diff --git a/pyfdt/pyfdt.py b/pyfdt/pyfdt.py
index 566d46e..1656d0e 100644
--- a/pyfdt/pyfdt.py
+++ b/pyfdt/pyfdt.py
@@ -624,10 +624,18 @@ def merge(self, node):
                         if isinstance(obj, (FdtNode, FdtProperty))]:
             index = self._find(subnode.get_name())
             if index is None:
-                dup = deepcopy(subnode)
-                if isinstance(subnode, FdtNode):
-                    dup.set_parent_node(self)
-                self.append(dup)
+               # avoid deepcopy for large binary blobs
+               if isinstance(subnode, FdtPropertyBytes):
+                  # shallow copy of bytes for FdtPropertyBytes
+                  dup = FdtPropertyBytes(subnode.name, list(subnode.bytes))
+               elif isinstance(subnode, FdtNode):
+                  dup = FdtNode(subnode.name)
+                  for child in subnode.subdata:
+                     dup.append(child)
+                  dup.set_parent_node(self)
+               else:
+                  dup = copy(subnode)
+               self.append(dup)
             elif isinstance(subnode, FdtNode):
                 self.subdata[index].merge(subnode)
             else: