Cutting Propagation methods of Blueberry

There are many propagation methods of blueberry, such as cuttage, seedling, ramet, etc. At present, blueberry cultivated in China is usually based on cutting propagation, and other methods such as seed breeding, rhizome cutting and ramet are also used. Propagation methods vary from species to species. High clump blueberry mainly uses hardwood cutting, rabbit eye blueberry uses green wood cutting, dwarf blueberry green wood cutting and hardwood cutting can be used. Hardwood cuttings are mainly used in alpine blueberries, but it is difficult and easy to root because of different varieties, such as Blue Line, Lubel, Jersey hardwood cuttings are easy to root, while Lanfeng is difficult to root.

Preparation of blueberry seedbed

1. Substrate selection: River sand, sawdust, peat and rotten moss can all be used as cutting media, but river sand and sawdust need to be transplanted after rooting, which is laborious and affects the development of seedlings. The ideal cutting medium is the mixture of rotten moss and peat and river sand (1:1).

2. Nursery bed selection: cutting can be carried out directly in the field, and the cutting substrate can be laid into a bed with a width of 1 meter and a thickness of 25 centimeters, and the length is determined according to needs, but this method has a low rooting rate due to low air and ground temperature. The most widely used and cheapest is the wooden bed with wooden structure, which is made into a wooden box about 2 meters long, 1 meter wide and 40 centimeters high, and the bottom of the wooden box is nailed with a hard board of 0.3 centimeters and 0.5 centimeters. The log frame of the wooden box is off the ground, and this method can effectively increase the temperature of the substrate and improve the rooting rate.

Cutting methods of blueberry

1. Selection of cuttings: cuttings should be cut from trees with strong growth and free of diseases and insect pests, and branches with high hardness, good maturity and healthy branches should be selected, and branches with large pith and freezing injury in winter should be avoided as far as possible. If virus diseases occur in the orchard, the cuttings should be at least 15 centimeters away from the diseased trees, and the cuttings should preferably be 1-year-old vegetative branches. If the cuttings are insufficient, one-year-old flower buds can be selected, and the flower buds should be erased when cutting. however, the rooting rate of flower bud branches is often low, and the root quality is poor, and the position where the cuttings are located on the branches has a significant effect on the rooting rate. the rooting rate of the base of the branch as a cutting, whether it is a vegetative branch or a flower bud, is significantly higher than that of the upper branch as a cutting. therefore, the middle and lower part of the branch should be selected as far as possible.

2. Cutting time: when the number of seedlings is small, cutting cuttings are carried out before sprouting in spring (usually from March to April). Cuttings can be saved when cutting along with cutting, but cuttings need to be cut in advance when a large number of seedlings are raised. Generally speaking, branch germination needs 800-1000 hours of cold temperature. Therefore, the cutting time should ensure that the branches have enough cold temperature accumulation. Generally speaking, February is more suitable.

3. Cutting cuttings: the cutting tool should be sharp and the incision should be smooth. The length of the cuttings is generally 8cm to 10cm, the upper cut is flat, the lower cut is oblique, and the lower incision is located just under the bud, which can improve the rooting rate. After cutting, the cuttings are buried in a bundle every 50 to 100 pieces, temporarily buried with wet river sand and so on.

4. Cutting method: when everything is ready, pour the substrate into the substrate to ensure humidity but not stagnant water, and then insert the cuttings vertically into the substrate, showing only one top bud, the distance is 5 × 5 cm, and the cuttings should not be too dense. One is that the seedlings are underdeveloped after rooting, and the other is that it is easy to cause bacterial infection, so that cuttings or seedlings rot. In hardwood cuttings of blueberry, rooting agents are generally not needed, and many rooting agents have little or no effect on hardwood cuttings.

Post-insertion management of blueberries

1. Moisture management: water should be often watered after cutting to maintain soil moisture, but too much or too little watering should be avoided. Place in the sun for too long, when the water temperature is high, you should wait for the water temperature to cool before watering, so as not to damage the seedlings. The most critical period of water management is from the beginning of May to the end of June, when the leaves have unfolded, but the cuttings have not yet taken root, and the lack of water can easily lead to the death of cuttings. When the top leaves begin to turn green, it marks that the cuttings have begun to take root.

2. Fertilizer management: do not apply any fertilizer in the substrate before cutting, and do not apply fertilizer before rooting after cutting. After the cuttings took root, fertilizer was applied to promote the growth of seedlings. Fertilization should be applied in liquid form, using 13-26-13 or 15-30-4 complete fertilizer with a concentration of about 3%, once a week, spraying water after each fertilization to wash off the fertilizer on the leaf surface so as not to damage the leaves.

3. Transplanting method: the rooting seedlings generally survive the winter on the seedling bed, and they can also be transplanted and tended in September. If the rooting seedlings survive the winter in the seedling bed, soil should be cultivated on both sides of the seedling bed before winter.

4. Pest management: during the period of rooting and seedling cultivation, ventilation and diseased plants are mainly used to control diseases. Greenhouse or greenhouse seedlings should be ventilated in time to reduce fungal diseases and reduce temperature.