Use these tips for pruning blueberry bushes to keep your plants healthy and productive.
Blueberries are among the easiest, tastiestfruits you’ve got the option to grow in your backyard.
These multi-stemmed, deciduous shrubs grow to different heights depending on the key in.
Credit: Robert Cardillo
Blueberries produce their best fruit on growth from the previous season (one year old wood).
Older stems produce less fruit and its usually smaller.
When Should You Prune Blueberries?
Pruning should be done while the plants are dormant.
This could be any time after leaf drop to late winter.
However, many growers, particularly incolder regions, prefer to wait until late winter.
Mostblueberry plantsdont need to be cut back at all at planting time.
However, if they have weak or broken stems, these should be removed.
Tools for Pruning Blueberries
Hand pruners are good for most cuts.
But for older, larger branches youll need loppers that can cut stems two inches in diameter.
Always make clean cuts without tearing the bark, and try not to leave any stumps.
If you encourage them to produce fruit earlier, theyll be less productive in the following years.
Three- to four-year-old plants should have reached sufficient size to start bearing respectable crops.
As with young blueberry plants, remove all weak and crossing branches.
Cut taller stems to the height you desire, making the cut just above a bud or side stem.
Plants that have been neglected can be resurrected, but they will need serious renewal pruning.
This involves removing all dead, diseased wood, crossing stems, and low hanging branches.
Cut the old canes back to the ground.
Look for and remove suckers that may have sprouted some distance from the main plant.
Unlike other types of blueberries, lowbush varieties can be mowed to the ground.
The plant quickly regenerates the following season, but it will take two years after mowing to bear fruit.
The result is easier harvesting ofbigger and better berries.
