Germinating Blueberry Seeds
Note: Best to fill pots 2 days before, water and let sit on mist bench to make sure the bark gets saturated!
1. Rinse 6” pots in water to remove dry dirt
![](https://blueberry.cals.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/158/2023/09/G1.png)
2. Soak for 10 minutes in 10% bleach
3. Rinse pots with water
4. Fill pots with 2-2.5” of coarse bark (more bark is better because it is lighter than sand)
![](https://blueberry.cals.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/158/2023/09/G2.png)
5. Fill to rim with sand and level with a flat bottom pot/tap down
![](https://blueberry.cals.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/158/2023/09/G3.png)
6. Fill with fine bark (screened to ⅛”) about ½-3/4” . Not too much as this holds a lot of water which can invite fungus in. level with flat bottom pot/tap down
![](https://blueberry.cals.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/158/2023/09/G4.png)
7. Want 1” of lip space to keep seeds from jumping out with mist
8. put under mist to wet the pot
![](https://blueberry.cals.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/158/2023/09/G5.png)
9. Mist setting: 4 seconds every 4 minutes from 7am-7pm. which is used to propagate cuttings…would be better for seedlings to do 4 seconds every 4 minutes from 8/9am to 5/6pm. Changed to 1-2 seconds every 5 minutes from 8am-5pm.
10. write cross on wood stake on one side of stake with number of seed circled. on back side write cross year and date sown
![](https://blueberry.cals.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/158/2023/09/G6.png)
11. Sprinkle seed evenly all around pot. a 6” pot will hold max of 500 (600) seeds. HB pop up in about 3 weeks, RE come up in 4-5 weeks. Once up wait about a month, enough time to get a couple of true leaves and then transplant to individual plugs (liners)
![](https://blueberry.cals.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/158/2023/09/G7.png)
12. After first day with mist-when it turns off at 5pm sprinkle with Captan to keep mold/fungus down.
Note: Seed germinate better if stored longer (1 yr) in fridge.