Blueberries are a highly desirable fruit crop for any off-grid homestead. While cultivated varieties can be purchased, wild bushes also thrive in the right habitat. If you discover an established wild patch, you may wish to transplant those bushes closer to your property. With proper technique, blueberries can be moved successfully to continue fruiting at their new location.
Identifying Wild Blueberry Bushes
Before digging up unknown bushes, ensure they are actually blueberries. Wild blueberry plants appear as small shrubs around 8-40 inches tall, spreading by rhizomes underground to form colonies.
The small ovate leaves have smooth edges, lacking the sawtooth pattern of other landscape shrubs. They turn vivid red in autumn. Flowers emerge in spring with a white bell shape and five fused petals. The round deep blue berries covered in pale bloom are the giveaway.
Check the berry underside for the five-pointed crown remnant. Similar looking huckleberries and cranberries lack this telltale marker. Avoid any questionable lookalikes.
Digging Up Blueberry Bushes
Wild blueberries have a shallow fibrous root system. Prepare to move bushes while they are dormant in late fall or before spring growth resumes.
Use a rounded shovel to dig an 18 inch diameter circle around each bush, loosening the soil to a depth of 10-12 inches. Slide the shovel horizontally below the root ball to lift out the entire plant.
Wrap roots in burlap, bagged soil, or damp newspaper to retain moisture during transport. Move bushes quickly to avoid desiccation damage. Group two or more together to conserve roots and soil.
Transporting and Storing Bushes
If transplanting the same day, place blueberry bushes in a wheelbarrow, truck bed, or trailer padded with wet bags, straw, leaves or wood shavings to keep roots moist.
For short term storage up to 4 weeks before replanting, heel bushes into a sheltered trench. Cover roots with soil or mulching materials like sawdust or wood chips. Mist foliage and water the root zone every few days.
Prioritize getting bushes back in the ground rapidly. Their shallow roots dry out quickly, hampering re-establishment. Have new planting holes prepared beforehand.
Preparing the New Site
Select a sunny location with acidic soil, good drainage and some shelter from wind. Space holes 5 feet apart to allow each bush to spread.
Dig planting holes at least 20 inches wide and deep enough so the original soil mark on the shrub stem matches the new ground level.
Amend backfill soil with pine needles, peat moss, chopped leaves or compost to lower pH and provide nutrition. Do not add fertilizers or manure at time of planting.
Replanting Blueberry Bushes
Carefully place each blueberry bush in its hole, positioning it straight and at the same depth as before. Spread and untangle any bound roots.
Backfill with your amended native soil. Tamp periodically to eliminate air pockets around roots. Create a shallow watering basin as you refill the hole.
Thoroughly water transplants daily the first week, then weekly until they show new growth. Protect from frost and wind for the first winter after replanting.
Ongoing Care
Monitor soil moisture around your relocated bushes. Water them during dry periods for the next two years as the root systems re-establish.
Mulch transplants with 4 inches of pine needles or wood chips extending 18 inches out from stems. Renew mulch yearly.
Pinch off any flower buds the first two seasons so plants direct energy into root and canopy growth instead of fruiting. Be patient for berry bounty, and your efforts will be rewarded.
By properly moving wild blueberry bushes, you can expand your homestead’s productive landscape. In time your transplanted patch will flourish.
Citations:
[1] https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/blueberries/transplanting-blueberry-bushes.htm
[2] https://foragerchef.com/wild-blueberries/
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN1FqrVxUEk
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx9YuuGpOTA
[5] https://gardenerspath.com/plants/fruit/transplant-blueberries/
[6] https://outdoorapothecary.com/wild-blueberries/
[7] https://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/61924/digging-up-and-replanting-blueberry-bushes
[8] https://resprout.com/blueberry-planting-guide-when-to-plant-types-soil-ph-fertilizer-more/
[9] https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1437252/moving-older-blueberry-plants
[10] https://wildplantculture.com/home/2021/6/3/blueberry-like-shrubs
[11] https://www.ehow.com/how_4516205_transplant-blueberry-bushes.html
[12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2_ZrbfQbEc
[13] http://forum.gon.com/threads/wild-blueberry-bush-transplant.900897/
[14] https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthisplant/comments/o4xscr/is_this_a_wild_blueberry_de_usa/
[15] https://www.thosesomedaygoals.com/2023/10/23/how-to-grow-blueberries/
[16] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_BDpta1nT0
[17] https://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1399294/
[18] https://practicalselfreliance.com/propagating-blueberries/
[19] https://extension.umaine.edu/publications/2073e/
[20] https://www.ediblewildfood.com/common-blueberry.aspx
[21] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VYVg3E5WPY
[22] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqyimZMr13I
[23] https://www.hunker.com/12339653/what-do-wild-blueberry-bushes-look-like
[24] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU1CDWe5nzQ
[25] https://www.vandrunenfarms.com/blog/wild-blueberries/
