Sloe and blueberry propagation
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- KG Regular
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- Location: Cambridge
Sloes are generally propagated from the seeds. If there is any sloes with fruit left in your neighbourhood, pick the fruit now and sow them now in the garden in a row about 2" deep (5cms for the metricated). Cover the row with some fine mesh to keep off birds and mice who will chew the seeds. There is no need to de-flesh the seeds.
Sloes are often available from hedging sellers as they are widely used in native hedgerow planting; about £10 for 10 seems to be the going rate. These will be 2-3 year old plants and this will cut down your wait for fruit. They may be referred to as Prunus spinosa or blackthorn in the catalogue/lists.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=85 This is the RHS web page about blueberries; it gives a basic overview of that to do with blueberries.
There are several points to note about blueberry propagation.
1. You could grow blueberries from seed but named varieties will only be true to variety if grown from cuttings.
2. Only grow the cuttings in acid loving composts. If you cannot find anything suitable for propagation use the standard acid lovers compost mixed 50% with 25% sand and 25% peat (plain).
3. Only water the cuttings with rainwater (boiled if you can to kill off the bugs and moulds from the tank - don't put it in the kettle as that will have lots of limescale in it and this will be let loose into the water and you might as well be using tap water - and don't forget to let it go cold afterwards....). Do ask the cook for an old pan to use - using the best Le Cruset for boiling rain water will NOT be a good idea; no matter HOW many blueberries are promised!
4. Blueberries will grow from layers; this where you bend a branch down to the ground; scrape the underside of the branch to promote the rooting process and pop a brick on top of the branch or use a metal peg to hold it down onto the soil. This should be done now and you might have a new plant by this time next year. Just remember to tell everyone WHY the brick is there or it will be tidied away whilst your back is turned...........
Hope this helps,
Sally Wright.
Sloes are often available from hedging sellers as they are widely used in native hedgerow planting; about £10 for 10 seems to be the going rate. These will be 2-3 year old plants and this will cut down your wait for fruit. They may be referred to as Prunus spinosa or blackthorn in the catalogue/lists.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=85 This is the RHS web page about blueberries; it gives a basic overview of that to do with blueberries.
There are several points to note about blueberry propagation.
1. You could grow blueberries from seed but named varieties will only be true to variety if grown from cuttings.
2. Only grow the cuttings in acid loving composts. If you cannot find anything suitable for propagation use the standard acid lovers compost mixed 50% with 25% sand and 25% peat (plain).
3. Only water the cuttings with rainwater (boiled if you can to kill off the bugs and moulds from the tank - don't put it in the kettle as that will have lots of limescale in it and this will be let loose into the water and you might as well be using tap water - and don't forget to let it go cold afterwards....). Do ask the cook for an old pan to use - using the best Le Cruset for boiling rain water will NOT be a good idea; no matter HOW many blueberries are promised!
4. Blueberries will grow from layers; this where you bend a branch down to the ground; scrape the underside of the branch to promote the rooting process and pop a brick on top of the branch or use a metal peg to hold it down onto the soil. This should be done now and you might have a new plant by this time next year. Just remember to tell everyone WHY the brick is there or it will be tidied away whilst your back is turned...........
Hope this helps,
Sally Wright.
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- KG Regular
- Posts: 722
- Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2005 7:32 pm
- Location: Cambridge
Did not know that Geoff; but very useful information to have if there is a reliable cropper in your local hedgerows.
Sally.
Sally.
Few tips
When they are this small, as soon as you see buds, “rub “ them off / pick baby green blueberries. It takes soooo much effort to make the berries. The plant will instead use the loose soil left from planting to grow deeper roots. They are notorious for shallow wide roots. Deeper root = more water = bigger berries. Do this until about 3-4 years old.
If you see reddish (slightly ) leaves when you know it should be green; it’s having trouble getting iron. Make sure the oil get super acidic. AG departments can do free soil tests for you. Acidic means they can naturally absorb iron.
Mulch with pine mulch. It helps hold moisture in AND leaches acid into the soil applinked
Next time you plant, dig deeper whole than you think, backfill with mix of soil you dig out, peat moss, and pine shavings. Water backfilled hole and let sit for a month to allow it to settle; then plant bush.
When they are this small, as soon as you see buds, “rub “ them off / pick baby green blueberries. It takes soooo much effort to make the berries. The plant will instead use the loose soil left from planting to grow deeper roots. They are notorious for shallow wide roots. Deeper root = more water = bigger berries. Do this until about 3-4 years old.
If you see reddish (slightly ) leaves when you know it should be green; it’s having trouble getting iron. Make sure the oil get super acidic. AG departments can do free soil tests for you. Acidic means they can naturally absorb iron.
Mulch with pine mulch. It helps hold moisture in AND leaches acid into the soil applinked
Next time you plant, dig deeper whole than you think, backfill with mix of soil you dig out, peat moss, and pine shavings. Water backfilled hole and let sit for a month to allow it to settle; then plant bush.
Very nice tips a bit higher. I also did almost the same and we had such a big crop of berries. I and my children did sauce for steaks, jam for pancakes, and even ice cream
We grind berries in a juicer and froze them and then we eat very tasty berry ice cream ![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)