Hello kristenc,
If they were mine,I'd prune about 1/3 of the mostly older canes and other canes that are touching, crossing or not growing upwards.
Then having some burlap on hand,dig about 3 feet from the crown,with help from another person,get the plant up and on to the burlap.Fold it up,pin the corners and away it goes.
The roots can also be pruned about 1/3 to promote more growth for later on.
Yes,this can be before things start growing.
Dig your new planting hole shallow but wide,no deeper than the rootball.I use mostly Pine bark mulch with a little moss peat in their new home.Brady

I agree with Brady, I would also loosen the soil ferther away from the origional hole and till in some soil sulfer depending on the ph of the soil.

Great advice from Brady and Blueboy. Just baby them that first year and make sure they go in low acid soil (peat and pine fines) and keep them moist and they should do fine.

I move blueberries that age on a regular basis. If they are going immediately from one site to another you can probably just dig them up and the roots will hold more than enough soil for them to reestablish without much hitch. The way they grow here in southern NY the roots are really quite conducive to transplant- I don't even bother wrapping them.

Be sure the soil is moist before you dig and protect the roots with something like a wet sheet or some other strategy while moving them to the new site.

I agree with the advice of making sure of the pH of the soil where they are going and treating it ahead of time.

Thanks for the replies and such clear specifics, very helpful!

~Kris

Call me contrarian. Maybe I am turning into a troll. I would be inclined to leave the blueberry shrubs where they are, and plant new stock at the new house. I know they can be moved successfully, but the world needs more blueberry shrubs, and more gardeners who know how to keep them healthy. Unless, of course, that you have reason to think that the new owners will cut down the shrubs, in which case, they must be saved!

Eric, I think you make a great point.

My experience with moving and leaving favorite plants behind is that the new owners will almost surely chop them down or kill them from neglect. I've seen it happen too many times with myself and others. If you really are attached to certain plants and you haven't signed the sale agreement already, take them with you if you can. If you have pests, or are going a long distance, then you might be better off to start over. Northwoodswis

Suggestions for the relocation are good but moving older bushes is a stressful condition for blueberry plants. Don't assume that just because you dug up a cluster of underground large woody roots that you are getting a sufficient root ball. With older plants the root system will likely be extensive. As mentioned cover and moisten the root ball and water to the point of excess after planting. Then mulch with pine bark or other acid mulch and rewater. Then rewater every week through the summer that you don't get an inch of rain. You might even want to provide a shade cover on the hottest of spring/summer days. You'll be able to see the signs of heat stres by watching leaves, esp. leaf margins. Avoid fertilizer until the following year and pinch off most of the flower buds the first year as well. Expect that a few will still not make it but you'll usually get a feel as you dig them up which ones are risky candidates.

bmos, I take it you've moved quite a few BB's (which is surprising, as not many are called on to do this often). I wonder why so many people find them difficult when I've not had bushes suffer nearly as much stress when I move them as when I move bearing age fruit trees bare root. Plants I move often have not received much special attention after the fact and are usually so vigorous plugging in that I can let them fruit first season.

I actually have more difficulty establishing potted blueberry plants than mature plants where I only move the soil that sticks to the roots. Plants that I've moved have always been growing under mulch, so maybe that makes for a substantial root system where it can easily be dug- close to the surface. I've never moved a BB plant grown any other way.

What about sort of a middle course? Could you divide the plants and take part of each--sort of split the root ball with a shovel and take part? I would like to divide a couple of old BB bushes that I have. After my disaster of buying diseased plants from a nursery, and losing them all to phomopsis twig blight, I would like to propagate what I have.

Marc

The reason I attempted to move a few dozen bushes was that I planted in a 50' wide clearing in the woodlot behind our house (bulldozed clear before we had a house built in 1976). The plants grew well for a few years until surrounding trees closed the clearing to much of initial light. A little later I planted about 100 plants in an open field and soon noticed the difference in performance between shaded plants and those receiving full sun.

I remember the massive "twisted trunk" of root systems which are not the roots that you need but thru all the picking and prying it seemed to be all that I could salvage til all was said and done.

Marc, I even thought I must be able to divide a few of those monstrous clusters and double a few plants but for the 6-8 of those I seperated not a single plant survived the transplant. Of the others about half of the plants survived. I believe there are still 6 plants that I never relocated from the shaded bed because I think the plants are just too old to survive the ordeal. I still get a handful of berries from them if I can eat them before the birds do. The Full sun plants are far more productive and I've added a few hundred plants to that bed over the years, some purchased, some propagated.

I've relocated smaller plants (3-5 yr)without issue but usually the reason was to pot-up a drought stricken dying plant and nurse it back to health for a summer. An older plant reminds me of the wild bushes of a nearby swamp where I used to pick. those bushes were supported by an even more massive root stump network that one could stand on while picking to avoid standing knee deep in the swamp water.

I would draw from bmos's experience that perhaps how hard they are to transplant depends on the condition of the roots to begin with. The plants I grow always have a thick mat of roots going down about 12" which are easy to lift with a solid spade. I've never even seen blueberry roots that I could describe as "twisted trunk".

Bmo, did you keep your blueberries mulched? What is the texture of your soil? Were the plants dormant when you moved them (I assume they were, basted on your gardening literacy). Did the plants grow vigorously the season before transplant?

I have never lost a blueberry plant I've transplanted bare root. Never transplanted that many at once, either.

Harvestman, I'll agree that the roots that one needs to preserve are the "Thick mat" of root network bt as the plants age accomplishing that becomes more difficult. I'm not sure that the "Twisted trunk" that I mentioned is just an elaborate outgrowth of the crown.

I had mulched the blueberries, usually with older sawdust. But the area was iniatially quite rocky and the roots were spread around the rocks in a way that made it extremely difficult to collect an intact rootball with any amount of adhering soil. I'll admit that few would plant blueberries in such an area to begin with but the pH was already low and the area was begging to have a permanent crop.

A few things I noticed about the shaded plants is that they grew tall and didn't show signs of drought stress. also my harvest season lasted from mid July until frost. But those traits were not what I would strive for. Overall production was low and squirrels and birds were constantly after the crop.

This is in no way to take away from the value of this thread and I hope I'm not being rude. But there was mention a couple of times about pruning & I'm not sure what any of you do with the pieces that you cut. I was wondering if any of you blueberry vets would be willing to share some cuttings with a new gardener on a budget? I'd definitely be willing to pay for the postage.

If interested, please shoot me an email, b/c I don't want to get this thread off topic.

Thanks in advance

Hello Peaceful Warrior,
What type of cuttings,hardwood or soft and what variety,Northern or Southern Highbush? Brady

Bradybb - I'm looking for hardwood Rabbiteye. According to UGA, since I'm in Georgia I should grow Rabbiteye. It looks like its not possible for me to grow Northern Highbush because of the chill hours thing, so if I can't get Rabbiteye, then I'd like Sourthern Highbush.

Thanks for asking me those questions. I had to go do my homework in order to answer. And I feel like I know what I'm looking for.

Peaceful Warrior,

If you are on a budget and new to growing blueberries I would order some tissue culture plants from Florida Hill Nursery. They are only 5.99 a plant! I would order 2 different varieties and see if its something you would like to continue. If it fails then you really arent out much money. They are not the easiest plants to grow. You really need to do your home work and have a game plan before diving in. Good Luck!!!!