I’m a bit of a blueberry nut. I currently have 12 bushes comprised of Tiftblue, Powerblue, Brightwell, Ochokonee, Alapaha and Premier. One of my bushes (not sure what it is) has grown like a beast and puts out a TON of large delicious berries each year. We are getting a new walk way put in and I would like to line it with 8 bushes. To get the best berries I have tried to start new bushes from cuttings using the advice in the following video:
During my first attempt each cutting wilted and died after a week. I suspect this was because they weren’t able to uptake enough water. My second attempt didn’t fair much better even though I misted the leaves daily. Has anyone successfully started blueberries from cuttings? If you were successful what did you do?
i pruned my northsky and northblue in late fall last year. made about 30 cuttings from them then stuck them in moist coir and then covered w/ saran. stored them in my garage. this spring about 22 budded and are growing! im letting them grow out a bit more before i repot. these were mostly dormant 1st year wood. going to plant a few more and give the rest to family friends and neighbors. also did the same w/ ohio treasure black raspberries with similar results.
i took them out of the garage at the beg. of may and put them in a shady spot and kept them moist . once i saw leaves i watered them w/ miracle grow and took off the plastic and put in a partly sunny spot that gets shade in the afternoon.
I would have air layered or marcotted them as it has been 100% success rate for propagating blueberries for me. Here’s a tutorial that was discussed recently. Maybe use a small baggie or container or a gadget to do it.
Yes, I’ve done it in early July. First year I kept them in unheated garage with temps in 40s. Some I kept outside in winter and they died. Growth has been very slow. After two years the plants are only 10 inches high. For me it is not worth the effort unless I was trying to propagate an unknown variety.
so far letting cuttings root over winter seems the best way to get cuttings to root with minimal care and we hit -35f over jan. and most of feb. last winter.
