rjinga:

Blueberries send up new shoots from the base of the plants, but they do not normally "sucker" in the same way that most caneberries do. To remove a rooted sucker, you pretty much have to cut the woody rootball into pieces, which is not a good idea. I have tried it and the plants all died.

If this is another of those E-Bay deals, it is one I would avoid. Not long ago, someone mentioned that Hartman's Nursery sells rooted blueberry cuttings for $1 each. If they sell anywhere near this price, that would be a much better alternative.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

In middle Georgia he quite possibly has rabbiteyes. Some (all?) of them can put up rootsprouts 1-1.5 feet away from the main base, at least when fully established. My "Homebell" does so commonly, meaning one or so per year. The other selections in the ground are a bit too young to tell yet. Like many "suckers" they often are not rooted well. I've gotten some to take and lost others, but I am moving them at "thinning out" time, which is maybe not opportune for propagation.

I see now that the seller may not be there, so any type of blueberry may be involved.

Don, (hey before I forget, I emailed you through GW about the trade :) I dont know if you got it or not?)

But regarding this deal, no it's not another ebay thing, actually it was someone selling on the Market bulletin here in GA. When the plants arrive (bareroot and dormant of course)they were very good sized, they had an L shaped or T shaped in some cases, root. At some point in talking to the guy who sells them, he mentioned that they came from the mother plant (ie: suckers that had been dug up, although he did not use that name). but basically they are dug up from around the base of the main plant with as much root as they can get. He said they were all 2 to 3 year old plants.

OK, so here is the rub...I spoke to another guy in GA who grows plants and sells them on a relatively large scale. He knew of this other guy that I got plants from..long story short, he had at one time gotten plants from this guy to make up an order for someone starting a upick farm...he got 300 plants from him and later on the farmer who got them said that only about 15 of them lived. (out of 300). Several other people buying from him, have had similiar complaints, they claim that they never grow any side stems nor produce fruit.

This newest guy said at some point he had a chance to tell the guy that the plants he sold him all died. He was shocked, and said that he had never gotten another complaint.

Of course you can imagine my dismay, I had purchased these intending to use some of them and sell the rest (along with strawberry's that I purchased). I have already potted up these 50 plants. I just cant with a good conscience, (assuming the other guys story is accurate) sell these to anyone.

I can (with an explanation?) send these back, I will of course first talk to him and see what he says. UGH...I always thought plant people were the good eggs. I dont get the feeling this other guy had ill intent, (or either of them for that matter). But it seems hard to believe he could be selling these for so long and never hear of a complaint.

rjinga:

Gonebananas is probably right about rabbiteye behavior. I have had northern highbush for 30 years, but rabbiteyes for only 3 years so haven't yet seen the suckering behavior.

Don't have your e-mail, so something has gone wrong. It is don.yellman@webformation.com.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

The berries he is selling are rabitteye, tifblue. So the question remains, IF these are indeed suckers (growing somewhere in the vincinity of the mother plant, WILL THEY EVER GROW into normal functioning plants? Would they take much longer than normal rooted cuttings to do anything? Any chance that they would bear fruit?

As gonebananas said, some, if not all, rabbiteye types will sucker quite regularly. I have a half-dozen, variety unknown, that my dad rooted and gave me, and they throw up suckers as much as 2-3 ft away from the main bush. I've dug and moved some, and most have survived - but not all.
I dug a sucker from one of my BIL's rabbiteyes over the Christmas holiday, and it was more than just an L or T - had a relatively decent set of smaller feeder roots, so I'm reasonably hopeful that it will survive and do just fine.
So, rjinga, my answer to your question is - if they manage to survive the first year, and develop a root system, then, YES, they'll grow into normal, functional, fruiting plants. But if they're devoid of any significant roots, they're going to need extra TLC, and even then, you may have a low survival rate.

I've had a similar experience to gonebananas and lucky p with transplanting suckers from mature rabbiteye plants. If you get as much root as possible, pot them up, cut the tops way back, water regularly, and baby them in partial shade for a year or so your results should be good. However, bareroot or potted plants from a reputable source are certainly better choices.

I have a related situation. I am going to remove some very old, poorly maintained blueberry plants from another farm. WHat would be any advised on replanting these plants as far as ground prep and trimming them?
Thanks

this is what I got...

{{gwi:58595}}

That isn't much root at all. I'd cut at least 2/3 of the tops off at planting. You'll definitely need to baby them and protect them from their first GA summer.

Hello, all. I am a long time lurker around here, and am moved to respond to this particular post because of my experience in this situation. I am very familiar with this circumstance having responded to the identical ad for Tiftblue plants in the Georgia Market Bulletin about a year ago. I went to this man's blueberry farm and it is very impressive in its organization and size. He was selling these "suckers" at the time for $1 each. I bought a pack of 20 without inspection and when I got home I was somewhat dismayed to find miniscule roots to many of them. I figured that for the price I could tolerate a few losses. I planted the most substantial directly into the bed and the less rooted ones I put into pots of compost mixed with old woodchips. Some that seemed to be just straight "sticks" with little or no visible roots I mass-planted in a single pot. Much to my surprise 8 out of 9 planted directly into the bed survived nicely and most of the seemingly hopeless sticks survivied as well. I had as good or better survival rate with the $1 suckers as I had with my mailorder plants which cost several times more. What's more, both the bedded and potted plants are at my second home where they only got occasional watering during our drought last summer. While you may be disappointed with what you received, I say give them a chance and you may be pleasantly surprised. JB

farmerjb, thank you so much for posting. On the contrary, I was actually pleased with the plants. As my very limited experience in buying plants was mostly the little twigs that are sold in body bags at Lowes and Home Depot for $5. that claim to be 2 year old plants but are nothing more than barely rooted cuttings. So these plants seemed much better. I also saw another sampling of plants sold to someone locally from a grower in this area, and the plants he had were much like the size of the plants from Lowes etc.

I REALLY AM OF THE IMPRESSION THAT SIZE MATTERS IN THIS AREA. The bigger the plant the longer it's been alive and will remain alive.

The reason that I was in doubt at all was that in my pursuit of another variety of blueberries, I came in contact with another grower here in GA who had the bad experience with plants from the same guy you and I purchased from. He said that out of 300 plants that he passed on to another of his customers, only 10 or so lived.

Well I spoke to the man from the Market bulleting again tonight and he very confidentally assured me that these plants will grow and he has only gotten positive feedback and repeat business from his customers. Additionally he said that I could wait until later this year to pay him and if they dont grow, then I would not owe him anything. This seemed more than fair and I'll take special care of these and NOT SELL THEM to anyone else while I wait for them to grow.

I really dont know why this other guy had the luck he had. But he also claimed that several other of his customers had bought plants from the market bulletin guy and they all died.

I'm optomistic after seeing your post, as you have had success, I may also.

Hi, I wanted to come back and report that out of 50 plants, only about 10 have leaves now and none of them have any fruit buds. The other order (from a different grower in So. GA) that I was also worried about and posted here on...so far have all leafed out and even have berries on them.

So my question is this...do leaves indicate that these plants will survive? and the others that have no leaves yet, is there still hope for them? Isn't this the timeframe where plants are coming out of dormancy and leafing and budding? Could the plants that have shown no sign of life yet, just be "delayed"

Any thoughts would be appreciated (also farmerb if you are reading this...how long did it take for your plants to shown activity? where some ahead of others?

I do not remember how long it took for mine to leaf out last spring, and I did not have any buds or blooms on my plants last year. This year they are leafing currently with bountiful (for their size) buds. Be mindful that I am more north than you (Toccoa). I am sorry that my recollection is not better. I certainly would not give up on them yet--keep them watered and pampered and I expect that more will respond. I do not give up on a blueberry until the twig is brown and crisp. Maybe I am more patient than I ought to be. Where was your other vendor located? JB

JB,
He is from Valdosta I believe, he advertises/advertised on craigslist and I think he may also have had ebay listings. I posted another thread on the plants I got from him on this forum (under another blueberry bust)...I got one gallon pots with 15-20 rooted cuttings in it. Some were decent sized others were very tiny. MOST ALL of what I did get from this other guy have leafed out, most have some flowers or berries starting on them.