Like Destin, I am curious about the method you tried with cuttings, and Gonebananas suggestion may also work, but here is the method I use with over 95% takes:
1. Take cuttings in the dead of winter, when they are fully dormant. I take mine in February. Cuttings should be about 6 inches long, with from 4-6 buds or so, but this number is not cast in stone. Avoid blossoming wood. Anything around 3/8 inch caliper works best, and the wood should be clear and disease free.
2. Place the cuttings in a ziploc bag, and surround them with barely moist peat moss, then seal the bags and place them in the coldest part of your refrigerator. This is usually the bottom shelf.
3. Over the weeks in your refrigerator, the ends of the cuttings will callus, which promotes root development. Take the cuttings out when the weather warms, dip them in Rootone or other rooting hormone, and line them out in your nursery bed. Leave 2-3 buds exposed above the soil line. Since the cuttings are planted while still fully dormant, there is time for roots to become established before the buds begin to break.
4. I think you will be surprised at your success with this method, and to me it seems simpler than airlayering. You can produce a lot of blueberry plants this way. Dozens.
Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
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Posted by destin_gardener 8-B/9-A (My Page) on Mon, May 3, 10 at 22:04
The method I used was from one of the blueberry pioneers out of Tifton, Georgia, who specialized in rabbit-eye and highbush blueberries.
1. Mix equal parts perlite and composted peat.
2. Prepare your containers, (I removed the neck from 1 pint plastic soda bottles and punched some drain holes in the bottom, clear bottles work great as you can see when the roots are fully developed).
3. Place the perlite/peat mixture into these bottles.
4. Thoroughly soak this mixture, allowing excess water to drain from the holes you punched into the bottles.
5. Using a dowel slightly larger than your cuttings, create a hole in the perlite/peat mixture.
6. Take the softwood cuttings after the first flush of new growth in early summer, (June and July), 6 - 10 inches in length.
7. Remove most of the leaves from the cuttings, (leave 3 - 5 leaves).
8. If the cutting have had a chance to dry out, make a fresh cut on the bottom of the cuttings.
9. Dip this fresh cut into the rooting hormone compound.
10. Place the cutting into the hole you created in step 5, (no more than 3 - 4 inches deep into the mixture)
11. Firmly press the perlite/peat mixture around
the cutting.
12. Place the cutting/bottle into a 1 gallon or larger ziplock bag and seal the bag.
13. Place these "packages" in an area that receives indirect sunlight, and will not get too hot, (you are creating a mini-hot house, not for heat but for humidity control)
14. About once a week, open the bags and allow air to circulate.
15. You will need to occasionally add some water to the perlite/peat mixture.
16. In a couple of months, you should see roots filling the plastic soda bottles.
17. Once you have a sufficient quantity of roots, you can transfer them to 1 gallon nursery pots.
18. Aclimate these newly potted plants to full/mostly sun.
19. During their dormant season, you can transfer these plants to the garden.
20. If all goes well you will have producing blueberries in a couple of years.
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Posted by Noogy 5b (My Page) on Sun, Oct 2, 11 at 8:23
The problem with peat is that it's either hydrophilic (Spongey), or repels it. If you use peat use about 25% max by volume. Consider using a horticultural wetting agent to break the waters' surface tension when wetting the peat. Sand wicks away water so it enhances drainage/oxygen availability. The key is to provide the proper high humidity and just enough ventilation in the 'domed' microclimate upstairs, and that takes time to gauge. Add a capful of 3% peroxide to a cup of your water. See what it does.
Consider taking hardwood cuttings in march from the new shoots that emerge from the ground and follow the hardwood cuttings rooting process as they are less delicate and harden off properly before winter comes along up here in Michigan.
Noogy
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Another method is to take 6-8 inch cuttings of soft/green wood. Strip off all of the leaves but the top two or three. Dip the cut end in Rootone or some other rooting hormone, or willow water, and then stick these cuttings into wet, warm sand. Keep warm and mist twice a day. The cuttings should produce roots in 8 weeks or so. You can check by probing gently with a pencil.
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