How to Root Blueberries

Take a plastic bag large enough to hold 4-inch-long stems and fill it with moist sphagnum peat moss.

Cut a 4-inch piece from a blueberry twig in late winter or early spring, but before the bush comes out of dormancy. Harvest more than one cutting to increase your odds of success in case not all twigs root. Winter stems are also called hardwood cuttings.

Slice off all fruit buds with a paring knife and pluck any leaves hanging on the branch. Scar the stems' cut ends to create an opening for the roots to sprout.

Place the hardwood cuttings inside the plastic bag and cover it with the moist peat moss. Put the bag in the refrigerator and leave it there for two months.

Open the bag and touch the peat moss about three times a week to check whether it's still moist. Mist it with water if it's becoming dry.

Add sand, perlite or vermiculite to a flat with drainage holes. Water the growing medium you chose until the excess begins to run out.

Take the cuttings out of the refrigerator at the end of the chilling period.

Treat the cut end of the hardwood cuttings with rooting hormone. Moisten it first if the preparation is in powder form to get the hormone to cling to the stem.

Insert the cuttings' lower 2 inches into the soil in the flat. Press the medium against the twigs with your fingers to hold them upright.

Water the soil again and mist the cutting.

Create a greenhouse for the cuttings by placing the flat in a clear plastic bag. If the bag collapses, hold it up with four stakes inserted into the soil at the four corners of the flat. Seal the bag to lock in moisture and heat.

Set the flat with the cuttings where it will be in a well-lit area all day, but out of direct sun.

Check the moisture inside the bag two or three times a week. Keep the soil and twigs hydrated by spraying them with water.

Use your fingers to carefully move the soil from around the twigs three weeks after planting them in the flat. If there are no roots or if roots are shorter than ½ inch, arrange the cuttings as they were.

Add potting soil to medium-sized planters, one for each cutting. Transplant the rooted stems once their roots grow to ½ inch.

Water the potting mix until the excess begins to drain. Irrigate the new seedlings this way every time the soil surface feels dry.

Feed the blueberry seedlings a liquid 15-30-4 fertilizer once a week. Follow the application rates listed on the label of the brand you selected. Transplant the new bushes to larger pots whenever their roots begin to grow in circles. Raise them inside through this first season and move them to the ground the following spring. (