Sounds like you could split it no problem. If you are unsure rinse some of the bark/soil off the plants rootball till you can see where the best spot to divide it is.

Hey Bamboo, after splitting would u advise to cut the stalks back to about 8 inches or so?

Definitely need to prune it back. How much you prune depends on how much root comes with each section. The top and the roots need to be balanced. It is better to over prune than under prune.

Blueboy,

I thought about splitting a couple of mine this winter but couldn't bring myself to do it! lol

I feel your pain Riverman! I wouldnt ever do it to any of my current plants but this one Im talking about is only $18 and the 3 stalks are on the edge of the pot in opposite directions of each other. If there is one to split, its this one! Worst case sincero I get 2 plants for the price of one instead of 3. Its a win win for me either way I think? We shall see;)

I am glad you brought this up H-man. What studies have you seen and what did they conclude?

Certainly for years and years the common recommendation was to "balance top and bottom" but over the last 5 years I have seen many references to this being a mistake.

I have noticed it takes a surprisingly small amount of root to supply most woody plants with the water they nee,if kept well watered.

I often wonder how much energy is stored in the live wood that gets pruned away "for balance". Sometimes you would be reducing the overall mass of the plant by 50%

I think many used to believe that all the dormant energy/nutrition/carbs were stored in the roots during dormancy. But clearly some (many?) species store vitality in their upper tissue as well. Such as sugar maples, or any species that can readily root from dormant cuttings.

I can see the old argument if transplanting a large or mature item, but for small propagation I wonder if pruning actually slows establishment down....???

The experiments were originally done by Carl Whitcomb back in the 1970's when he was a professor at OSU. However, all experiments I've seen have been with sexually immature plants. I believe that the equation changes once a plant begins reproduction because seeds, fruits and flowers draw a lot of energy that would otherwise go to growing new root. This may have something to do with the conflict between research and common wisdom, IMO.

I'd love to see an experiment done with something like M9 rooted apples that are 2 or 3 years old. I bet they'd benefit with a serious cutting back of at least spur wood. I believe that vegetative wood is much more sharing with the rest of the plant than fruiting wood. Cutting plants back usually encourages vegetative growth but on an immature plant all wood is vegetative.

I have often regenerated feeble growing pear and apple trees that are excessively spurry by ruthlessly removing spurs to encourage more vegetative growth.

Blueberries have a very short juvenile period so only a controlled experiment could convince me of the best way of accelerating establishment.

My opinion.....if you leave the BB unpruned and with a limited root structure you are making a mistake. While most other plants have masses of fine root hairs and can replace those fine roots quickly BB do not have the fine roots and uptake will be limited. BB are simply a different breed of plant.

Bradford pears don't have much in the way of fine root and that is a species Whitcomb used in his experiments. I'd rather transplant blueberry plants than pears any day- believe me, pears are much, much more delicate and I've killed them when bare root transplanting mature trees.

I've transplanted mature blueberries bare root on many occasions without ever cutting back a twig without ever experiencing even typical setback that I'd get from, say, apple trees. I let them bear first season, (mature transplants) which I never do for most tree fruit, except J. plums- a fruit tree nurseryman's best friend.

Bamboo Rabbit, I've never compared methods but I would think that if cutting back was necessary I wouldn't experience this kind of success with 10 year+ plants.

Perhaps blueberries react differently in different regions and are easier under the weaker sun and high humidity of northeastern conditions.

Harvestman,

You are talking about a mature plant, the op's plant is not mature. You are talking about taking a large mature specimen plant and moving it..this is a single plant being divided in to three. As you have mentioned you are experienced moving larger bare root plants, most people are not. Now if you would have taken those mature plants you transplanted and pruned them they perhaps would have done even better.

Pruning invigorates the plant, it is one of the reasons here we prune off 20% of the plant right after harvest is complete.

Bam if you read my post you will see I'm not drawing specific conclusions, only sharing certain observations. I believe you may be drawing conclusions from insufficient evidence and that it is important to qualify anecdotal observation and not treat it as verified fact.

If you take a large quantity of young plants and do a controlled study you can submit it as a tested theory, otherwise it is only opinion based on limited observation- it is not fact. If you've done such a controlled study, share that so I (we) can know what your deduction is based on.

Not that sharing opinions isn't perfectly alright. I just like things to be accurately represented.

Harvest,

You mean like honeybees boring holes in fruit? :) Sorry couldn't resist.

I don't believe any such research has ever been conducted on blueberries so all we can do is relate our personal experiences. There is a reason that 100's of commercial acres of BB prune them fairly hard right after the harvest is completed.....the act of pruning stimulates growth, that is a fact.

So bamboo rabbit,should I prune the Sweetcrisp that came bareroot?The roots are not very well developed and the plants are still young with no adult leaves yet.And if so when,now or wait til warm weather comes?Thanks,Brady

Bam, you come off to me as obnoxious in your last comment. With the honeybees I was only reporting what I saw and only did so because it seemed incredible to me. I still don't understand what I and another witness observed. Both of us are perfectly capable of identifying honeybees and it seems clear would never confuse that species with wasps- especially when we both were expecting yellow jackets.

I don't see how this relates to this discussion and I'm only trying to maintain a legitimate analysis here in an objective way. If this bothers you, I apologize. I used to be a kidder on this site myself until I learned how difficult it is to communicate playfulness on the net.

If you can refer me to your source of pruning in commercial blueberry production I'd be grateful. What you suggest is not what I've read. The 20% pruning back would be of old unproductive canes, I believe, and commercial production guidelines I've seen only recommend the removal of flowers with establishing plants- not wood.

Another reason for cutting back blueberry plants from nurserys is the treat of stem blight. I have personally lost 2 plants that were sent to me with blight and thbey died within 4 months of recieving them. I just recieved a Bluegem that the nursery had prunned before mailing it to me. They didnt prune it enough though because after planting I cut it down to 3 stalks 1ft high. Not because I had to, but because thats how far down the blight had reached from being neglected at a nursery. They never even got to the infected area of the plant before sending it to me. There are more reasons to prune blueberry plants than just balancing. Expecially when buying young plants from online nurserys. Most are not in buisness to keep healthy plants available for customers, its all about the money.

Brady,

If it was my plant I would prune it very late winter.

Harvestman,

The :) was intended to lighten the comment I made. My guess is it irked you as it was right on target. It was a playful jab at you chiding me for something you do all the time. Far as your name calling..that is not very mature is it?

Btw you do not prune 20% off on unproductive canes you remove them completely to stimulate replacement canes to grow.

Far as the link to the article refrencing pruning BB here ya go...

Here is a link that might be useful: Pruning BB

Bam, I didn't intend to suggest cutting off 20% of existing old canes, of course, but to cut out approximately 20% of existing canes, choosing old and unproductive ones. I took the 20% from you as I've never considered this to be a set number but was only trying to understand your point.

I guess we just have about the same chemistry as I use to have with Brandon 7. When someone says something that I think is not friendly I communicate my impression immediately- you seem to have a pent-up irritation with me that you've never expressed, so I've no idea what you are talking about. You provided no examples and if you'd like to actually straighten this out you should contact me via e-mail- I'm sure you agree this doesn't belong here.

This field has been my life for 40 years and I really have no desire to play gotcha as a male sport activity. I'm only trying to understand cause and affect of fruit plant care and share some of what I've learned. I probably just don't have enough testosterone left to enjoy butting heads.

I see that Florida has different specs than what I recall reading from Cornell and I appreciate you providing the link. I've no idea what their recommendation is based on but I assume it is probably legitimate.

I'd sure like to see the research that proves it though. There are often contradictory recommendations and you can't always be sure that they are research based. It seems highly probable to me that for commercial growers removing flowers is too time consuming and shearing wood is more economically viable.

Harvestman,

How can it be unfriendly with a :)? You chided me for making observations in to facts and I reminded you of the honey bee thread in a gentle reminder that you should not criticize others for that which you do. I did not know your feelings got hurt that easily, if I had....I probably would have said it anyway;)

Far as pent up irritation toward you...I have none. Not quite sure why you would say such a thing. Do you feel that way anytime anyone disagree with you?

The 20% is simply what I remove off the top from my close to 100 BB, some do more and some hedge the plants with machinery.

The reason Florida's recommendations are a bit different is we have a very long growing season. My BB are still green and growing. By pruning after the harvest we coax an extra flush of growth from the BB. The key there is coax....if I prune off 20% the plants immediately flush......if I did not prune after harvest they would not get that flush and that proves my point. Pruning stimulates the plant to grow. That stimulation is not just above ground but below ground as well. You can take bare root plants and after you prune them you will see how they tighten up in the ground.

I'm sure the university that has developed so many great new varieties is thankful and grateful you find that their extensive research is "probably legitimate".

"It seems highly probable to me that for commercial growers removing flowers is too time consuming and shearing wood is more economically viable"

You still don't get it...They don't shear the plants before they fruit.....we PRUNE AFTER we harvest the fruit. When say 20% is pruned off we get that 20% back and more in new growth. Due to the long growing season that new growth has enough time to mature it's fruit buds before the cold weather arrives.

Wow, drama on the garden forum!!! Who would have thunk it? Harvestman, you have an ability to rub people the wrong way. I think you should have been a lawyer! You would be rich man!!!

I rub people the wrong way sometimes for legitimate reasons but in this exchange here I feel BR was reacting personally to legitimate questions and comments and I feel we just aren't communicating effectively at all.

BR feels I'm not getting what he's saying and I feel the same from him. I don't think there was a tone of sarcasm in anything I posted here but BR reads me differently- I was chiding no one and in each of my assertions I included a qualifier that gave him the benefit of my doubt- a benefit that turns out to be deserved. I figured all along that there might be a legitimate basis for heading back plants but also that there might not be.

So BR, the remark about my willingness to give the University credence serves what purpose- is this comedy? It's not helping me understand anything, that's for sure, but if you are enjoying yourself that's a good thing.

I'm not trying to find out how to manage blueberries as much as why and how these things fit into the big picture of plant growth so I can really understand how things grow and bear. That was the point of my comment- that I want to know the basis of the recommendation.

Whether the hedging is done after harvest while plants are still growing or when in dormancy, I think the result would be similar. Not that the results would be identical but the affect on the plant similar.

You should not take this as a challenge to you as it is not. I have seen plenty of experiments where net growth of plants is reduced by pruning- that they are overall smaller at the end of the growing season even though they show a surge of vegetative growth. Root growth is not enhanced by this vigorous pruning either, as I remember these experiments.

The fact that you are certain that blueberries respond differently than almost all the other species that have been tested for this is reasonable to me- as I've already stated.

I have read of research that peaches also can be larger at the end of the season if they are pruned back hard- because like blueberries they want to bear fruit very young. However, when peaches have their flowers frozen off they also grow like gangbusters, so as far as I'm concerned the question remains- will a blueberry plant wind up larger at the end of the following season if you hedge it or will it be larger if you leave all the wood but remove all the flowers the following spring.

Until I read the Florida recs the common recommendation was only to remove flowers from young plants- Cornell actually suggests doing this for the first 3 years, which came as a big surprise to me (I had thought only the first year) and I learned about it on this site.

I love being contradicted when I learn something from it, even if it makes me wrong. I'm still not sure what I've learned from this thread, however, besides the unique way blueberries are pruned down south in commercial production.

Harvestman,

wow......

Any updates on how the root splitting went ? Did it work ?