Forum home Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Blueberry pruning of any sort?

What do you do with blueberry bushes at this time of year please? I need to repot mine into a bigger pot with fresh ericaceous. I can see a couple of dark brown unproductive stems that look dead that I guess I should take out? Don’t do anything else or do you just leave them to do their own thing each year please? 

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    edited September 2023
    In winter I cut out 1 or 2 of the oldest stems completely.
    I find the the berries on the older stems are much smaller than those on younger stems.
    This encourages new shoots to appear the following year, which will produce berries the year after.
    So it does mean there are fewer berries to pick for a year, but the year after there should be plenty on the new stems.
    I have 3 plants so I only remove old stems from 1 or maybe 2 bushes at a time.

    I also cut back some of the really long dangly stems, as when berries form on them, they usually end up on the ground.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Thanks @Pete.8 that is really helpful. I only have one bush that gets to around 2ft high. Not sure if the variety as it was another Lidl special a few years ago! My friend has one in the ground - not sure where she bought hers but its about 5ft tall 
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Different varieties will get to different heights.
    If you can get another bush the cross-pollination that will occur will improve the yield on both bushes.
    Mine are in their 6th year.
    One is about 2ft the other 2 about about 4ft

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Sign In or Register to comment.