Nothing beats homegrown blueberries . Well , except for maybe one thing … more blueberry bush !
If you want to expand your berry speckle – or get started uprise blueberries – sure as shooting , you could go buy plants from a glasshouse , but why not try propagate your own bushes ?
Doing your own multiplication at home is so rewarding , not to mention cost efficient . It ’s deserving a try .
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In ourguide to develop blueberries , we cover how to domesticate these plants in your home garden .
In this article we will brood four extension methods . Here ’s the lineup :
Blueberry Propagation Methods
cutting
layer
Seeds
chump
Whether you desire to turn your existing plant into a row of productive bushes , or get started on your own berry eyepatch , you could do so with one of these propagation methods .
Blueberries can be distribute via softwood or hardwood base cutting . deal cutting are often the preferent commercial method , as they usually have better and faster root winner .
When take cuttings , whether softwood or hardwood , always choose the warm , tidy mother plants and branches to harvest from .
To make a good generation variety that can be used for either type , blend equal parts of common sand , ground pine bark , and peat moss , or adequate part perlite and peat moss . Moisten before infix the cutting , but do not saturate the medium .
Make trusted your container is at least four to five inches cryptic . you’re able to use one - gallon container or flat with recondite cell .
While neither gruelling or softwood cuttingsneedrooting internal secretion to root right , dipping the destruction in a product like Bontone II Rooting Powder , available at Arbico Organics , just before stick them in their holes can aid to improve and speed up rooting .
Bontone II Powdered Rooting Hormone
Now let ’s jump straight into it , with the details for your take type of Grant Wood .
Softwood Cuttings
Softwood cuttings are those taken from the top of the season ’s current growth on the upper parts of the mother works .
The foliage at the end of the stem turn ( final leaves ) should be half - grown to almost mature , and stem should be pliable .
If you take cuttings too early , when the terminal leaves are exceedingly soft and stems are really flexile , the cuttings may wilt before they can root .
If you take softwood cuttings too deep , when the terminal leaf are fledged and the second flush of ontogeny has already started , you may see miserable rooting .
A felicitous medium between the two will result in the fastest , best root development , perhaps a snatch closer to semi - hardwood than softwood , if you want to be technical .
Cuttings can be learn in the former spring , during the first flush of outgrowth , or from the descent flush . leaping cuttings are typically much more successful .
If you ’d rather take cuttings afterwards in the class when you are less busy in the garden , you might require to take hardwood cuttings rather , covered below .
roll up carving betimes in the morn if possible . Use sharp , unclouded pruning shear or a tongue . If you wish , you may disinfect your tool before beginning with a solution of one part menage bleaching agent to five parts water .
Cut four- to five - in sections of shank . Remove the lower leaves , leaving three concluding leaves in plaza . Do n’t allow them to dry out .
Keep them moist and nerveless during and after collection by souse cuttings in a bucketful of water , or folding them in pie-eyed burlap .
Poke individual holes in the center of the locoweed . order the cuttings in the pre - prepared , moist metier to a profoundness of about half to two - third of the cutting distance and firm the spiritualist around the nucleotide .
Place in a low light area , whether indoors or in a glasshouse , where the temperature is around 70 ° degree Fahrenheit .
Keep the average moist . Either mist regularly to grapple humidity , or handle with plastic , prop up up to keep it off the leaves . dispatch the plastic to have the cutting ventilate for 10 minutes twice a week .
It can be voiceless to know if you are watering enough or too much during generation . Become a sleuth to find out !
you may check whether you ’re on the correct rail regarding wet by softly remove the cutting from the medium and take a peek at the cut end .
If the medium is absolutely dampish and aerated , the cutting should be forming a white to cream - colored callosity and may have modest white theme sprouting from the callus by the third week . Be careful reinserting if little roots are starting and avoid removing the cut once tooth root are evolve .
If you ’ve been overwatering , the cut wo n’t have formed a callosity and might be bourgeon sparse , washy theme . The cutting also might begin turn chocolate-brown from the cut terminate up .
Once roots are beginning to get , the medium will start to dry out quicker . To ensure you are cater enough moisture , press a finger’s breadth into the soil . If it come back cool and moist , perfect ! If the soil is warm and your digit is dry , you ’ll need to sum piddle .
Softwood stems should take root within six to eight weeks . softly tower on a cut to check for ohmic resistance . Resistance equals root !
Once settle down , fertilize lightly with a complete fertilizer such as Dr. Earth Root Zone Organic and Natural Premium Starter Fertilizer , usable at Nature Hills Nursery , at half the recommended rate , as immature works are Strategic Arms Limitation Talks - sensitive .
Dr Earth Root Zone Starter Fertilizer
Continue to care for your cuttings by maintaining even moisture in the potting medium over the summer month .
In the crepuscle , prepare the untested plants for the transition from their indoor home to lifespan outside by easy and gradually hardening them off .
property in an area with collateral sunlight for one hour , and add an hour of outside time each Clarence Day until they can spend an entire day out .
Once hardened off , you’re able to determine to transplant directly into their permanent positions , or into enceinte containers filled with milled pine bark . Many growers prefer to permit their plants produce larger in containers outdoors before transplanting into the garden .
Repotting can also be done as presently as the plant are hardened off .
immix a complete deadening - release plant food , such as Down to Earth ’s Acid Mix ( 4 - 3 - 6 NPK),available at Arbico Organics , into the new potting medium .
Down to Earth Acid Mix
urine well after repotting and keep flora originate in containers in a protected spot over winter , such as a dusty frameor against a south wall . Larger works may respond substantially to transplant .
If you decide to transplant straight off into the garden , keep the pots near their succeeding permanent positions until they can be transplanted , and be trusted to transfer before the ground is frozen .
Mix a half cup of the Down to Earth ’s Acid premix fertiliser into the backfill soil , and piddle well after transplanting .
Top dress both containers and in - ground plants with one or two moreapplications of fertilizerduring the next raise season , or amalgamate into the surface of the soil . Water in well .
Learn to transplantation blueberries in our templet .
Hardwood Cuttings
Hardwood press clipping are taken during the inactive time of year and after a sufficient shuddery geological period . Each cultivar requires a certain number of tingle hours , so verify this has been reached before postulate thinning .
I prefer to take cuttings in April , when many cultivar are finally eat up chilling and temperatures are becoming ideal for rooting .
Using sharp , clean tools , cut 12 to 36 - in shoot ( also know as whips ) that are one - one-sixth of an in in diameter , or about the thickness of a pencil .
curtail off an column inch of the peak and discard it . Divide the whip into five- to six - column inch division . Cut the ends on an angle to help with insertion into the medium .
depend at which direction the buds on the stem are pointed ; if they are charge upwardly you ’ve pose them oriented the correct manner .
Insert one stem into each pot filled with moist metier , about half to two - third gear of their length deep . Leave at least one shoot bud exposed and make certain each base is localize into the average right side up .
Firm the sensitive around the cornerstone of each . put the jackpot outside in the shade to steady down , or in a greenhouse or insensate frame covered with 40 - 70 percentage refinement cloth .
Bottom heat via a heat mat set at 68 - 70 ° F can help speed up rooting if you have the facilities . verify the area is well vent .
As long as the medium is kept moist , not blotto , hardwood cuttings should shape roots – finally . Often , buds will break and leave will form before they are even rooted ! Keep a good centre on average moisture during this stagecoach , as they will die quickly if they dry out . think misting regularly .
Hardwood stems can take up to six month to rootle , so this method can be an exercise in solitaire . But in my experience , most of those taken in April will be rooted by mid July .
Once the cutting are rout – which you’re able to confirm whether you gently deplumate on the stem and find resistance – apply a swooning loony toons of sodding , diluted plant food with an NPK proportion of 15 - 30 - 4 or 13 - 36 - 13 , or diammonium phosphate , every two weeks until the fall .
impart the cuttings in their rooting location until the fall or early wintertime . Transplant into large stool fill with milled pine barque , and let them grow for another year in the same positioning .
They should be potent and tumid enough to be planted in their permanent position by their 2d winter , before the terra firma has freeze .
Layering is a multiplication method acting used as an option to taking cuttings . All you need is a flexible leg that will crouch to ground level , moist soil , and some rooting internal secretion pulverisation .
In the spring or fall , find a flexible untried shoot , preferably on the outside of your plant . The stem needs to tint the ground at least a understructure from the gratuity , so test the length by bending to the ground before arrive at any cuts .
Once you have identified an appropriate shank , remove the leave from the top 12 - in surgical incision , starting at the stem tip . Then cut a one- to two - in - prospicient prick in the leafless division of the stem , preferably through a leaf bud .
Sprinkle the cut with rooting hormone , such as Bontone II Rooting Powder .
Dig a shallow trench in the soil where the swing part reaches the footing , peg down the shoot down and swallow up the cutting with grease . The tip of the shoot must not be embrace with soil .
Keep the lay to rest shoot moist , but not waterlogged .
Within a class the buried subdivision should have developed roots . The aboveground part of the works should be immature and put on new increment , indicating that it has a good root system .
The new plant life can be lop from the mother industrial plant and either transplanted or potted up to grow on . As you would with other type of cuttings , to find out for rooting , give it a aristocratic tugboat , or give it a wide-eyed berth and mildly delve it up .
Either transplant to the garden or dope up to continue growing .
you could either buy seeded player or extract them from your own berries .
extract your own germ is simple enough , but you need to realize that seeds from hybrid plant wo n’t leave in plant with the exact same qualities as the parent .
If you need a specific variety or cultivar , it is well to buy open - pollenate heirloom seeds , but these can be tough to see .
Pre - stratified northern highbush seeds areavailable via Amazon .
To educe your own germ , start with seeds from blueberry bush that have been frozen for 90 days , either on the George Walker Bush or in your freezer .
tally three - quartern of a loving cup of dethaw berries to a blender , nutrient grinder , or bowl , and summate water until it is three - quarter full . Blend for 10 - 15 sec , or mash totally , and set aside to let the seeds and pulp separate .
The seeds will drop down , and the pulp will float . After 10 minute of arc , pour or scoop out off the pulp magazine and lease it settle again . Repeat until most of the seeds have settle . take away them from the water , and spread out them out to dry out on a paper towel .
Fill a three - column inch - late savorless with moistened peat moss . Sprinkle the seeds equally over top , or sow individually , spacing one inch asunder . Cover with another thin layer of peat moss .
cover up the tray with newspaper publisher and piazza in a warm 60 - 70 ° F location . Keep the medium moist but not wet .
Germination will take about a month . When the tiny seedlings originate emerging , take out the newspaper and lieu in a sunny window or in your glasshouse to extend develop . Keep moist .
Once seedlings are two to three column inch tall , transfer each , being especially careful with the root , and transplant them into their own little pots .
The pots should be two to three in deep and filled with a premix of equal part peat , sand , and potting soil . Water well after transplantation and keep in a sunny locating indoors or in a greenhouse .
After two to three workweek , fertilize thinly with a complete liquid fertilizer .
Once all danger of frost has slip away you may harden off your piddling blueberry bush plant and set them alfresco for the summer . Keep them well watered .
Transplant into the ground , or their own containers , in the later fall or in the spring of the following year .
If you notice your bush is air shoots up a few inches away from the jacket of the flora , you could apply these to vegetatively circulate new bush as well .
permit these suckers raise for at least two seasons before dividing them from the female parent industrial plant in the late decline or wintertime before the ground is frozen . To do this , use a sharp shovel to separate off the beginning the patsy is growing from . cautiously dig eight to 12 inches deep around the sucker to remove the stem construction and then rehome it .
Suckers normally have very small and underdeveloped antecedent arrangement , and their tops will need to be trimmed gratingly to even out the theme - to - shoot ratio . Clip the shoot to the same length as the roots before transplant , leaving at least two leaves in place .
you could plant sucker in their lasting posture immediately as you would other transplants , or pot them up and let them produce for a time of year before transplanting .
process potted suckers as you would clipping shortly after steady down , by planting in a mill true pine bark mass medium , observe it moist , and placing in a sheltered location .
Can’t Get Enough of that Blue!
In the caseful of blueberries , more is always better .
Propagating your own blueberry plants is a sport , gratifying , and cost - effective agency to go from possess a few industrial plant to tend a full row of the blue - laden President George W. Bush .
Use cuttings , sucker , or layer to clone your best plants , or try seeds for the satisfaction of envision tiny light-green sprouts emerge in your home or greenhouse .
check out out more of our helpful guides to growing blueberry bush next :
© Ask the Experts , LLC . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.See our TOSfor more inside information . primitively published May 1st , 2021 . Last update : May 16th , 2025 . Product photo via Arbico Organics and Seeds for Brains . Uncredited photograph : Shutterstock .
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Sylvia Dekker
