Propagating Blueberries

I was planning on buying some inexpensive bare-root blueberries at the same place I bought some 24 years ago, but I had surgery at the wrong time, and by the time I got there, the blueberries were all potted up with a price tag of $45 each. NOT ME!!

I have some friends who have about 30 bushes that are over 30 years old. I was thinking of asking them if I could take some cuttings this spring. Then, looking around the NET, I see that they are easily propagated through new growth coming from roots of established bushes.

My friends are over an hour away, so I can't just pop over there and check out the situation.

What should I do? Cuttings? Roots/New growth? Both/And?

I'm assuming that getting some roots with new growth will yield fruit a lot sooner... but, how much sooner?

I'm thinking Both/And. What are your thoughts?

I've only done cuttings. I will be moving a large plant so maybe I'll give the root growth a try too. Very high success rate for getting the cuttings to root.

I've made a lot of new plants with the suckers and had a almost 100% survival rate. They grow super fast. Here's a thread about it.

https://permies.com/t/107553/Free-Blueberry-Plants-Existing-Bushes

I stuck some dormant cuttings in the ground a few months ago that I took off the transplanted suckers and just stuck them in the ground next to the plants and they have surprised me and a lot of the cuttings seem to have survived.

Good luck with your blueberries!

Steve

So, yesterday I did a rash thing. I was walking on a new-to-me trail with my dog and suddenly spotted a huge bunch of the low, small, wild blueberry plants (shrubs? bushes?)  of my childhood.   I haven't seen them since my then 5-year-old brother burned our woods playing with matches.  When I got over my elation, I was heading home with pieces (shown below) of blueberry bush in my hand, wildly thinking I would propagate them and realizing I knew nothing about how to do it. I was mortified, disgusted, and ashamed that "Leave No Trace" didn't even enter my mind because I am devoted to that principle.  

That being said, I can't put them back as I found them.  I live in 7a,  and from what I have briefly read (and watched) it seems I should put the piece with roots in the ground. Of course, that was for nicely cut suckers not plants ripped by hand out of their natural environment. I've had them in water overnight. Should I place them with my three cultivated blueberry bushes?  place the ends in water to grow the roots?   Can I do this now in my zone?

Thanks.

I hope someone with more experience chimes in, because I'm new to propagating.  The one time I tried a soft wood cutting in water it didn't work, even though the Internet said it would.  So I would put it in a pot, or in the ground. The ones without roots I would use a little rooting hormone. I believe it will help to remove most of the leaves and branches.  This way it can concentrate on growing roots instead of keeping multiple leaves alive.  Just my thoughts on the matter, but like I said I'm new to propagating.

Forgive yourself for a momentary lapse.  Leaving nature the way you found it is so important, and it sounds like you are normally good at it. We all have times when we do something that later we think what was I thinking?  The universe is a strange thing, maybe those blueberries needed a little thinning? Helpful or not, you might as well make the most of it.  Good luck, let us know if it works.