How to Transplant Wild Blueberries
Wild blueberries have great flavor and spread out from a central plant through seeds. If you want to add a wild blueberry bush to your garden, and you are thinking of transplanting one, you will need to take steps to ensure that it gets established and survives the move. Wild blueberry shrubs can only be moved under certain conditions.
Locate an area to plant the bush. Make sure that it has several feet of space on all sides for future growth. Plant it in an area with little vegetation, although short grass is OK.
Apply a 14-7-7 fertilizer to the soil around the planting area at a rate of about 1/2 gallon to 40 or 50 square feet, and water it in. Wait a couple of days.
- Wild blueberries have great flavor and spread out from a central plant through seeds.
Dig up the young plant or seedling in the spring before new growth starts. Larger blueberry bushes are more difficult to transplant due to size and sensitivity to moving. Make sure to dig a good portion of dirt to go with it. Several shovels' worth should do.
Dig a hole for the small tree in the new location that will accommodate the tree and the extra dirt you brought.
Fill the hole with the extra dirt and tamp it down lightly with your foot. Once the dirt is in the hole, make a small hole for the blueberry bush using a hand trowel. Plant it at the same depth that it was in its original location.
- Dig up the young plant or seedling in the spring before new growth starts.
- Fill the hole with the extra dirt and tamp it down lightly with your foot.
Fill in with the dirt and lightly tamp down with your foot.
Water the soil to moisten it, but do not make it soggy.
Put mulch around the base of the bush to trap in moisture.
Trim Blueberries
Remove two or three canes of older growth from the base of your blueberry bush at planting. Encourage vigorous growth by removing all blossom clusters the first year. Prune heavily during the second and third growing season. Remove spindly growth, overlapping branches and dead wood. Leave no more than two or three fruiting clusters. Cut back strong, upright bull canes to prevent excessive height. Cut out two or three of the oldest canes each year by cutting the cane to ground level or cutting back to a strong side shoot crown. Also trim vigorously growing new shoots to encourage branching.
- Fill in with the dirt and lightly tamp down with your foot.
- Put mulch around the base of the bush to trap in moisture.
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Writer Bio
Keith Dooley has a degree in outdoor education and sports management. He has worked as an assistant athletic director, head coach and assistant coach in various sports including football, softball and golf. Dooley has worked for various websites in the past, contributing instructional articles on a wide variety of topics.
