Everything you did was fine!! The weather here is as it is supposed to be for this time of year and it is a pretty much ideal time for planting blueberries. They, together with fruit trees, are some of the first plants of the season to come into area nurseries and are intended to be planted now.

Also there is no concern about disturbing their rootball. A congested, potbound rootball that is planted without disturbing the roots will lead to stunting and poor growth. It can even result in the plant failing. It is one of the most common mistakes when planting out any woody plant to go directly from the pot to the ground without loosening the root system and spreading it out. btw, blueberries are often sold bare root, so root disturbance is not a concern :-))

Thanks for your reply. Hopefully they will grow fine. The roots were so bounded, I could of just slicer thru a few spots and left it. However I don't really have confidence in doing that. I made them look barerooted

Much will depend on planting in a solid manner without leaving or creating voids in the root area. Your transplants should feel fairly solid when given a slight tug.

Ray, that was my fear. What Gardengal doesn't understand is that blueberries are not the typical woody shrub. If you remove the fibrous root network all that remains is the root crown. The recovery of blueberry transplants with a bare root crown is prolonged and possibly futile. That root network might take on the appearance of being rootbound but in this case it should be maintained.

Barrie, I believe it is YOU that doesn't understand. 'Bare root' does not mean all the roots are removed - it only means the roots are bare of any surrounding soil mass. Blueberries are VERY commonly sold as bare root plants and most mail order sources dealing in blueberries will ship them in this manner.

Container grown root- or pot-bound blueberries are quite common and will suffer establishment and growth difficulties unless the roots are freed from the congestion. Any number of blueberry growing resources acknowledge this and all will instruct you to loosen the rootball before planting to avoid this problem. "Don’t sacrifice a year or more of growth by being in a hurry at planting time. Be sure to thoroughly break up the root ball when you plant the plant. When you pop it out of the pot, don’t just cut the edges or shake a little dirt off; pull it apart. Pull the bottom of the root ball apart so the root system is twice as wide and half as deep as it was and spread the root system out in the hole. Let the loose peat fall into the planting hole. Almost all the roots are around the outside of the soil mass where the aeration in the pot was best and this is where all the new roots will come from." MSU - How to Avoid a Common Blueberry Planting Error.

Bare rooting or washing off or removing all the soil surrounding the plants, then spreading out the root system and planting is a frequently recommended method of accomplishing this.

fwiw, blueberries are no different from the vast majority of other ericaceous plants in this regard - ALL container grown woody plants that have a circling or congested root system benefit from this practice.

Suit yourself Gardengal. You may just lead Ray to ruining his planning. I've planted hundreds of bareroot blueberry plants and never ripped off root masses. A little spreading of the roots won't hurt but I'd leave it at that.

Ray, one thing is to spread, open up the root ball and another thing is to break half of it off a young blueberry plant. I think that might be a little too extreme.

Thank you all for your replies. The roots were very root bounded. I couldn't even open it up to spread them. I used the fork tool to toughen and loosen the sides and mainly pulled off the feeder roots. I didn't chop them in half if that's what you think. Once I loosened with the tool then I brushed my fingers in between and pulled down. So whatever knots that were in the way I broke apart. Sorry if my explanation isn't clear.

You can always strip flowers/berries this year to keep the plant from stunting if you ripped out a lot of roots. Some BB's will overset fruit.

Melike...It sounds like a good idea. Should I not fertilize them until late spring?

Ray, the technique you used to separate and spread out the roots is pretty much exactly what is done when plants are harvested for bare root sale. I doubt you have done them any harm and have probably greatly increased their ability to establish and begin the development of a new, strong root system. Feeder roots on any sort of plant are in a nearly constant state of flux, dying off and being regenerated. No worries!!

I know whereof I speak :-)) I am a professional horticulturist as well as a gardener myself and I deal with these issues professionally on a daily basis.

Removing the berries on a first year plant is a good idea anyway. It helps to focus plant energy on root development.

Gardengal. That's awesome. I appreciate you're help. I'm sure I damaged and pulled off the roots too. But most of it was feeder roots that made it way too crowded. I remember doing the same thing last year to about 20 blueberry plants before reporting them in containers. Now they have flower buds, which some are starting to open and I can see the clusters of flowers. I was more concern about how aggressive I was by taking off so much while it's still cold outside. I'm not an expert, I'm just a guy that got addicted to plant a year ago, bought so many plants last year and don't know what to do with them lol. I'm learning the hard way