I spent the past week re-planting Duke blueberry plants that have passed on to the next realm. These were purchased from our favorite blueberry nursery, Fall Creek Nursery, near Eugene, OR. They have a really impressive operation down there!

I’m sure most of you have come across this same dilemma when transplanting a potted plant into the ground: what to do with the roots?? There generally seems to be three options: 1) leave that root ball as is! Those are vital nutrients for that vulnerable little plant in its new home. 2) Loosen the roots up a bit to encourage it to branch out into its new home. 3) Remove all the potting medium and get those roots in its new home soil.

I would venture to guess most of you would choose one of the first two options. And to be honest, I’m not sure anybody knows the correct answer, if there is one. Charlie and Connie have historically used a method closer to the first, and most of our 15,000 plants seem to be doing fine.

A recent read of The Informed Gardner, by Linda Chalker-Scott, however, inspired me to try the third option with at least some of these plants. Ms. Chalker-Scott makes a pretty convincing argument that the potted plant needs to get oriented to its new environment, and importantly, being bound up in that pot has probably created some problems with the root structure. If roots have started growing along the edges of the pot, i.e. it’s pot-bound, those roots can eventually strangle the plant if they’re not redirected outward. Additionally, the boundary between the potting medium and the surrounding soil can manifest as a physical boundary for the roots, and they’ll have a tendency to grow back inward to consume the potting medium. That’s the theory at least, so stay tuned to see how the trial goes!

Blueberry plants require a lot of organic material in the soil, so we mix locally sourced sawdust with the local soil when planting. A consistent supply of mulch is vital to keep feeding the soil organic material. This also suppresses weed growth. Luckily for us, we have a fresh supply of woody material from our Braeburn apple orchard that was just pulled and will be chipped shortly. Stay tuned for more on that project!