Highbush blueberries are normally planted at least 5 feet apart in rows 8 to 10 feet apart. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. If developing individual specimen plants give plants a 25 to 40 ft. Till the soil 8 to 12 in. If you are just getting started with blueberries, you can even prune budding branches when you first set your plants in the ground. Blueberry shoot growth from the crowns in early spring. Irrigation of young plants is especially important. When the bushes are mature after several years, remove older central canes and prune inward pointing laterals back to the main cane. Also, in the second season remove all or nearly all flower buds to help foster better plant establishment. Shoots new, scraggly growth that shows up quite often in the crown. Flower buds are readily visible during winter pruning, and it is tempting to leave too many. Prune blueberry plants about one-third of the distance to the ground, and remove branches that impede airflow. If the blueberry bush has become root-bound, you must trim the roots back before repotting it. Old canes to target for removal are larger and grayer in color, and are more likely to be covered with a fuzzy growth of foliose lichens. Do not over-fertilize; fertilizer damages young blueberries easily until they are established. Besides reducing plant height for ease of picking, the other major step to pruning mature rabbiteye blueberry plants is to remove one to three of the oldest canes each year. With basic tools, a little planning, and a bit of time and effort, your bushes will be in top form and ready for next seasons blueberry crop! Prune back the smallest twiggy branches to redirect the plants energy to larger and stronger canes. One season's growth renovated plants on left and unrenovated plants to the right, 40 year-old 'Jersey' blueberries. How & When to Prune Blueberry Bushes for Bountiful Berries Every Year At this stage of maturity, pruning blueberry plants annually when theyre dormant is the key to enjoying steady harvests from one year to the next. As with young blueberry plants, remove all weak and crossing branches. In this case, you will need to prune the bush more aggressively as the smaller root system wont be able to maintain the existing canes. New plants need different pruning and care than older, established plants. According to the USDA, demand for fresh blueberries has grown over the past decade, tripling to upwards of 1.5 pounds per person since 2005.Some blueberry bushes flourish better in warmer climates, such as the West Coast, the Southeast, and the Southern Hemisphere, but others progress better in places with cold winters, such as Michigan and Canada. May, June Apply mulch for growing season. She has worked in the field for over 40 years, and has been writing for 30 years. All About Gardening 2023 All Rights Reserved. Any damage to evergreens should be obvious in the form of brown foliage. This will encourage the bush to grow faster by not bearing a crop in the second year. The goal is to have a blueberry bush with an equal mix of old and new canes to ensure a good harvest. You will also need to place the rows 11 to 12 feet apart. You should aim to remove 20% of the crowns oldest canes each year when removing old canes. Apply wettable sulfur (90% S) if pH is above 5.3 for rabbiteye blueberries or 5.0 for highbush blueberries. A standard spacing for rabbiteye blueberries is 5 to 6 ft between plants in a row and 11 to 12 ft between rows. Here's How to Prune After the Freeze - Southern Living Blueberry - Wikipedia Then, among the remaining canes, start with the older ones and prune approximately two per year back either to strong laterals or to within 1 ft of the ground. I get conflicting information on the proper time to prune. Wear the gloves while pruning to protect your hands. If there are any parts of the plant that are dry, 'twiggy' or weak, prune these back so you are left with the healthy, fresh growth. Georgia Dawn: PP16756. You'll find out if they perform better in full sun, partial shade, or fully shaded garden areas. I learned how to preserve what we grew in our garden. Look for shriveled branches or discolored branches. . To apply, select a warmer day in the early spring, as the temperature helps bacteria decompose the sulfur. Adding fertilizer this early in the season gives the bushes plenty of time to absorb all of the nutrients. The ideal time is late winter, just before we come into spring. Blueberry plants should be spaced at least 3 to 5 feet or 6 to 8 feet apart, depending on individual variety requirement. Once you have selected the weakest, least desirable branches of the blueberry shrub, you can then move on to the next step. What remains is a narrower bush consisting of the most upright canes. The following teachable steps, in order, can be used at each bush to rapidly eliminate undesirable growth, selecting for flexible, upright, and productive canes. Prune interior crossing branches to admit light to the center of the plant. Suziblue has very large fruit as does Camellia. If you encourage them to produce fruit earlier, theyll be less productive in the following years. Keep 2-3 year-old plants healthy by removing broken, diseased, crossing, or spindly growth. Horticulture. When you're pruning your blueberry bush ensure to find the perfect balance of leaving a mix of old and new growth - only removing the parts of the plant that are overcrowded, dead or diseased. Recent updates, initiatives and programs from UGA Extension. 6 Best Fertilizers For Blueberries of 2023 - Average Person Gardening For most of us, this is sometime in February or March. Prune blueberries yearly for more fruit | OSU Extension Service