Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Blueberries

I have >1' sprouts shooting out off my blueberry bushes. Can these be cut and replanted to start new plants? If not, is there a way to start new bb plants from existing ones?

I never raised blueberries, but they seem similar to other brush-like things I have done this trick with.

I take a smaller branch and pull it down to the ground and hold it there while I cover it with a few inches of dirt. Good to let some of the smaller branches that come of the main stem to get buried, or scratch the bark that gets buried. This will help roots get started. Put a heavy rock on the dirt to help hold it in place. By fall or spring there should be roots developing. I cut the branch off and let sit a while longer, possible a year. Then dig up and move to where you want it.

Yes. Take a cutting of that new shoot, remove the last couple lower leaves, dip in rooting hormone, and place in a mixture of peat moss, perlite, and potting soil. Keep it well watered, preferably w/rain water. Blueberries are acid-loving plants and can't tolerate sweet soil or water w/high alkalinity like most well water. They have shallow, fibrous roots and also benefit greatly from a deep mulch. They also get big. High bush types get over 6 feet tall and about 5 feet wide. Good luck!!!

Are any types of the blueberries grafted?

If they are, it's more complicated.

It's been my experience doing what Brook recommending is fairly easy and successful. Just keep it damp and taken care of the first year.

Thanks for the comments. I'll get started on it tomorrow. I'll follow up with a progress report in a few months or more. Thanks again...

When you cut, do it at a node. It will help with the rooting.

I've done it the way Fish n Chips described. I keep my bushes fairly well mulched. There are always a few branches that want to lay close to the ground. Those are the ones that get covered over with mulch, topped by a rock. If you do it now, you should have rooted shoots ready for transplanting next spring.

If im doing a bunch, i will cut off a shoot and bury the bottom 6" in a pile of pine bark. Keep the pile moist and your ready to plant in spring

These things really are acid loving and the roots will wrap themselves around the pine bark

I wouldn't use the sprouts until they are at least 6" and "hardened" a little. They require too much care when they are small and the stalks very fresh

I was beginning to think I was alone on this. I like it because you do it and you don't have to pamper it. It always has enough moisture because if the ground is dry it just pulls it from the regular tree. The only time it doesn't work is when the wife goes around and pulls them out thinking "who messed up my landscaping"!!!

gallop, I like that idea, too. Should I put the pine bark in a planter or just stick the shoots in a pile of pine bark on the grow. Also, I have some long shoots - should I cut them short or leave them long (about 14-16")?

I learned from watching a blueberry farmer. Cut shoot, don't need to trim down. He would jam hundreds of these down into a pile of moist mulch which he would keep moist through overhead watering.

He did this because it was simple, fast, and it worked. Don't see why it wouldn't work in a planter

The pegging method works just fine as well, and I also just put trimmings in the ground and let them go--but only in the spring. This works very well w/plants like currants and gooseberries. The only problem is that looks to be a fairly young blueberry, and their branches are usually too brittle to take much "arranging." I'm afraid he'd lose the good wood he's got going. It's also frankly getting a little late in the year to be doing any of this--for me anyway, but it might be ok in Alabama. Cutting a small slit where you peg also encourages roots to form there.