How to Propagate Blueberries From Cuttings

Softwood Propagation

• 1). Fill a small planter with sand and moisten it top to bottom. Stop adding water when it begins to flow out of the pot's drainage holes.
  
  
• 2). Cut a four-inch piece from a blueberry cane. Measure the length from the tip towards the center of the bush so you get the most recent growth. Harvest the cutting in late spring.
  
  
• 3). Remove all leaves, except for two or three closest to the outer tip. Scar the wood with a knife just below the point where the lowest leaf sprouted from to facilitate rooting.
  
  
• 4). Dip the cut end of the blueberry stem in rooting hormone. Wet the wood first if the formula you have is in powder form, because it helps the hormone to stick to the stem.
  
  
• 5). Plant the hormone-treated end of the cutting two inches into the moist sand. Use your fingers to firm the soil around the stem.
  
  
• 6). Water the cutting at planting. Irrigate the sand again and spray the twig.
  
  
• 7). Insert three stakes taller than the cutting in the sand, evenly spaced. Place the planter in a clear plastic bag and close it at the opening to conserve heat and humidity for the cutting. The stakes keep the bag from collapsing on the twig. Move the pot to indirect sunlight, but where it receives bright light eight hours a day.
  
  
• 8). Open the bag every day and check the moisture level. Irrigate the sand and spray the cutting with water whenever the soil surface begins to dry.
  
  
• 9). Check for new roots three weeks after planting the blueberry cutting. Gently move some sand out of the way so you can see the stem's buried end. Put things back as they were if there are no roots or they aren't well developed.
  
  
• 10
  
  Fill a medium planter with potting mix and transplant the cutting to it when its roots are ½ inch long. Irrigate the soil until water drains from the pot's holes. Water the new seedling whenever the soil surface feels dry.
  
  
• 11
  
  Fertilize your young blueberry plant weekly with a liquid 15-30-4 formula. Keep the seedling indoors or in a greenhouse until the following spring, when you can transplant it to its permanent location.
  
  

Hardwood Propagation

• 1). Fill a plastic bag with sphagnum peat moss and moisten it with water.
  
  
• 2). Cut a four-inch piece from a blueberry cane. Collect hardwood cuttings from dormant bushes in late winter or early spring. The bush shouldn't have any open buds yet.
  
  
• 3). Remove all leaves and all fruit buds with a knife. Take a slice off the stem's cut end to expose the inner tissue and facilitate rooting.
  
  
• 4). Place the cutting in the moist peat moss inside the plastic bag. Store the bag in the refrigerator for 60 to 90 days.
  
  
• 5). Check the sphagnum peat moss for moisture twice a week. Spray it thoroughly with water whenever it begins to feel dry.
  
  
• 6). Fill a small planter with sand and moisten it thoroughly until water begins to run out of the drainage holes.
  
  
• 7). Take the cutting out of the refrigerator at the end of the chilling period. Follow steps 4 through 11 as outlined in the "Softwood Propagation" section.