How to Propogate Blueberry Plants
Blueberries in the home garden are grown for both ornamental purposes and for their fruit-producing capabilities. With their small, pink-to-white, spring-blooming flowers, to their sky-blue-colored summer fruit, blueberries make for attractive specimens in any garden. Like rhododendrons and azaleas, blueberries prefer cool growing conditions and acid-rich soil. However, to propagate blueberries requires access to disease-free specimens and proper care, according to Nancy Schulte and Jim Hancock at the Horticulture Department at Michigan State University. You can propagate blueberries from softwood cuttings taken in spring as soon as there is no further chance of frost. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Scissors or snips
- Blueberry cuttings
- Growing media
- Bowl or basin
- Rooting hormone
- Spray bottle
- Fertilizer
Instructions
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1
Measure out, into a bowl or basin, equal portions of coarse sand, ground pine bark and peat moss. You can also use equal portions of milled pine bark, peat moss and perlite. Mix these ingredients together thoroughly.
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2
Scoop the mixture out into a 6- to 8-inch-deep wooden or plastic tray, or you can also use one gallon plastic planting pots. The tray or pots should be full to within 1/4 inch from the top.
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Set the tray or the plastic planting pots into a large tub or basin that contains between 4 and 6 inches of water. Soak the tray or pots for 3 to 4 hours to saturate the growing media.
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4
Cut off several 4- to 6-inch-long cuttings from a healthy disease-free blueberry plant. Try to take the cuttings as early in the morning as possible. If you cannot plant the cuttings immediately, set them into a bucket or basin that is holding about 2 to 3 inches of water.
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Remove all but 3 or 4 leaves off each cutting. Mix together with water an appropriate amount of an alcohol-based hormone treatment solution as specified on the products label. Dip each of the cuttings into the solution for 5 to 10 seconds, or however long is recommended.
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Push about 2 inches, or about one-half the length, of each cutting into the growing media. Make sure each cutting its placed vertically into the media. Do this for each cutting you have to plant. If you are using a tray, plant each cutting approximately 2 inches apart.
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Push the soil in around each cutting to eliminate any air pockets. Provide the cuttings daily watering. Use a spray bottle to mist the blueberry cuttings with water first thing in the morning to keep them moist. In about three weeks, the cuttings will take root.
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Fertilize the cuttings using a water-soluble fertilizer. You can use ammonium sulfate at the rate of 1 ounce for every 1 gallon of water.
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Transplant the blueberry plants in about 4 to 5 months. You can plant them out into your garden, or into tubs or barrels.
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References
- Photo Credit Blue berry image by marlot from Fotolia.com
