Principles of pruning the highbush blueberry nc state. To handle potential diseases and pests, reference the guidelines below to know what you should spray, and when you should use it. This type of pruning is usually done with hand loppers, pneumatic loppers, or pruning saws. You may wish to delay pruning until after the buds open, because the thorny thicket of an unpruned bush will be more of a deterrent to birds that feed on. Cutting back the tops of the plants puts less stress on the root system as the bush heals from transplanting damage. Come back every week for our latest tips on what to do in your. As the rhizomes spread, a unique clone, a group of stems with the same genetic makeup, is produced. When the bushes are mature after several years, remove older central canes and prune inward pointing laterals back to the main cane.
Prune in winter to encourage good growth in spring and summer. The same bush after pruning one growing season after two seasons, most bushes may be allowed to bear a small crop one to two pints per bush. On small, less vigorous plants, weak growth and all flower buds should be removed figures 2a, b. Remove all flower buds and cut stems back by 50% the first year plants are set out. This will allow plants to direct energy into root and stem growth, resulting in healthier, more productive plants in future years. The main reason late winter pruning is recommended is to avoid making the bush susceptible to injury. Low bush blueberries are low growing bushes with plentiful small fruit and are the hardiest while midheight varieties are taller and a little less hardy. For trimming blueberry bushes, you should remove any lower growth to prevent fruits from settling on the ground. Here, markus kobelt shows you how to prune a wide range of different plants in different seasons. How to transplant blueberry bushes blueberries like acidic soil with a ph of 4. Pruning controls the crop to increase fruit quality. Pruning blueberry bushes in the home garden ohioline. Delaware cooperative extension associate scientist emmalea ernest demonstrates how to prune blueberries.
The fungus lives in the blueberry plant for many years. The first year is a critical time for the establishment of a new blueberry bush. If your soil is only slightly acid, you can try acidifying it to lower the ph to the. Blueberries should be pruned during the winter while the bushes are dormant.
Follow these easy step by step instructions on how to prune blueberries and properly amend the soil for quality growth. Remove crossing stems and any crossing or particularly spindlylooking branches. Pruning highbush blueberries university of vermont. Learn how to prune highbush blueberry bushes with tonya lordy, manager of the home orchard society arboretum. Remove all flowers the first year to encourage more growth. Two to four inches of mulch, once a year, will help regulate moisture and keep weeds at bay. Fruit of the blueberry is borne on wood produced in the previous season oneyearold wood. Instead, they depend entirely on a fungus that acts as root hairs for the plant. The main objective is to open up the centre of the bush to allow more light or air movement, with stems ranging in age from one to four years old. Yet many blueberry growers fail to prune in a timely fashion, while other growers, or their workers, prune the plants without fully understanding what they are trying to. These fields have been developed from native plants that occur naturally in the understory of the forest. For a complete background on how to grow blueberry plants, we recommend starting from the beginning. But the pruning really isnt complicated, and with a few special considerations for your southern location, youll be prepared and confident to do the job and establish a healthy, wellshaped and productive grove of blueberry bushes.
Garden guides how to prune blueberry bushes in mississippi. Pruning blueberry plants in florida 2 air circulation, and light and spray penetration. Correct pruning will help your plants become healthier, more productive, and help them live longer. Japanese blueberry care guide tree care moon valley nurseries. If its too tall, it will be difficult to harvest the blueberries.
You also prune to keep the bush under control, as you dont want it to be too tall. No matter which type of blueberry bushes you have, they all need yearly pruning to manage their height and shape. Regular pruning of blueberry bushes is important to keep them from becoming overgrown and unproductive. Blueberry bushes are actually quite forgiving and will give lovely fruit with minimal care and an occasional whack. Markus kobelt and the swiss gardening shop lubera wish you happy gardening. Oklahoma gardening host kim toscano is joined by osu fruit crop extension specialist dr.
These spores are carried by wind and infect nearby blueberry plants. If planting a hedgerow, space 56 feet apart with rows 1012 feet apart. Blueberry bush transplanting learn when and how to. Pruning should be done every year, beginning at the time plants are set. Growing wisdom garden videos will help you with all your gardening needs. Blueberries have a shallow, spreading root system and suckers can sprout up some distance from. Then remove any low branches that will touch the ground when fruitladen. Pruning is an important part of proper edible plant care, but many people find the task overwhelming. Avoid common mistakes pruning a blueberry bush duration. Pruning blueberry bushes and proper blueberry bush care can help yield not only a larger harvest but also larger, juicier berries.
Learn how to prune a highbush blueberry bush, with tonia lordy of the home orchard society. The initial response to pruning is the production of new vigorous steams that grow. Fertilize with an acid fertilizer when the buds appear in early spring, and then again once the fruit is established. Gardentalk pruning blueberries, holly and junipers, and. You can have confidence in knowing that not everyone will prune the exact same way even the experts. After the third year, a mature cultivated blueberry plant has 1518 canes which originate from the crown. Elderberries need little to no pruning their first two years. Prune newly planted blueberry bushes back to about a foot in height. Choose a site in the garden with the appropriate soil ph or amend the soil with 1 cubic foot of peat moss and 1 cubic foot 28 l. Blueberry bushes do well in the long growing season of mississippi, but pruning fruitbearing bushes often seems to intimidate new gardeners. Each spring, spores are produced on the blueberry witches.
Pruning highbush blueberries by vern grubinger vegetable and berry specialist pruning is essential to maintaining a productive planting of highbush blueberries over time. In north carolina, this translates to february or early march. Spraying is important to the survival of your plants. If you can grow azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias in your garden, blueberries should be successful too.
Pruning a young tree can help train it to grow with an attractive shape. Each clone within a field is distinct from all others. How to restore overgrown highbush blueberries home. Because of the pruning practices employed, only half of. Weekly news article from lsu agcenter county agent kenny sharpe. To get the most from your bushes, its really important to give them a prune each year do it in february or march, before the plant gets busy growing. If blueberry bushes are not pruned back every year, they can overproduce in one year. Young blueberry bushes are usually planted in late winter while fully dormant and leafless.
When pruning blueberries, youll want to allow light to penetrate the center of the plant. Blueberry bush pruning cooperative extension at highmoor. Rabbiteye blueberry plants do not produce the root hairs that are needed to take up water and nutrients. Here are the steps in properly prune blueberry bushes. Commercial pruning is possible because the blueberry can tolerate removal of above ground plant parts. The thicker and laterdeveloping shoots tend to produce fewer fruit buds than those which stop growing earlier in the season.
Mail this article print this article read articles about. It is best for your plant to do some pruning versus no pruning. The best time to prune a mature gooseberry bush is in late winter or early spring when the plant is dormant, just before the vigorous growth of spring when healing will be quick. The recommended time to prune your blueberry bushes is during their dormant period in late winter. Correct pruning will help your plants become healthier, more productive and longer living. During the first year, flower buds are removed by pruning, or by stripping off flowers by hand after the blooms emerge. Blueberries need a sheltered site in welldrained, moistureretentive, acidic soil ph 4. The most common blueberry bushes are highbush and southern highbush, which can grow from 6 to 8 feet tall.
That can lead to the bushes only producing fruit every other year. Japanese blueberry trees can be grown in tree and shrub forms. In winter, flower buds are easily visible on oneyearold wood and their numbers. Pruning blueberry bushes each year will keep plants shorter, healthier and more productive. He gives a few tips on pruning and on fertilization of blueberry bushes. If planting bushes individually, place plants for cross pollination no more than 10 feet apart. Pruning is in order for the overgrown blueberry plants and the best time to prune is right after harvest. Pruning blueberry plants with osu master gardeners youtube. Refer to figures 2 and 3 for the types of the canes that need to be removed. Hence, blueberry pruning is a constant renewal process where older canes are removed to encourage new, strong and more upright growth. Cut back the tops of bareroot plants by half while the roots are establishing. Training young blueberry bushes by pruning them regularly during the first two years promotes proper. With a little care, your blueberry plants will continue to produce abundant crops of delicious, healthy blueberries for many years. Heavy pruning causes thicker and more leafy shoots than light pruning.
How to prune fruit trees the right way every time duration. Pruning during plant establishment the general rule is to remove to 12 of the top of young blueberry plants when transplanting them to the field fig. Tips on how to prune your blueberry plant from osu master gardeners. Blueberries, fruits and berries, july blueberry series, pruning. Most blueberry bushes grown in home landscapes are upright, multistemmed deciduous bushes. Pruning rabbiteye blueberries north carolina cooperative. Photo by matt millerktoo last weeks segment on pruning sparked a. Read about pruning elderberry plants in this stark bros growing guide article. Lockwood, professor, plant sciences originally developed by alvin rutledge, professor retired plant and soil science proper pruning practices in blueberries are important to maximize yields and quality throughout the life of the planting. Be it roses, or blackberry bushes, in summer or in winter, we know what to do, when and how to do it. However, growing blueberry plants in gardens and on farms is a relatively recent occurrence, since. How to prune a blueberry bush for a larger harvest duration. High bush is the least hardy of the three, although as mentioned, there are recent introductions of this type suitable for cold hardy blueberry plants.
Since the fruit grows on the previous years wood, in those trees the fruit is way out of reach and very difficult to harvest. That would be january through march depending on where you live. This means any crisscrossing branches should be removed to. Remove side shoots, leaving only the strong vertical canes. You can buy potted blueberry bushes now and get to pruning. The fungus grows into the bark of the blueberry plants. This means any crisscrossing branches should be removed to allow for more sunlight and better air circulation. Raspberry and blueberry plants are just starting to bud in a north douglas yard in this photo taken late april 2020. Watch this short film to learn how to prune highbush blueberry bushes with tonia lordy, manager of the home orchard society arboretum. Lighter pruning may be sufficient for containergrown stock.