When to Prune Blueberry Bushes

When pruning mature blueberry bushes, focus on eliminating low-angled canes and those angling across the plant (crossovers). This will prevent fruit from coming in contact with contaminated soil while stimulating new growth for next summer’s harvest.

Also thin out twiggy or bushy-looking lateral twig growth and trim back (head back) long whips to two thirds their original length to increase fruit production while shaping your bushes. This helps improve fruit yield while creating shapelier bushes.

Late Winter

No matter the variety, moderate pruning from January to early March during dormant period can make all the difference between an inadequate harvest and one with abundant size and quality fruit production. This is particularly applicable for highbush cultivars which are the main commercial fruiting varieties in North America.

Begin by conducting a comprehensive inspection of your plant. Remove dead wood from last year, as well as any crossed branches and canes, in order to promote new, healthy growth while warding off disease. Keep the center open by pruning away dead branches; this allows airflow while discouraging pests like blueberry leaf curl virus from invading it.

Once established, remove any low-angled canes that extend near to the ground or over an aisle or walkway. Such canes are more likely to bend under the weight of ripening berries or touch the ground, leaving a trail of soil-filled raindrops behind, creating damp soil conditions ideal for fungal diseases to flourish. Also remove canes with low overall vigor such as those featuring few teardrop buds; doing this will allow only healthy canes to produce an abundant crop.

Once all old and crossing canes have been eliminated, select healthy, vigorous shoots for renewal pruning. This will enable your plant to thrive over the coming years and produce larger, higher quality berries – aim for at least three or five canes producing fruit every year.

As winter progresses, a blueberry bush will produce multiple new canes which will eventually bear fruits. As early flower buds of each year appear at the tips of canes that were new last season, you should thin these out to prevent excessive production of small fruits.

Ohio blueberry plants tend to produce blueberries at a faster rate, leading to biennial bearing. If your blueberry tends to overfruit, pruning it each year may help. Although this will reduce yield but increase quality and lower disease pressure.

Post-Harvest

Pruning old wood to promote regrowth and encourage new canes will ensure a prosperous harvest. Cultivated blueberry plants are upright deciduous multi-stem perennial shrubs that typically reach 6-8 feet (highbush and southern highbush) to 10-15 feet (rabbiteye). Annual pruning must take place to manage bush size, shape, fruit production and quality as well as remove dead, diseased or broken branches while controlling fruiting cane number, preventing overcropping and increasing berry size.

Pruning blueberry plants is best accomplished during late winter or early spring before they begin their growth cycle, though some varieties can also be pruned successfully during warmer, drier periods in summer if appropriate hand pruning steps are used. Here are a few steps that should help.

Clean the blueberry bush by trimming away dead or diseased growth as well as any cross or tangled branches, then thin out its center for air movement and light penetration based on variety and species; select three of the best new canes each year as the ones to retain.

After they produce their last crop in the fall of each year, it is best to remove any canes on a blueberry plant which have produced their harvest more than six years prior. Pruning older blueberry plants such as Blueray, Collins Earliblue or Coville varieties requires detailed pruning with older canes removed in order to increase overall berry quality on remaining canes.

Many people feel uneasy about cutting fruit buds off, but a strong blueberry bush should produce sufficient yields with minimal flowering. Remembering that the best berries come from stronger and healthiest canes is essential in producing plentiful yields with regular moderate prunings of highbush blueberry bushes – it results in healthier plants more resistant to disease and insects, plus increases productivity even with minimal prunings! If your blueberry bush still fails to produce decent yields even with such measures in place, consider reviewing its fertilizer program as soon as possible!

Early Spring

Blueberry bushes must be pruned annually in order to control their size, shape and productivity. While pruning may be emotionally taxing – with branches with fruit buds being removed often painful – proper pruning ensures you reap a high-quality crop each year and fosters vigorous new growth that will support the bush for many years.

Cut back any canes that are weak or damaged and any low branches that will touch the ground when loaded with fruit. If the plant has been injured by winter cold, mechanical causes or disease, remove unproductive canes (those which don’t produce much new growth each summer) as well as any crossing branches which rub against each other and any crossing branches which rub against one another and any suckers that sprout from underneath it all.

Pruning should take place as early as spring before blueberry plants begin their vigorous spring growth cycle. Dormant season pruning provides better visibility into the structure of the shrub, making for cleaner cuts with reduced risk of plant injury and easier distinction between flower bud and leaf bud blooming stages; you’ll also be able to more readily see their distinct colors more clearly during this phase of dormancy pruning.

After pruning old or unproductive canes, the remaining canes should be thinned by one third. By cutting back to an outward-facing branch with buds on it, this will encourage your bush to produce more fruit in less space and may help avoid becoming overbearing.

Keep in mind that each cultivar of highbush blueberry has its own individual growth characteristics. Some cultivars, like Duke or Blue Ray, feature upright canes while others, such as Nelson or Old Blue Eyes are more arching in form. You’ll need to observe which cultivars require more thinning than others and learn from experience how best to thin them out.

For this type of pruning work, loppers or hand pruners are an essential asset. Long-handled loppers are best used to trim older canes that have become woody and reddish brown in winter; otherwise a one-handed pruner should suffice.

Summer

Blueberry bushes need regular pruning in order to stay healthy and productive, producing abundant crops of flavorful ripe berries. Pruning should begin by cutting away diseased, broken or otherwise unhealthy branches before thinning out overcrowded bushes which obstruct airflow or sunlight penetration. Older bushes that have not been regularly pruned may need more severe cutting back in order to rejuvenate them.

Young blueberry plants typically do not require much pruning in their first two years after planting, except to remove any low-lying canes that have sprouted since last harvest or any spindly shoots that sprouted after fruiting stems were cut off last season. Subsequent years may see removal of older canes to foster vigorous summer shoot growth that will produce most of next season’s crop.

Pruning mature blueberry bushes is usually done to keep them at a manageable size for harvesting, spraying and other orchard practices, as well as to promote strong summer shoot growth. To produce high quality berries easier to pick, reduce their height one foot lower than where you intend on picking. Aim for main shoots from each bush producing approximately equal numbers of buds and flowers – this will produce maximum fruit from every bush!

Depending on the variety and your region’s windiness, consider staking blueberry bushes to prevent them from collapsing under their weight of fruit ripening and breaking apart. Staging also makes maintenance and harvest easier.

Proper watering of blueberry bushes is essential to their wellbeing, particularly during dry periods and when fruits are developing. Aim for one to two inches of rainfall or irrigation per week (ideally from rainfall alone), so that soil moisture remains evenly moist but not waterlogged. Water late in the day instead of early morning to reduce disease from fungal pathogens like botrytis cinerea (botrytis gray mold). Sanitize pruning tools regularly between cuts in order to limit spreading disease.