How to Prune Blueberry Bushes
This post is a quick and valuable lesson in pruning blueberry bushes.
Growing blueberries is a fun and easy way to get fresh fruit and nutrients into your diet. This super food is one of my favorites and I can’t wait for all of these bushes to mature. Monrovia sponsored our blueberry garden for 2016 but the opinions and advice are my own. I have been extremely happy with the plants so far. You can read earlier in this series about all the different kinds of plants they gave me, but this article is all about the blueberry care. Today we are demonstrating how to prune blueberry bushes.
First of all, the goal in trimming the blueberry bush is to open it up for sun and good air circulation. Proper trimming or pruning will result in healthier plants that produce more fruit for you. Blueberries, like most fruit plants, overproduce fruit and require some trimming. So what do we trim?!
Start by trimming the following:
- Broken branches
- Diseased branches
- crossing branches
Aim to remove between 1/3 and 1/2 of the branches on the bush. The most important thing is that the roots of the bush are healthy. If they are healthy, they will push out plenty of new growth.
The shape you are trying to achieve is a narrow base with a wide, open top that allows sun and air to penetrate the entire plant.
Hello blueberry bush #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA
For more information on growing blueberries, visit our series page here and don’t forget to look for Monrovia blueberry bushes at your local nursery!
If you are following along with your blueberry garden, I took a couple of pictures of our plants so you can see what they look like after their first winter in the ground.
