To rejuvinate the bush, each year, you need to remove 20% of the canes by pruning them off AT THE CROWN.
So, look at the oldest woodiest canes and prune them off. New canes will grow from the crown this coming spring.
Then each year eliminate 20% of the canes so that you wind up with a 5 year renewal cycle.
Of course, you need to keep it fed correctly.
Mike
I found this webinar from MSU to be useful. The discussion about fertilization, particularly N, comes in ~ minute 52. Blueberries - Beginning Farmer Webinar Series
I also know the CSU (Colorado State Extension) did a lengthy video on blueberries. The big things they mentioned were dry winds can ruin your crop and ways to maintain the PH. Idk where I heard it but I hear that blueberries max out at 6 years because that is when the bark gets too old.
Perhaps that is why, I have seen people suggest that after a few years one removes the oldest few canes every year. That way there would not be much older than 5 years or so.
Was it perhaps this?
It was.
One should never use nitrate, ever. Super bad advice. It will kill them. A little is OK, they have very limited nitrate receptors. What happens is the plant will absorb the nitrate but receptors for breakdown are limited, and the plant soon dies of too much nitrogen. Unable to process all the incoming nitrates.
I myself use Hollytone and Peter’s acid fertilizer. I like Peter’s because it has all the micro nutrients needed. When pH is low I use Miracle Grow acid fertilizer. It contains Urea which does not change pH by much. The other form on nitrogen they like is ammonium. So use ammonium or urea and never nitrates. Ammonium lowers pH as sulfuric acid is released when ammonium breaks down. I have seen where constant use can lower pH too much (below 3.5). So one needs to monitor pH. I use commercial grade pH testing strips of plastic.
For each branch yes. Blueberries with pruning should be productive for 50 years. Yes prune out older canes. Same with many berry shrubs such as currants.
Brady I stand corrected. I believe I read about ammonium nitrate which I guess is a completely different thing. Chemistry wasn’t my focus area in school but I definitely need to educate myself on which fertilizers will help specific plants to grow.
That’s cool,I’m learning too.
The most important factor in growing blueberry is the drainage. All blueberry needs is good drainage and a couple inches of good compost mulch. I also spread some sulfur (for plants), but have not used it for the past a couple of years. I’d also spread a cup of slow release organic fertilizer like garden-tone or so in spring time.
The mature blueberry bush needs to be renewed each year. Find the oldest cane and cut it down to the ground. I’ll renew about 1/5 of them. So for one with 10 canes, I’ll cut down 2 of them and train two new canes.
Sometimes mature plants send suckers several inches away from the crown. I was able to save two large suckers with very good roots. Another was too brittle to save. Too close to the crown.
I did our Jersey last season. I only left 1 or 2 canes on all of them and they grew huge new canes…healthy blueberry plants can regenerate new growth very easily.
By ‘save’ do you mean you cut out the sucker and grew it in a new spot? I have seen a number of such suckers out of my Duke, but have never attempted to harvest one. What do you do to pull that off?
You have to make sure that the sucker can be separated safely with pieces of roots. Some suckers are just branches that come out of the crown and you can’t separate it with roots. Then that will fail.
I guess I have to learn more, hope this is all.
You may be getting that confused with Ammonium Sulfate, which is a safe nitrogen source for blueberries and will lower pH, which many people need.
It’s fun, and yes we are all still learning. I killed 5 blueberry plants so far.
I was happy about it as I figured out why. I hate when I lose a plant and don’t know what I did wrong? I lost two from having too low a pH. After killing them from high pH you usually will lose the next ones from a low pH. What happened to me. Live and learn! Sulfur amounts is not always easy. And you won’t know for a year or so!
As far as I know, with our natural soil slightly acidic, mature plants do not really require sulfur every year. When the plants are young, they may turn yellow. I lose some plants due to poor drainage, not because of PH.
Great! I just follow you. I don’t know what and how you do things, I just hang around you. The guys on these B/B posts are also experience, they have some nice looking tree’s WITH berries.