Blueberry Propagation, Easy and from waste.
Hello Rob here from the Flanagan Homestead I'm going to be propagating Blueberries today and it's early January And you might ask why am I doing in Early January a very one simple fact it Is time to prune the blueberries and Instead of pruning off the blueberries And throwing it away I am using the Cuttings to create new blueberry bushes I've been doing this for several years The reason I wanted to do this video is I have made videos in the past but I've I've done some experimenting and gotten Better at it and also I've been watching Some other people's videos on YouTube And there's a few people out there that Are clearly trying to create content for Their Channel which I am as well but They've never done it before they've Watched other people do it and they're Putting together and I can tell there's A lot of times people that have never Done it before Actually trying to show you how to do it So I'm not going to claim I have 20 Years experience doing this I've done it For the last several years I I'll show You a few bushes that I've started over The past several years and what sizes They're at just know that uh cuttings Are not just like instant berries our Instant blueberries it's going to take a Little bit of time They're going to get just a little bit
Of root the first year and then you're Going to repot them and let them grow And they're going to start to take off That second year and then soon you'll be Able to put them out in the garden They'll take off but it takes a while For them to get established if I was Cutting blueberries just to get cuttings For propagation this is not a lot of These branches are not what I'd be Looking for but since this is a waste Product I'm going to use a lot of these And there are some good canes here for Cuttings but I'm going to use the prime The ones that are really Prime Growers And then I'm going to use some that Aren't necessarily Prime the nice thing Is like I said this is waste so if you Have space don't be afraid to stick Others in the smaller ones bigger ones And stick them in the ground and see if They work but I'll show you what I think Is prime situation and then we'll go From there So after this older cane there's this One nice new long cane that says the First year growth I'm going to cut that Off and I'm going to start from there Now also up here at the very end is Another uh cane that I think is going to Be really good for propagation so Here's a couple things you need to Understand first of all The best ones are going to be smaller
Than a pencil probably half the diameter Of a pencil this one Is almost guaranteed to propagate really Well This one is going to do well also but uh Might be slightly lower percentage but Here's something you need to understand So when you get a cane like this towards The very end you're going to have Fruiting buds that's what these larger Rounded ones are and those are going to Produce blooms which will then produce Blueberries they'll be clusters of Blueberries coming off of these as you Get further from the end of the cane you Will have other buds like these that are Leafing buds these are the ones that you Want to propagate the fruiting buds up Here will take energy away and you want To give energy so I will cut off most of These fruiting buds If you find that you left one on and it Starts to grow and you have leafing buds Growing out and you have a bloom just Pluck the bloom off and it'll be fine so Here I'll have plenty of blooms actually I still have a fruiting Bud right there I'm going to cut off but then I have one Two three four five six seven note eight Right here I'm gonna cut Right on this one I've got about my five Inch cane with multiple nodes or buds That will go under the soil and multiple Nodes that will be above
Okay I grabbed another Cane that I think Is actually going to be perfect size and I think this one is just perfect but Again as you're looking towards the end Here we've got fruiting buds fruiting Buds fruiting buds Leafing buds so I cut it off right here And then I've got one two three four Five six Buds six nodes that are going To be used to uh help for the new growth And just to give you a nice example so You could get a visual on it because I'm A visual person this one I believe is Going to grow really well might be a Little smaller than premium this one is Just perfect as far as the width that I Seemed like and this one will do well as Well but uh not quite as good as the Other two I believe and you and I've Grown them with much bigger and much Smaller Before we continue on here's a couple Cuttings from last year If we come down here 's a couple I got Left from a couple years ago you could See that they're sending out new canes They're not super tall maybe two feet Tall It takes a while they're going to take Off this next year and here's an older One that we've done that's getting going To be fruiting more this year all right Another thing that is very important you Need to have an inert medium and what I
Mean by inert is it doesn't have Nutrients in it either sand or fine for A bark seem to be the best it's Something that will hold moisture but Let the extra moisture run through so I Have a bunch of fine fur bark that I'm Using here this this I've had more Success with this than anything else If you're doing hardwood cuttings like This I found that you can get away with Potting soil sometimes but it doesn't Doesn't work it quite as well and if You're doing soft wood cuttings you Definitely need an inert medium and Again inert medium means no nutrients in It you might think why do I want no Nutrients in it that's because uh Bacteria when you're keeping the Moisture on you're going to keep this Very moist bacteria molds funguses other Things that are detrimental to your Blueberries will grow on it so you do Not want to have nutrients in your soil After they've rooted you'll add some Fertilizer and it'll go but as I said This needs to be able to drain easily so If I was to pour water In here it doesn't take long and it's Coming out the bottom holes of my pot so This is an excellent medium and I have About what five five inches of soil here Plenty to root blueberries in Okay so here we go to plant I have my Various size canes that I've cut and I
Believe that uh almost all of these will Be successful they're all in a Range It'll do really well we've had a good Success rate with this we have the very Small ones over here and we have some Larger ones and like I said I've had my Horticulture class the kids that I teach Horticulture to do various sizes much Smaller and larger than this and have Had success on either size it is Important when you plant them that they Are pointing up the way they were Growing the nodes need to be ready to Grow up so if you're not sure if you Drop these on the ground and you're Going oh my which way is it usually the Top is thinner the base is wider and all The buds or all the nodes have point up If you look at them closely it's almost Like a little bar of a little Spike Pointing up so you know which way is up So I'm going to Simply take these and Let me grab four of them Of various sizes These are all pointing up I'm going to Go ahead and moisten The bottom of it and stick it in a Rooting hormone I've used different Rooting hormones I don't think it really Matters but you use I try to stick it in Deep and hopefully get hormone on two Nodes I will say that I don't know that this Actually helps a ton I've grown a lot of
Blueberries without using rooting Hormone but I believe that the Percentage rate is a little bit better With a rooting hormone then I'm just Taking an old cane but I cut off the Blueberry bush and I'm going to punch Holes in my medium So that I don't push off all the rooting Hormone as I put the cane in so now I'm Just going to drop these in the holes Pack this nice and tight Around as they stand up this one needs a Little bit more Medium there you could always lightly Drop medium on it later and then once I Get it in the pot I'm going to go ahead And make sure that there's plenty of Moisture soak it in Until there's at least water running out The bottom when you water these and you Need to water them a lot make sure you Do enough that the water runs out the Bottom now that you've got this far with Your hardwood cuttings of blueberries You need to do three things one you need To be patient two you need to keep the Soil moist and three you need to keep it Out of the sun you need to keep this in A shaded spot okay all three things are Very important so first of all about the Patients when you do hardwood cuttings They're dormant and this is January They're not going to normally start Growing until what April in our area so
If you stick these out in the cold They're not they're just going to sit There for a while that's all right okay Then when things start growing they'll Start waking up and they'll start Growing as well but when you take Hardwood cuttings the base that was cut Has to callus over first and then it Grows Roots there will probably be no Roots on this until four or five months So you know when you do soft wood Cuttings you can get them much sooner The people are tugging on them to see if They're there don't tug on these leave Them alone just let them grow you're Gonna see leaves start coming out They're going to be growing the they're Going to have leaves growing and Everything and there's still going to be No roots just keep moisture on it and Keep it in the shade when those leaves Get out there if you leave it out in the Direct sunlight the the moisture is Going to come right out of the leaves And the cane without roots is not going To be able to produce enough so keep it In a shaded spot keep it moist A lot of people especially with hardwood Cuttings have these fancy systems where They have misting systems on timers Whatnot I don't have any fast fancy Systems I keep the soil moist uh when I'm not Around I have a sprinkler not an
Oscillating sprinkler but one that sits Flat and kind of sprays out sorry at the Time of filming I don't have it around Me but and it just kind of Mists or spreads sprays water sprinkles Water out about seven feet in every Direction and I put that in the middle Of my pots in a shaded area and that one Sprinkler can keep hundreds of canes Moist and I do have a timer not a fancy One but I can have it water for like Three minutes in the morning three Minutes about midday and three minutes In the evening and that keeps plenty of Moisture in here if you I've had success When I don't have a sprinkler like that But you need you know set in a CD spot Where your yard sprinklers are going to Come on and get a little bit every day And it'll probably work just as well Here's something that I do a little bit Different than most people and I've Found that I think it helps a little bit So this is January these are just going To sit dormant until April I put these In my Greenhouse at the school it's not Super hot in there but it's warm enough That they start butting out within a Couple weeks I'll start getting leaves We'll we'll leave them in the greenhouse Until it gets warm enough and everything Else is growing outside and then we'll Move them outside keep them in a shaded Spot and keep them watered and I feel
Like it gives it just a couple extra Months to get a little bit of roots Established and then from then on I will Never take them in the greenhouse again Because I want them to have the natural Seasons dormant in the winter and then Wake up in the spring and grow through The summer but I found starting these in The greenhouse because it's a little bit Warmer is great if you wanted to start Some of these and just bring them inside Your house don't put them on the south Side window where the sun is pounding on It but put it where it gets some Sunlight but not a ton but it's warmer In your house these are going to start Waking up in just a couple weeks and get Them started So going back to my comments about Having an inert medium that has no Nutrients in it you're like once it Starts to grow what do we got to do so For four months five months I won't put Any fertilizer on this after about five Months when I think they're starting to Grow roots and it could actually absorb Some nutrients then I'll start Sprinkling a little bit of fertilizer in Here and letting it absorb down here and Don't overdo it there is for this first Year there's enough nutrients and energy In the canes that are already there that They can grow this first year but a Little bit of nutrient
After about five months and then then on Just sprinkle on a little bit and let it Soak down in there will be roots to the Draw it up then So in about a year these are going to be All rooted and I'm going to want to Transplant them some experts recommend Leaving them in these pots for another Year and just putting uh fertilizer on It and then it still drains well which Is good for the roots but the nutrients Can get down in there by putting the Fertilizer in that's a good option I Tend to want to separate these I don't Want them growing in the same pot I want Them to grow in a pot about this size by Themselves the next year so one of the Beautiful things about the fine fur bark Now that'll be packed together a little Bit more after a year here but it's Still going to be pretty loose I'll put My hand over this and I'll turn it over And it'll be in a big cluster and then We'll just work the fur bark very gently Very gently until it comes off all the Roots and then they're separated and Then I can plant these uh a year from Now they will have roots on them and in Individual pots with potting soil and Then they'll Grill up from there The first year I did cuttings I did not Realize how fine and hair like the Blueberry roots were going to be and how Tender they were going to be and I think
I tore off half of the plants roots and I lost them okay so just know when you It is time to go and Transplant your Very young blueberry bush you know as I Get older it's not as tender but the Very young blueberry bushes be very Careful when you take them out of the Pot and transplanting them As I mentioned before we're pruning our Blueberry bushes like we need to in uh January and so we just took the weight What is the waste product and started Cutting them properly to stick in here And produce some this is one of the Larger uh ones that we had throughout The year this little section right here Is the cane that was stuck in the ground These are all new branches and this Approximately two feet of growth is uh What it put out this year now they look A little straggly because it's January And most blueberry bushes lose all their Leaves Legacy will keep some of their Leaves so there are some leaves and There aren't my blueberry bushes at home Which are not legacy have no leaves on Them whatsoever right now so this one Grew well enough that it's actually Putting out some fruiting buds on the End I won't let it fruit next year I'm Going to let uh force it to grow more Canes and then the fall maybe the Following year I'll let it start Fruiting
Here's another example of what is not I Would not call Prime uh Kane this is Really thick much thicker than a pencil But uh We as I said just stick it in the ground We had it it was going to just be thrown Away and it has it started growing it's Got some nice new growth coming out here Last but not least believe it or not This is 10 months old it's a little tiny Thing but it again is super small it was Just right here when we started and it Was started well I have about 20 plants That are still growing that were started In little tiny trays like this which is Not ideal usually you want to at least Four inches of depth but uh What is this an inch and a half depth And not very wide but as long as we kept The fur bark moist The Roots kept Developing the plant stayed alive and Now we're transplanting it and growing It so you know ideally you'd be doing Larger than this but like I said you've Pruned these off in January it's a waste Product cut it up stick them in pots and See what grows So in summary Do it find some canes propagate some Blueberries it's easy but you need to Have the right medium fine fur bark in My opinion you need to be patient it's Going to take a while for the roots to Develop you need to keep in the shade
And you have to keep moisture in the Medium Now it's time for me to go prune the Rest of my blueberries and my fruit Trees thanks for joining me on the Flanagan Homestead where Christmas trees Are my business teaching and cleaning Horticulture is my job and outdoor Projects are my passion hope to see you Again soon be blessed everyone
