Its hard to tell. I bought 3 varieties of blueberries from the box store this weekend with the intention of growing them in bags over the next 2 years. I paid 12$ each for them and they look to be a year or less old meaning they still need to focus on root development before expending energy to flowering.
I feel like the average Costco patron will buy these thinking they’re going to have a giant bush producing pounds of berries by june/July. That 100% will not be the case. If you do buy these, plant them and focus on pruning and overwintering you will be just fine. It’s also advised to get a few different varieties so they cross pollinate.
Lemortheureux
16$ for herbs is robbery. The fruit bushes might be alright but when they’re small they won’t produce much. Mature ones are around 30$ at my favorite garden center.
Electrical_Worry3892
I’m not sure about the quality of these, but I just wanted to give you a heads up that blackberries in particular (all types that I know of) can grow very wild, very quickly in only a few years if you don’t keep them constantly trimmed back/maintained. They will send runners everywhere, even if you put them in a pot or in a garden bed, and try to escape whatever you plant them in. For blackberries in particular, if you want to plant some, just be aware you’re committing to prune them back every year so they don’t go out of control, and make sure you grab a thornless variety to make it easier on yourself.
My mother planted thornless blackberries, and we get wonderful harvests out of them every year, but every year the whole family also has to get together and cut them back. We’ve even caught them trying to send runners under her house.
I can’t speak to the other berry varieties because I’ve never grown them.
VoiceInDeadpoolsHead
I got raspberries, blueberries & blackberries at Lowe’s a few years ago and they’ve done well. Blueberries in half barrel and the other two are in ground.
Requires patience, don’t expect too much the first couple of years.
I wish you success in your garden!
vXvBAKEvXv
Theyll work but like everyone noted theyll all take multiple years before you see fruit.
Chill hours is a huge factor on a lot of fruit so checking to make sure you hit the chill hours in your zone is important. My local lowes was carrying a variety that was very borderline here and it was wiser to go seeking better varieties.
ChineseFireball
2 for $14 is a good deal. Indiana berry sells bare root plants for around $8 per plant plus shipping. I got a blackberry start like this from tractor supply and it’s alive and well though my Indiana berry plants seem to be a bit stronger. Time will tell.
VoiceInDeadpoolsHead
Oh, also got grapes, but underestimated the growth rate. Took over and became way too much. I have a relatively small space to work in. Had to give that one up.
WithCheezMrSquidward
I got the blueberries from Costco last year, they grew pretty well, and are just waking up from the winter and look quite healthy. Can’t speak to yields or anything but my two cents. Just make sure they look healthy before you buy and you’ll be fine
Independent_Term5790
I bought a blackberry one four years back, it did nothing the first year. Like it didn’t even grow a single leaf. year two went crazy, but heat wave and poor watering kinda jacked up the harvest. Last year it produced about 10 plus full bowls worth of black berries
ModsareFakenLame
Yea , when u first get them soak em in water for a few hours then plant ,I got all of mine like that put ur black berries in a a pot they will spread and their roots have lil thorns .
Lonely_Space_241
I got small plants on Etsy last spring and put them in grow bags, and they are starting to produce berries this year. They were 2 for $25. As stated make sure you understand the variety, and you will want at least two to cross pollinate. Chill hours are critical to understand especially if you’re in California or a warmer climate because certain varieties will simply not produce fruit if they don’t get enough chill hours.
Full_Honeydew_9739
I bought 2 blackberry plants at Lowe’s last June off the clearance shelf for $3 each. By October, they both had fruit. They have come back strong this year. They were in 1 quart pots. 2 years ago I bought a fig tree the same way: $3 off the clearance rack. I got figs within 4 months of planting it and again last year.
lostrowski_mn
the blackberry deal looks solid to me — I’ve gardened in zone 4 for a while and they take a couple seasons to really get going, but once they do you’ll have more than you can use. just give them their own corner. they’ll creep into whatever’s next to them if you don’t.
the herbs at $16 I’d skip. seed packets are a dollar or two for most of those and direct sow works great. basil especially — it goes from seed to harvestable fast enough that there’s no real reason to buy starts unless your season is really short.
Comfortable-Emu8082
In regards to the black berries and raspberries if the sappling takes you will have berries next year.
The blueberries will take a long long time. This blueberry is 6+ years old grown from one of those in your picture. I want to say it was a jersey.
It now produces around 100-300 berries a flush. But unfortunately I moved south so it will not bloom anymore.
I’d say yes for experienced gardeners but no if you’re new at this. They are bare root plants with a little peat moss to keep the roots from drying out. Bare root is harder to establish, imo, than container plants. I got all my blueberries in containers( 2 or 4 gallon containers) and I’m not sorry I did because they have all survived. I can’t say the same for bare root plants I’ve bought, even at a good place like Costco. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to nursery stock, especially trees and shrubs.
DianeForTheNguyen
I got the blueberries and raspberries from Costco last year! As others have said, they’re bare root, so they’re basically just twigs with roots when you unpack them. It’s been really fun to watch them grow. I removed all flowers from the plants last year to focus their energy on growing roots/stems. I’m debating doing it again for this summer too.
It’s definitely a lot of work. If they died, I’m going to buy mature plants at my local nursery instead haha. My advice is that you need at least two blueberry bushes of similar varieties for cross-pollination. The Costco pack already provides that, which is good. I also bought soil acidifier, a soil testing kit, and berry fertilizer. Blueberries and raspberries both like acidic soil. I just added acidity to my plants as they started coming out of hibernation.
16 Comments
Its hard to tell. I bought 3 varieties of blueberries from the box store this weekend with the intention of growing them in bags over the next 2 years. I paid 12$ each for them and they look to be a year or less old meaning they still need to focus on root development before expending energy to flowering.
I feel like the average Costco patron will buy these thinking they’re going to have a giant bush producing pounds of berries by june/July. That 100% will not be the case. If you do buy these, plant them and focus on pruning and overwintering you will be just fine. It’s also advised to get a few different varieties so they cross pollinate.
16$ for herbs is robbery. The fruit bushes might be alright but when they’re small they won’t produce much. Mature ones are around 30$ at my favorite garden center.
I’m not sure about the quality of these, but I just wanted to give you a heads up that blackberries in particular (all types that I know of) can grow very wild, very quickly in only a few years if you don’t keep them constantly trimmed back/maintained. They will send runners everywhere, even if you put them in a pot or in a garden bed, and try to escape whatever you plant them in. For blackberries in particular, if you want to plant some, just be aware you’re committing to prune them back every year so they don’t go out of control, and make sure you grab a thornless variety to make it easier on yourself.
My mother planted thornless blackberries, and we get wonderful harvests out of them every year, but every year the whole family also has to get together and cut them back. We’ve even caught them trying to send runners under her house.
I can’t speak to the other berry varieties because I’ve never grown them.
I got raspberries, blueberries & blackberries at Lowe’s a few years ago and they’ve done well. Blueberries in half barrel and the other two are in ground.
Requires patience, don’t expect too much the first couple of years.
I wish you success in your garden!
Theyll work but like everyone noted theyll all take multiple years before you see fruit.
Chill hours is a huge factor on a lot of fruit so checking to make sure you hit the chill hours in your zone is important. My local lowes was carrying a variety that was very borderline here and it was wiser to go seeking better varieties.
2 for $14 is a good deal. Indiana berry sells bare root plants for around $8 per plant plus shipping. I got a blackberry start like this from tractor supply and it’s alive and well though my Indiana berry plants seem to be a bit stronger. Time will tell.
Oh, also got grapes, but underestimated the growth rate. Took over and became way too much. I have a relatively small space to work in. Had to give that one up.
I got the blueberries from Costco last year, they grew pretty well, and are just waking up from the winter and look quite healthy. Can’t speak to yields or anything but my two cents. Just make sure they look healthy before you buy and you’ll be fine
I bought a blackberry one four years back, it did nothing the first year. Like it didn’t even grow a single leaf. year two went crazy, but heat wave and poor watering kinda jacked up the harvest. Last year it produced about 10 plus full bowls worth of black berries
Yea , when u first get them soak em in water for a few hours then plant ,I got all of mine like that put ur black berries in a a pot they will spread and their roots have lil thorns .
I got small plants on Etsy last spring and put them in grow bags, and they are starting to produce berries this year. They were 2 for $25. As stated make sure you understand the variety, and you will want at least two to cross pollinate. Chill hours are critical to understand especially if you’re in California or a warmer climate because certain varieties will simply not produce fruit if they don’t get enough chill hours.
I bought 2 blackberry plants at Lowe’s last June off the clearance shelf for $3 each. By October, they both had fruit. They have come back strong this year. They were in 1 quart pots. 2 years ago I bought a fig tree the same way: $3 off the clearance rack. I got figs within 4 months of planting it and again last year.
the blackberry deal looks solid to me — I’ve gardened in zone 4 for a while and they take a couple seasons to really get going, but once they do you’ll have more than you can use. just give them their own corner. they’ll creep into whatever’s next to them if you don’t.
the herbs at $16 I’d skip. seed packets are a dollar or two for most of those and direct sow works great. basil especially — it goes from seed to harvestable fast enough that there’s no real reason to buy starts unless your season is really short.
In regards to the black berries and raspberries if the sappling takes you will have berries next year.
The blueberries will take a long long time. This blueberry is 6+ years old grown from one of those in your picture. I want to say it was a jersey.
It now produces around 100-300 berries a flush. But unfortunately I moved south so it will not bloom anymore.

https://preview.redd.it/ja78vqx6bfsg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f276a231abef33481db42bfbdc408d8b3a0cb6f
I’d say yes for experienced gardeners but no if you’re new at this. They are bare root plants with a little peat moss to keep the roots from drying out. Bare root is harder to establish, imo, than container plants. I got all my blueberries in containers( 2 or 4 gallon containers) and I’m not sorry I did because they have all survived. I can’t say the same for bare root plants I’ve bought, even at a good place like Costco. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to nursery stock, especially trees and shrubs.
I got the blueberries and raspberries from Costco last year! As others have said, they’re bare root, so they’re basically just twigs with roots when you unpack them. It’s been really fun to watch them grow. I removed all flowers from the plants last year to focus their energy on growing roots/stems. I’m debating doing it again for this summer too.
It’s definitely a lot of work. If they died, I’m going to buy mature plants at my local nursery instead haha. My advice is that you need at least two blueberry bushes of similar varieties for cross-pollination. The Costco pack already provides that, which is good. I also bought soil acidifier, a soil testing kit, and berry fertilizer. Blueberries and raspberries both like acidic soil. I just added acidity to my plants as they started coming out of hibernation.