Cuttings will root, which gives more hope for airlayering, and other relatives will layer (e.g. azaleas).

Personally, if the stems were limber enough to bend down I'd try to layer it rather than airlayer it. A simple way is to cut a notch on opposite sides of a nursery pot (say 1-3 gallon), fill with potting soil to the bottom of the notch, place the stem across it, cover to the pot rim with soil, and put a rock or brick on top to hold the stem down. Water occasionally. Cut off to transplant in the fall or early winter. I've done similarly with a late-blooming azalea I wanted propagated easily and with confidence and with a bigger rooted plant than a cutting.

Yes it is entirely possible to air-layer blueberry plants, and they do air-layer fairly well; but since they also readily root from soft-wood cuttings, why not use that method of propagation. You'll be able to get more plants with about the same amount of effort.

Well, last year I tried to root some cuttings, and it didn't work out. I don't have much luck rooting cuttings. I figured that air layering would be safer. I might try the suggestion from gonebananas, though. I'll check tomorrow to see if I can find a stem I can manage that with. Thanks so much for your input, both of you!

What method did you use to try rooting the cuttings? I had near 100% success with rabbit eye/southern highbush blueberries a few years ago. I'll happily share the method I used.

Susan:

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

Oh, I didn't do that at all.. I guess that's why it didn't work. I waited until June, then I took a small domed container. I mixed perlite and some peat, and wet it. Then I took a small clay pot that I plugged the hole on. I kept it filled with water. Meanwhile, I cut the growing tips off of some clippings, stripped all but the top leaves, dipped in rooting hormones and put them in the perlite/peat mixture. The clippings stayed alive for a long time, then they just died.

I guess I'll have to wait until next year to try your method Don.. it's too late now.

Can someone outline the method to root green cuttings? What has worked for you in that regard?

Thank you!

That's almost exactly how I did it, Destin, except that I had my cuttings in a container with a lid instead of in a bag. What is your rate of success? I might have to try this, but in a bag...

destin:

Thank you. I'm going to try some right after harvest, in a month or two. There are plenty of small shoots 8-12 inches and I always end up cutting many off to thin the crop. Might as well try rooting some.

My rate of success was almost 100%. You need to make sure that the leaves don't touch the sides of the bag as this can cause them to get too wet and start to mold.

Thanks for the good tips on cuttings. I too have failed, but not with the correct methods. I'm going to try air layering, for the same reason that even tho a little more work per plant, if it works that is fine. The method I'll test is one that works well on mulberry (Illinois Everbearing). I'll try it now (June 6) but the season that worked on the mulberry was last 2 weeks of July and 1st week of Aug, in Iowa. The main new trick is to use aluminum foil - so simple - and just a blob of soaked peat moss. And to do it in young green wood about a foot from tip. Rest is standard - wound with girdle, scrape cambium, hormone. For the blues it will probably be a bunch of little air layers.