Hi Ails and welcome to GoY. Pernettya prefer acidic soil, semi shade, mulch with something like composted bark when you plant and should not need feeding, I would only prune if it gets straggly and then in Feb. time so you don't lose the berries which are the main attraction.

Before you plant remove from the pot and soak in water for 24 hours at 10p it is likely to have been sitting for a long time uncared for.

Lucky you-- I do like pernettya but can't grow them in my solid clay-- do you need two for berries Moongrower?

Nope self fertile... Of course those blamed botanists now lump them in with Gaultheria just to confuse us all!

What a bargain. It is almost impossible to kill so should survive. I find mine sends out runners so beware and cut them back to the parent plant. Maybe they should be yanked off as you would do with roses. Maybe somebody can enlighten us. The runners are suitable to give away as they do act just like their parent plant.

We cut the runners off and pot up for sales tables at plant shows. Always sell well.

Thank you for that info Mg I am always surprised at how expensive these plantsare considering how easy they are to propagate from runners.

Me too, they shouldn't be so expensive all things considered.

Pamg although you have clay under your 5" of top soil you could dig a hole 12" square. Fill it with compost and or top soil and you will have enough ground for the plant to survive until it meets the clay. By that time it will be strong enough to cope with whatever it finds. I have never dug up a mature plant so cannot say if it has a tap root but the runners run just under the surface of the soil. When planting I always use bonemeal to give the plant a chance to put down good roots before it has to cope with giving a show on top.

Scotsg. we dug up a huge one last year - no tap root, thankfully or it would have been impossible to remove!