If you're using manure or woodchips they probably growing on that.

blackcurrants suffering from aphids and leaf blister might - the blueberries look to be suffering from mineral deficiencies probably because the soil is not acid enough - they both look to be in soil which is too dry.

My suggestion would be a good watering - eg couple of hours with the hose to start with, then FYM for the blackcurrants - the blueberries need an acid soil, so perhaps sulphate of ammonia would be easiest, lots of advice on the internet anyway.

Forage, you posted last month about your dying garlic and the manure. https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ady_99008.html
Did you use it on these plants too?

If you have access to a rainwater butt, I think blueberries prefer rainwater rather than tapwater ;-)

I am hoping for some more rain, now that I have unblocked the downpipe diverter thingy...

Those mushrooms look to be an inkcap of some sort. There a many species, some edible and some not. Unless you can get someone with more knowledge than me to give you a more solid identification, I wouldn't risk eating them.
They feed on rotting wood, so are no harm to your plants, at least.

Thanks for your input,

I'm curious to know how the blueberries might fare by being put into pots with a more acidic soil and watered with rain water. I don't have access to that much rain water, only one tank which is fed from a shed down pipe and is used up in no time.

The currants are suffering from two badies? - doesn't sound good, if they need loads and loads of water perhaps it's a good time for me to re-assess whether the are viable plants to have, and whether this may be their last season. It may be smarter of me to say goodbye to them and replace them with a better cropping fruit like strawberries which won't have the same water requirements. Drought resistance is becoming more and more of a concern.

Hi, yes, same stuff. It's definitely not contamination.

I did apply a thick layer of manure to the fruit bushes late last year which perhaps was not a wise thing to do. I have not read that they would be negligibly affected by mulching directly with cow manure ?

Thank you. Perhaps I should ask a mycologist, or just risk it..

Risk your plants.......... or your life?

Don't eat the mushrooms!

Are you growing at an allotment? Can you set yourself up with more water butts to collect over winter? Even strawberries need a good drink while fruiting.

Most fruit and veg need a fair amount of water - obviously butts are one way of making sure you have enough - alongside this it is also the case if you can get enough organic matter in to the soil and also get a good mulch on at the right time then that helps a lot by holding rain water in the soil.

there are a lot of details in gardening what with weather, soil, plants etc all varying - so to take blackcurrants they do need water but its only critical for a few months in the Late Spring/Early Summer when they are both growing new shoots and leaves, while also trying to produce fruit. Blackcurrants are also the sort of fruit which respond while to heavy feeding, hence FYM.

You could go through each type of fruit and they all would have somewhat different needs at different times - if it helps you could say growing fruit and veg is a bit like keeping animals - each type of animal needs different conditions and you won't do well if you treat your tigers to the same regime in terms of food etc., as you do your chickens.

So if you can give your blackcurrants an approximation of the conditions they prefer then odds on the other disease and pest problems will no longer be an issue, on the other hand if you can't give them the requisite conditions then quite possibly growing something-else in their place would be a better choice for you.

BTW ordinary tap water is fine for most plants including blackcurrants - its only blueberries and other acid loving plants you sometimes need rainwater for and then only in areas where the tap water is on the alkaline side.