Blueberries are our favorite summer fruit. You can eat them forever. Don't worry, we have a few tips to help you maximize your blueberry harvest. Pruning your blueberry bushes regularly is one of the most important things you can do to ensure they produce berries year after year. Then how should you cut your blueberries?
Most home gardeners seem to break out in a cold sweat at the mere thought of pruning a fruit-bearing plant. Pruning blueberry bushes annually may seem like a daunting task, but trust us, after a few years it will become second nature.
Cutting blueberries: When is the best time to prune?
Pruning bilberries (also called blueberries) for maintenance purposes is best done in late fall, when the plant has dropped its leaves, or in the middle of winter. At this point the plant enters its dormant phase. Winter pruning requires careful timing so that the freshly cut parts of the plant do not freeze. Blueberry plants should not be cut too late in the winter, otherwise new growth will be stunted.
Why is pruning important for blueberry bushes?
Pruning blueberries is a necessary measure for a variety of reasons.
- Maintaining an open growth habit through pruning increases air circulation, exposes more parts of the plant to light, and reduces the likelihood of disease.
- Annual pruning encourages new, fruit-bearing shoots, keeping production constant.
- Pruning involves cutting off unhealthy or broken branches.
- When a shrub is pruned, its resources are reallocated to producing fruit rather than new leaves.
- Proper pruning of blueberries involves thinning the plant by a certain percentage to encourage new fruit growth. And in a way that doesn't ruin next year's berry harvest.
Cutting blueberries – helpful tips
Pruning techniques for blueberries vary depending on whether the plant is fresh and young or established and overgrown. Detailed instructions for pruning blueberries in all cases can be found below. But before we get into that, I want to explain a few basics of blueberry pruning.
Always use freshly cleaned and sharpened scissors. Before moving from one shrub to another, sterilize all pruning instruments to prevent disease transmission.
In the first two years, you should prune the shrub so that it takes the shape of a wine goblet so that it is well ventilated. To prevent disease, remove any overlapping or touching branches.
Horizontal growth near the ground is undesirable in blueberry bushes and should be removed, especially if the branches rub against the ground.
Instructions for pruning blueberry bushes
- The first 3 years
In an ideal environment, cultivated blueberries have a lifespan of 30 years or more. Please note that pruning is not absolutely necessary in the first three years after planting, but this training pruning contributes to the healthy and robust development of the plant.
In the first few years after planting, fertilize the bushes only twice a year, at the beginning of budding and at the beginning of May, when the first fruits are already hanging on the branches. This contributes toIncreasing growthand productivity. For optimal development and root production, it is recommended to remove flowers in the first year and fruits in the second year. You won't get a harvest for a while, but your plant will be strong and sturdy.
- From the 4th year
The tastiest fruits of planted blueberries develop on annual wood. The older the branch, the smaller and more sour the berries it produces. From the fourth year of development at the latest, it is recommended to prune the blueberries annually in autumn in order toRevitalize plant. To do this, older branches are removed from the plant. The grey-brown, somewhat woody and cracked bark of the over-aged shoots is a clear sign that the shoots have reached their full growth potential. They bloom and fruit less frequently or only produce very small, low-juice fruits. In addition, an excessive number of old shoots leads to fewer and fewer new shoots being formed. The bark of young, fertile branches is smooth, light green or slightly reddish in color.
Then cut back any branches that grow inward toward the center of the bush, as well as any side shoots that cross or rub against each other. If you want to have a bountiful blueberry harvest next year but are not sure how many shoots to leave on the plant, you can use this rule of thumb: A fully productive blueberry plant typically has between five and eight shoots. Also cut off any shoots older than three or four years every year. Afterwards, new ground shoots quickly form.
- Rejuvenation cut
For example, if you have an old, withered oneBlueberry bush in the gardenIf you have inherited it, you can breathe new life into it by cutting it back completely to around 30 cm.
