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Run away blue berries #876145

Asked July 06, 2024, 7:42 PM EDT

I have blue berry bushes 12 feet tall and loaded with blue berries. Most of the berries are to high to pick without some type of ladder. I am 83 years old and refuse to use a ladder. How can I prune the bushes back and maintain a crop for next year? The base of the plants have some "trunks" three inches in diameter.

Columbia County Oregon

Expert Response

Morrie: When you start heavy pruning on a blueberry bush, there will be several years before you get any fruit on the new shoots. So I would start on the ones that you can't get much fruit from, get them in shape, and then do the others in some logical sequence depending on their yield (ones that are the hardest to harvest go first).

Without seeing them, that is the best I can offer.  Cutting completely to the ground will produce a   a whole bunch of shoots. Keep the 5 to 6 best ones and remove the rest. 

You could try pruning them slightly higher but you will still need to limit the number of new shoots you keep. 

Here are some links that might help but there is little on  reviving bushes as tall as you have. Hope this helps. Chip Bubl. OSU Exgtension Agent/Columbia County (retired)  <personal data hidden>.  <personal data hidden>

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/revitalize_blueberries_with_renovation

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/restore-overgrown-highbush-blueberries-74560.html

https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/2069/2021/02/BROCHURE-Blueberry-Pruning-revised-2_6_2021.pdf

https://polk.extension.wisc.edu/files/2014/02/Blueberry-Pruning-Rejuvenation.pdf

https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/pick-pruners-and-head-blueberries



An Ask Extension Expert Replied July 11, 2024, 11:29 AM EDT
Thanks for responding.  When is best time to prune?

On Thursday, July 11, 2024 at 08:29:56 AM PDT, Ask Extension <<personal data hidden>> wrote:


The Question Asker Replied July 11, 2024, 8:20 PM EDT
Morrie: Though it is a bit unusual, I worked with a commercial blueberry grower that did her pruning right after the crop was done. I tried that on some of my own plants and it worked pretty well. That said, I wasn't taking them all the way or mostly down, but was taking out more than an annual pruning since I had let some go way too far. 

Winter, once they are dormant, is the traditional time. You could experiment. It is very hard to kill a blueberry plant. Chip
An Ask Extension Expert Replied July 11, 2024, 9:02 PM EDT

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