Saving my blueberries

Hi everyone.
I planted 3 blueberry plants in spring time, I (stupidly) planted them into the ground! And surprise surprise they look like they are dying!!! The plant stem seems to have grown a bit, and throughout summer there was not really an abundance of leaves! They did not fruit either but I think this was to be expected as they're new plants!! Should I leave them in the ground to see how they progress as this was only thir first year and I didn't really know what to expect! Or should I take cuttings or just dig them up!! If I did dig them up when should this be done, and what should I do with them??? Thanks in advance! Steve

They don't sound too happy although as you say it was their first year - they do need acid soil although mine soldiered on for several years in the ground with the soil becoming more and more towards neutral (I should have known that the moss peat they were originally planted in wouldn't last forever - this year I mulched them with sawdust, sulphur granules, fed them well and they put on a bit of a growth spurt as well as producing another good crop of berries.)

Waterlogging is bad for them, but so is excessive dryness as they are quite shallow rooted - if your soil pH is too high and either of those apply that is probably why they are sulking or possibly dying, although as carlrmj says they are of course deciduous and are therefore just bare sticks in winter.

Edit: another thought - although different varieties flower at different times in general they do flower quite early, so you may have planted yours a bit late for either flowering or for them to settle down and grow much this year. 

Not really the time of year to be taking cuttings, although you could try to find out whether the plants are still alive - if they are dead the stems will all be brittle and dry (a small percentage of them die back every year but that shouldn't happen with new plants.)

An article here about propagating blueberries from cuttings (in spring!)

As you only have three plants it would be worth moving them to pots, in ericaceous soil, which is readily availabel.

We have three in pots at home and they fruit well. Plants are about 45-50 com tall and they are in  15 ins pots.

At the plot I have some younger plants, and they are dosed up with sulphur in the Spring, and get a feed of azalea food a couple of time in the growing season. Semms to keep the soil acidic enough but we are not on chalk but silty river clay.

My Dad grew them in a tall raised bed- around 50 cm high - lined with membrane and  filled with ericaceous soil. This needed topping up every year, as it sunk slowly. Bushes (plus a camellia and a flame of the forest) thrived. His garden was on chalk, so tht is something you could think about perhaps