Blueberry Pruning
teiganberry
Posts: 1
in Fruit & veg
Hi!
I hope that someone here can help me. I live in Australia and have 2 blueberry bushes which I actually don't know the variety of.
My question is that one of them has a cane that is taller than the others but has only has leaves and flowers at the very top. The rest of the cane is bare. Does this mean it is unproductive? Does it need to be pruned off?
I'm obviously very new to this. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
0
Posts
That's a very young plant and eventually you want all of the stems as tall as that one. However, as all of the existing stems have flowers, leave it as it is for now. In winter, remove up to a third of the thinnest weak spindly stems by cutting them right back to the ground. This will encourage new vigorous stems to sprout from the base and it is those which will produce the best crop in coming years. At the same time, prune off any dead twiggy branch tips which carried the previous crop of fruit. Remember to use an ericaceous feed designed for acid loving plants about once a fortnight from the time the flowers open until the fruit has ripened.
In a few years, remove one or two of the oldest stems right back to the base each winter which will, again, encourage new strong growth and this will keep the bush productive.
Last edited: 30 September 2017 10:51:37