Pruning is definitely not one of my favorite garden activities, however it is essential for promoting plant growth. We have already touched on pruning tomato plants as well as pruning basil in previous post on this blog. There are many other plants and fruit trees in your garden that require a regular pruning every year. Let us look at how to prune blueberries, shall we?

Why prune your blueberry plants? This is the best way to encourage your plants to produce more blueberries. Remember to add new mulch as well as fertilizer after pruning. If you have access to used coffee grounds, you can mix it up and add a nice layer on the ground. A layer of manure is next followed by at least 5 inches of cedar, fir, pine or maple sawdust mulch.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• pruning shears
• used coffee grounds
• manure
• sawdust
• gloves (optional)

It is not recommended that you start pruning your blueberry bush until it is at least 2 years old and has managed to establish a stable root system. The best time to prune your bushes is when the fruit buds are visible, which in some areas can be smack dead in the middle of winter. Begin by removing all the dead branches.

Then identify middle branches that are not showing new growth. These are the ones you should target when pruning. Use your shears to cut right at the base of the branch, in order to promote new growth. Also remove any branches without fruit buds as well as those that are growing long and leggy with branches on the ends only. Any small shoots at the base of the plant should also be cut, this encourages upward growth of your blueberry bush.

You can get step by step instructions on the Melissa Knorris blog, here…

How To Prune Blueberries

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