One of the most important things you can do to ensure your blueberry bushes produce berries year after year is annual pruning. When is the right time to do this and what should you pay attention to when cutting your blueberries? You can find useful tips and a few reasons why pruning the popular berry bush is worthwhile in the article.
Why do you need to prune blueberry bushes?
If you've ever picked wild blueberries from the side of the road or in the forest, then you're probably wondering why you get themPruning shrubs in your gardenmust. After all, they thrive in the woods, so why shouldn't you let nature take its course in your garden too?
The blueberries we grow in our gardens have been bred and cultivated specifically for this purpose. They need regular care to thrive. And not only that: they should be cared for in a very specific way. Without proper care, yields depend on a variety of uncontrolled variables, just like in the wild.
Blueberries require two to three years of targeted care to become established when newly planted. After that, you'll need to maintain and prune the bushes annually to ensure their overall health and continued fruit production.
Some of the top reasons we prune blueberries are:
- Establishing the overall health and shape of a new plant - In the first two years after planting a new blueberry bush, you should prune it to encourage new growth both above and below the ground.
- Encouraging new growth of fruit-bearing canes – older canes produce less fruit, so we want to prune them to remove the older growth and encourage new growth as the shrub ages.
- To allow light and air supply in the middle of the plant.
- Preventing the plant from growing in a manner that results in reduced fruit yield or disease.
The best time to prune your blueberry bushes is in autumn or winter, when the leaves have completely fallen off and the plant is in the dormant phase. A frost-free day in late autumn or February is best so that the cut shoots do not freeze.
If the blueberry bush is attacked by pests or a fungal disease, the affected parts of the plant must be cut off directly to prevent it from spreading.
Cutting blueberries: this is how to do it correctly
How you should prune your blueberries depends on the age of the plant. A distinction is made between a training cut (1st to 3rd year), a maintenance cut (from the 4th year) and a rejuvenation cut (older, overgrown bushes).
Notice: Pruning (training pruning) in the first three years after planting is not absolutely necessary, but will help the plant grow healthy and strong.
Training pruning for young plants
Pruning plan for young blueberry bushes:Prune immediately after planting the shrub and remove fruit buds for the first three years.
The first time you prune is after planting a new blueberry bush in the ground. Once it has recovered for a week, cut back any thin shoots near the crown. Next, you should cut back the tall, young shoots by approx. 20 to 25 cm. This helps the plant prepare for future growth.
New plants require different pruning and care than older, established plants. If you want to give your plant the best chance of becoming a prolific fruiter, you should prevent new blueberry bushes from bearing fruit for the first two years.
This means that when you prune in the first few years, you cut off the tips of the canes where fruit buds have formed.
You can tell the difference between fruit and leaf buds by their appearance and where they grow on the plant. Fruit buds grow at the tips of shoots and are rounder than leaf buds. Leaf buds grow lower on the cane and are slimmer and pointier, growing closer to the cane.
If you remove the fruit buds in the first two years, you will cause the plant to put its energy into developing deep roots and a strong crown rather than into fruiting. This strong plant development in turn means higher yields in the following years.
If you want to harvest blueberries for many years, be patient and put in the work for healthy, productive plants in later years.
Maintenance pruning of established plants
Cutting plan for older blueberry bushes:From the 4th year onwards, remove small, weaker shoots from the crown and older branches to promote new growth, and shorten large, new branches to just below the tree crown.
It's best to get an idea of the shape you're going for before you start cutting. Walk around the shrub and note whether the branches are rubbing together, where more light should reach the center of the shrub, whether the new growth is spindly, and the overall size and shape of the plant.
One of the first things to do is clean out the crown. Remove any thin, spindly shoots that have sprouted at the crown. They are too small and are crowded out by the thicker tree canopy above them. If you leave the thicker shoots standing, you will harvest more berries in the long term.
When pruning younger shoots, remember that they grow quickly and cut them 4 to 6 inches deeper than the top of the bush. This also encourages lateral growth, resulting in more berries. They will fill out well in the coming season.
Shorten the tip slightly if the inside of the plant needs more light and air.
When does the blueberry bush need a rejuvenation cut?
The older the bush gets, the less fruit the older canes bear. Once the plant is five to seven years old, you should begin rejuvenation pruning, always thinning out the oldest branches and encouraging the growth of new branches.
When thinning out old rods, you should remove 20% of them each year. New growth is stronger for each variety and produces more berries when pruned this way. The goal is to maintain a blueberry bush with a balanced mix of old and new canes to ensure a good harvest.
How to cut blueberries in a pot
When growing blueberries in containers, pruning is done in a similar manner, except when they need to be repotted. If the blueberry bush is root-prone, you will need to cut back the roots before repotting it. In this case, you will need to prune the shrub more heavily as the smaller root system will not be able to support the existing canes. When repotting and pruning the roots, you should prune the shrub back by about 50-60%.
With this simple measure you can ensure that your plants remain healthy for many years. And if you encourage the plants to grow new canes each year, your blueberry bushes will reward you with an abundance of tasty berries each summer.
