When should blueberry bushes be pruned
Step-by-step Instructions for More Fruit
For backyard blueberry growers, winter means it’s time to break out the pruning shears and folding saw. Pruning blueberries is a task best performed yearly, when the plants are dormant. Closely tied to crop production, plant health, and fruit quality, pruning too aggressively – or not aggressively enough – impacts your blueberry’s performance.
Well-pruned blueberry bushes are healthy and productive.Reasons for pruning blueberries
Pruning blueberries is an essential winter chore for several reasons.
- Proper pruning maintains an open growth habit, which improves air circulation, opens the center of the plant to sunlight, and reduces disease.
- Annual pruning maintains productivity by encouraging the growth of new fruit-producing stems.
- Pruning removes dead or damaged branches.
- Pruning increases fruit quality because the shrub is able to put more energy into producing the fruit, not more leaves.
The goal of good blueberry pruning is to remove enough old growth to encourage the production of new. And to do so without negatively impacting the berry production for the coming season.
Properly pruned blueberry bushes produce better quality fruit. The top berry is from an overgrown plant while the bottom four are from shrub that’s pruned annually.When to prune blueberries
As with most other fruit-producing trees and shrubs, blueberry pruning takes place in mid to late winter. It’s easy to see the structure of the plant more clearly then and discern which branches are to be removed. In winter, the old branches look very different from the new in color and texture (see photos below). Plus, dormant-season pruning causes the plant less stress. The bush is not in an active state of growth, and no carbohydrate-producing foliage is being removed.
It’s easy to discern an old blueberry branch from a new one. The newer branches are pliable and dark in color, while the old branches are rough-barked and lighter in color.
The regions where blueberries grow well are those with a dormant season of December through early March. Blueberry shrubs are extremely hardy. Some varieties survive down to -35 degrees F. In fact, blueberries need a set number of hours below 45 degrees F (called chill hours) in order for their flower buds to open and produce berries. Without ample cold weather, blueberries do not produce fruit.
Each blueberry type and variety has a slightly different number of required chill hours. Low-chill blueberry varieties require 200-800 chill hours and are best for southern regions. High-chill selections need 800-1000 hours and are ideal for the north. When buying blueberry plants, select a variety that’s suitable to your region.
Late winter is the best time to prune blueberries. Remember, these are very hardy shrubs that do best in cold climates. This plant is badly in need of pruning.Pruning blueberries can take place as early as late December. However, I recommend waiting until late February or very early March for this task.
You’ll be able to prune off any stems that suffered winter injury or breakage due to heavy snows. Plus, the chance of winter injury has largely passed.
The different types of blueberries and their pruning needs
There are many different types of blueberries, including high-bush, low-bush, rabbit-eye, and lots of assorted hybrids. In the north, ‘half-high’ varieties are among the most popular. They are the result of the hybridization of high-bush and low-bush types, and are a great fit for most backyards. They grow 3 to 4 feet in both height and girth, and bear plenty of fruits. Southern gardeners should opt for ‘Rabbit eye’ blueberries as they are more heat tolerant and need fewer chill hours.
Don’t forget that you’ll need at least two different varieties of blueberries to get fruit. Most varieties require a cross-pollination partner. (Those listed in the article linked here, however, are self fertile.) Blueberries are primarily pollinated by our native bumblebees because the vibrations these large bees generate are required for loosening and transferring the pollen in the bell-shaped flowers of blueberries.
Regardless of which type of blueberries you grow, the task of pruning blueberries is the same.
Soon enough, these blueberry flowers will be open and ready to be cross-pollinated with another variety. Bumble bees are the pollinators for this job.Tips for pruning blueberries
How to prune blueberries depends on whether the plant is new and relatively young or old and overgrown. Below you’ll find step-by-step blueberry pruning instructions for both situations. However, I’d like to share a few key points about pruning blueberries first.
- Never shear back blueberries and turn them into the shape of a meatball. Their fruiting buds are located in the outermost 2-3 inches of stem growth. Shearing back the plants removes all the flower buds.
- If you don’t properly prune your blueberry bushes, the existing branches will age, but new, fruit-producing branches will not be formed. Older, unpruned blueberry bushes tend to produce more leaves than berries, and any berries that are produced are small and produced only on the outermost stems.
- Be sure to use clean, sharp pruning equipment. To avoid the spread of disease, disinfect all pruning equipment before moving from one bush to another. I use a special spray pruning disinfectant that doesn’t gum up or rust your equipment, but you can also dip your tools in a 10% bleach solution or use Lysol spray.
- Blueberries produce their flowers on old wood, meaning that the buds for each year’s berry crop are formed during the summer and autumn of the previous season. Protect your blueberry bushes from deer in the winter or they may strip all the buds off the stems.
Pruning blueberries step-by-step
Step 1:
Stand back and evaluate your blueberry bushes one at a time. Begin by cutting off any dead or damaged branches. Cut these stems off all the way back to where they join a thicker branch.
Do not leave a stump behind as it serves as an entryway for disease. If the entire branch is dead, cut if off back to the ground.
Step 2:
After any damaged stems are removed, cut out any crossed branches, particularly those that rub against each other. After pruning is complete, you want an open structure with no crossed branches. Cut crossed branches off all the way down to the base of the plant.
Be sure to remove any crossed branches as well, or those that rub against each other, cutting them all the way back to the ground.Step 3:
For young blueberry bushes or those that have been properly pruned in the past: Cut one-third of the remaining branches all the way down to the ground, choosing the oldest and thickest ones for removal. This encourages new, productive canes to emerge from the roots. Yes, that means cut 1 out of every 3 branches clear to the ground to stimulate new stems to emerge from the roots.
Do this every winter and you’ll always have excellent blueberry production.
For mature blueberry plants that are unpruned and overgrown: Perform a careful renewal pruning to encourage new stem production by cutting half of branches back all the way down to the ground. Always cut off the oldest, thickest ones. This forces new canes to grow from the roots. When a branch is seven or eight years old, production is greatly reduced. If you don’t remove old branches, the plant fails to generate new, more productive stems.
Over the following two to three years, remove the remainder of the oldest branches a few at a time until only newly produced ones remain. The plant continues to produce a moderate crop while the bush is being slowly rejuvenated. Heavily pruned, overgrown bushes take a few years to rebound, but your efforts pay off in the long run with many years of terrific production after the plants are regularly pruned.
Pruning blueberries is emotional
There’s no doubt that pruning blueberries is an emotionally taxing job. It’s particularly difficult to see all the buds being cutting off. But, don’t feel guilty about removing branches with potential fruit. If your goal is to increase your blueberry’s long-term productivity and grow larger fruits, then pruning properly is a must. Just have some wine on-hand for after the job is complete!
Blueberry pruning is an annual chore. Mark your calendar so you don’t forget!
After pruning, blueberry bushes have an open habit and fewer old, woody stems..Post-pruning fertilization
When spring arrives, here’s how to fertilize pruned blueberry bushes to adjust the soil pH or add an acid-specific organic granular fertilizer, such as HollyTone. Then, mulch the bushes with one to two inches of pine straw, shredded hardwood bark, or shredded leaves.
Do not over-mulch. Blueberries have shallow, fibrous root systems that resent thick layers of mulch.
By following these blueberry pruning instructions, you’ll have productive plants for years to come!
For more on growing backyard fruit, check out these articles:
- Organic apple growing using fruit bagging
- Berries in containers: How to grow a small-space fruit garden
- Growing kiwi fruit: It’s easier than you think
- How to grow citrus in pots using 8 simple steps
- 5 mini melons for small gardens and containers
Do you grow blueberries? Which varieties are your favorites?
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Pruning Blueberry Plants - Stark Bro's
Pruning is an important part of proper edible plant care, but many people find the task overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be! Keep these things in mind:
NOTE: This is part 8 in a series of 11 articles. For a complete background on how to grow blueberry plants, we recommend starting from the beginning.
Blueberries should be pruned during the winter while the bushes are dormant. In winter, flower buds are easily visible on one-year-old wood and their numbers can be adjusted by pruning to regulate the crop load for the coming year. Blueberries do not need to be pruned in the first year. Pruning should be moderately heavy in the second year.
Training Young Plants (1 to 3 years of age)
If vigorous, well-rooted two-year-old plants are set, they do not need cutting back the first year except to remove fruit buds shortly after planting. Pruning should be moderately heavy in the second year to stimulate strong new growth on selected canes. Do not permit plants younger than three years of age to bear more than a cluster or two of fruit, or the onset of the commercially productive period will be delayed. A large bearing area should be established in the shortest possible time.
Pruning Bearing Plants (over 3-4 years of age)
Make large “shaping cuts” — remove all low-spreading branches and the oldest canes if they are weak, particularly if in the center of the plant.
“Head back” the upright “bull shoots” to the desired height to keep the bush from growing too tall. Essentially, you have then automatically selected the remaining, more upright canes to bear your crop next season and the following season.
On the remaining canes, systematically “thin out” the shorter, thinner shoots, leaving enough of the thick shoots to bear the crop and make new growth. Only experience can tell you how many shoots a particular variety of a particular age can carry and still perform well. It is probably better in most instances to prune too lightly than too heavily. Lighter pruning is usually practiced, as the plant grows older because it can carry more “wood” successfully due to a larger root system.
Renewal Pruning
When blueberries are about 8 to 10 years old, they are at their productive peak— but renewal growth has reached a minimum, and production will begin to decline from year to year. To prolong your plant’s productivity, renewal pruning is needed.
Some provision must be made to revitalize the plant to prolong its productive period.
- Weak or badly diseased canes should be removed entirely. These canes can be identified by generally poor vigor and low fruit bud production. However, in eastern NC, many varieties do not sprout new canes readily from the crown. It may be necessary to either cut the cane back to a strong lateral which is properly located, or to cut the cane severely (“dehorn”) back to within 2 to 3 ft of the ground. By the latter method, it is hoped that new lateral branches can be forced from below the cut.
- Either method may result in a 1- to 3-year crop reduction, but the plants should then bear several more good crops. However, when rejuvenation becomes necessary, it is time to start considering newer and better varieties to which your acreage may be systematically replanted in the near future.
A good reference book, such as Pruning Made Easy, can answer questions and guide you through the pruning process.
Pruning garden blueberries
CategoriesGrowing blueberries By golubika.by
Should blueberries be cut?
Tall blueberry bushes are pruned regularly.
Medium pruning at the beginning of year 3 to encourage strong growth. Fruiting plants are pruned so as to obtain evenly and well-spaced flower buds on them: low-lying branches and weak shoots are removed.
Weak, diseased branches are systematically removed, and healthy branches are left, which will give good growth and yield. Pinch long-bearing shoots, leave 4-6 flower buds on them to enlarge the berries.
Large stems are kept in the bush for 4-6 years and then cut at ground level without leaving a stump.
At the end of summer pinch off the tops of strongly growing shoots. Remove also bunches of small branches at the ends of the shoots.
To prevent the occurrence of diseases, after pruning in the spring, and in the autumn after harvesting, the plants are sprayed with fungicides (topsin, euparen and others) at a concentration of 0.
2-0.3%.
Annual pruning plan from year 4 blueberries:
1) it is necessary to cut low spreading branches near the ground, keeping only upright growths; There should be at least five annual shoots.
2) if the middle of the bush is dense, then weak and very old branches should be cut out inside it;
3) most of the small thin branches are removed, leaving strong skeletal branches and shoots. Of the annual shoots, it is desirable to leave the 5 strongest.
Blueberries bear fruit on the growth of the previous year. The degree of pruning also depends on the intensity of shoot growth. If the variety is prone to strong shoot formation like Rancocas, then pruning should be done strong.
When should blueberries be pruned?
Blueberries should be pruned early in spring (March, early April), before bud break. It is better to remove cut branches (shoots) from the site and burn them in order to prevent the development of diseases and pests on them after winter, which can cause infection for blueberry bushes.
Old shoots must be constantly replaced by new ones, so blueberries should be rejuvenated from 5-6 years of age.
From young plants, shoots damaged by frost, as well as low-lying, creeping on the ground, are removed.
When a blueberry bush reaches 5 years of age, it is necessary to thin out the bush to enhance its growth and ensure a constant yield.
Thinning accelerates the development of strong annual shoots and ensures a regular harvest. For thinning blueberry bushes, it is necessary to remove old shoots (4-5 years old) and regulate the number of young ones.
Young shoots with many flower buds should be reduced by one third.
In the first year after planting, flowers are removed from blueberry bushes - this is done in order to influence the proper development of plants. Young blueberry bushes need to be pruned harder as this encourages plant growth.
The maximum yield of blueberry bushes is reached in the 5-6th year after planting in the garden.
In fruit-bearing blueberry bushes, the oldest shoots are pruned to thin out the crown. Sick, damaged, and highly branched shoots at the bottom of the bush are also pruned.
Blueberry bushes should not be too dense and shoots no older than 4 years should prevail.
Depending on the blueberry variety, a different type of pruning is performed:
- pruning of long shoots of bushes of fast-growing varieties that bend down to the ground.
- in strongly bushy varieties, the whole is cut off, you need to carefully clean the base of the bush from all small shoots.
- Blueberry varieties with a more elongated structure should be pruned more strongly to stimulate their growth.
- in blueberry varieties with a dense bush structure, it is necessary to shorten shoots that are too branched.
- high-yielding blueberry varieties with a large number of shoots require thinning of the crown.
It is necessary to cut the shoots and branches directed inside the bush, thereby freeing the crown of the bush from thickening.
Blueberry pruning, including spring, plant formation scheme, photo and video
Blueberry is a crop that tolerates pruning very well. Gardeners remove excess shoots even in summer. A bush growing on its own produces many small berries, and as a result of formation and thinning, it produces the same number of kilograms of fruits, but they are large, which means they have more juicy and tasty pulp.
Contents
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1 Do blueberries need pruning
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2 When to prune blueberries
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3 How to prune a seedling in a container
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4 Pruning blueberries in the first 2 years after planting
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4.1 Video: summer pruning of young blueberries
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5 Phytosanitary blueberry pruning
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6 Mature pruning
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6.1 Video: Rules for pruning fruit bearing blueberries
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7 When blueberries need to be trimmed to zero
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8 Gardeners' advice on how to prune blueberries
Do blueberries need pruning
Removing old, diseased, broken, thickening shoots is a must for any fruit crop.
Blueberries run wild without pruning: overgrown with many weak branches, juices are spent on their growth, as a result, the berries grow small and tasteless. In addition, in thickened, windproof plantings with a mass of dead wood, pathogenic fungi accumulate, which lead to rotting of leaves, shoots and roots.
Unpruned blueberries: many dry, bare branches, leaves showing signs of a fungal disease
When to prune blueberries
Sanitary pruning is carried out all year round, forming - during the deep sleep of blueberries, that is, from late autumn to early spring, when there is no sap flow. As for the age of the bush, traditionally and erroneously, pruning is started in the third year after planting. There are frequent cases when 6–7-year-old bushes begin to thin out for the first time. Foreign experts recommend starting the formation of blueberries at the stage when the seedling is still in the container.
How to prune a seedling in a container
Pruning in a container is needed if the volume of the above-ground part clearly exceeds the volume of the earth clod in the container, that is, the roots do not have time and are not able to grow in proportion to the crown.
If you bought such a bush, then before planting, remove all short branched growths that come out of the ground.
The seedling at the bottom has grown bushy growths that need to be removed
Only powerful vertically directed shoots should remain. They need to be shortened by a third or even half. In this way, you will achieve a balance between the above and below ground parts of the bush. After planting, the cropped crown will take a minimum of juice, the root system will begin to actively develop and give new strong branches.
Regular blueberry seedlings: 2 strong upright shoots plus small growth without branching; root and aerial part developed in proportion to
Pruning blueberries in the first 2 years after planting
Before fruiting, blueberries are pruned in order to accelerate the formation of a powerful bush. If the seedlings are left unattended for 1-2 years, then many short and branched shoots will grow from the ground, and flower buds will be laid on the tops of tall and strong ones.
All juices will be directed to the formation of the first fruits. But a bush thickened with weak and short branches will give a very modest harvest. In addition, he will not be able to resist diseases, frosts, pests.
That is why in professional gardens, where berries are grown for sale, that is, large and beautiful, formative pruning is carried out from the first year of planting. To do this, all bushy growths and branches of the second order are removed in such a way that there is no branching up to the knee height (30–40 cm above the ground), but only even vertical stems. And also cut off the tops of strong shoots to remove parts of the plant with flower buds.
On the branches of fruit crops there are two types of buds: small ones, from which leaves grow, and larger ones - flower or fruit, they are usually located on the tops of the shoots.
As a result of such pruning in young seedlings, fruiting is pushed back and a strong bush is formed, consisting exclusively of powerful and productive stems.
Video: summer pruning of young blueberries
Phytosanitary blueberry pruning
The event is held regularly throughout the season and with blueberries of any age. In spring, frozen tops are removed, in summer - young still green growths damaged by insects and hail. Pruning is carried out, capturing 1-2 cm of a healthy area. Any wound on a plant is a gateway to various diseases. Fungi grow inside soft and succulent tissues and cannot attach themselves to smooth, undamaged branches. By cutting off the problematic parts of the plant, you destroy the foci of infection and give the bush the strength to form new and healthy stems and twigs.
A hailstone on a vine shoot: soft tissues are exposed, the leaf receives little nutrition, signs of disease are visible
Before and after trimming, disinfect tools by wiping blades with alcohol.
Treat the entire plant with a fungicide, for example, Bordeaux liquid, Skor preparation and others. During the fruiting period, you can spray Fitosporin.
Mature pruning
3-4 years after planting, remove from a well-formed and fruit-bearing bush:
- all horizontal branches up to the first strong shoot growing vertically upwards;
- branches of the second order, growing down and deep into the crown;
- tops damaged by frost, diseases and pests;
- all bushy low shoots and branches of the second order on the main fruit-bearing stems below the level of the knee.
To prevent vertical shoots from turning into horizontal ones under the weight of berries, tie them to stakes. This is especially true for tall varieties.
In addition to this thinning pruning, it is necessary to organize a fruit conveyor. For this, old lignified branches with cracked bark are cut out, and the same number of strong and young ones that have grown from the root are left to replace them.
A fruit-bearing blueberry bush consists of 10–15 skeletal branches, and in a neglected one that grew without pruning, it consists of 20 or more.
Video: Rules for pruning fruit-bearing blueberries
When blueberries need to be trimmed to zero
There are three situations where it is necessary to trim the entire bush to ground level:
- We need to save a drying bush. It was hot, you did not water the blueberries, they dry up. Cut off all shoots and keep the remaining root constantly moist. Not immediately, but within 2-3 years, a new bush will grow out of it.
- Blueberries are abandoned, run wild, they have not been pruned for 5–6 years or more.
- After a long period of fruiting, many stems have formed, the berries are small, there are few of them.
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