Hardwood blueberry cuttings.

Hello! First time poster here. Getting ready to do some dormant, hardwood High Bush blueberry cuttings. Beyond the how-to of harvesting cuttings, I haven't been able to find a straightforward step-by-step of what this looks like.

I have seen that most people keep them inside, with bottom heat and a mister. Is keeping them indoors necessary? If so, what size pots do people generally put them in? Is a 4 inch pot per cutting taking up too much real-estate? Alternatively, are six cell trays too stingey? Also, is a mister necessary, or can I get by with a humidity dome?

Or, can they be stuck in rooting medium outdoors and exposed to the elements? Perhaps winter sowing them in jugs? Or in pots/trays with a heating pad outdoors? Same questions about size of containers.

I have hormex rooting powder in strengths one, three, and eight. From the research I've done, it sounds like going with strength level eight is the way to go. Rooting medium "should" be a mix of peat, sand, and perlite. Open to others' experiences on this.

Thanks for the input, friends! I appreciate learning from the wisdom of the community!

Welcome to permies Jarrod!

The only way I've tried is outdoors, and I had decent success just sticking them in a well draining area and keeping them moist. Most of mine that didn't make it I think we're due to too much heat and sunlight being in full sun, so a partially shaded spot would be best.

I think misting wouldn't be necessary as it is more necessary for green cuttings to keep them from drying out, and it may encourage rot on dormant cuttings. Thicker sized cuttings also seemed to do better, and they don't need much room, a pretty skinny pot would be fine, but the deeper the pot the better to stay more moist and to have a larger area along the cutting for roots to be able to grow.

Good luck and would love to hear how it turns out!

Steve

I always use softwood cuttings, and after removing from parent plant, scrape one side with a knife, nicking the cambium layer to expose it.  Dip into rootone and stick into fungal dominant soil they like, with plenty of compost in it.  Surprising how many root if you keep it moist. Add a little peat moss if you have to, to keep it soft.  Keep mulched with wood chips or something they like similar to that which regulates moisture.  Make need a year to root down well enough to transplant.  Also you can take a shovel or axe and cut through roots to those suckers which come off the mother plant,  Let them recover six months or so and then transplant.