Cut blueberries once a year - tutorial with instructions

Content

• Cut blueberries once a year - tutorial with instructions
• Cutting types and dates
• foray
• Bilberries north of the Alps cut better in February
• Educate blueberries properly
• Tips
• Instructions for conservation cut
• background
• To promote young fruit wood - Instructions for the derivation cut
• Rejuvenate old blueberry bush
• frequently asked Questions
• Are blueberries self-fertile?
• How long does it take for a freshly planted blueberry to bear fruit for the first time?
• On my balcony I would like to grow blueberries. Which variety is suitable? How big should the pot be?
• My three blueberry bushes carry only a few, measly fruits. As a cause, I suspect an inappropriate location. When and how can I transplant the berry bushes?
• Many branches of my two-year-old blueberry are withered at the tips and have brown leaves. What are the causes? What can I do?
• The 3 most common cut defects
• Tips

Blueberries are best cut in winter

Cut blueberries once a year - tutorial with instructions

In the lean, acidic heath garden soil and half-shady moorland, blueberries should not be missing. With their pretty flowers, the decorative berry bushes set colorful accents in the spring garden. The real attraction is the juicy, blue berries, fresh from the bush, as well as a delicious ingredient for cold and hot dishes. An annual pruning is the key to a rich harvest of tasty blueberries. When and how to cut your blueberry shrubs properly, you can read here.

Cutting types and dates

An annual pruning of blueberries is not obligatory. Unlike raspberries or blackberries, you can easily grow wild blueberries (Vaccinium myrtillus) and blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum). Grab it, meanwhile once a year to scissors, the effort is rewarded with a higher crop yield and larger blueberries. An overview of recommended types of cuts and the best possible date is given in the following table:

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Bilberries north of the Alps cut better in February

With a cut in February you make the best choice for your blueberry. In winter-mild regions of winter hardiness zones 7, 8 and higher, there is the option of blending the berry bush immediately after harvest. For winter-gray regions of winter hardiness zones 6 and 5, an autumnal date is associated with the risk that a naturally hardy blueberry will freeze to a great extent. It can not be excluded that the plant exhales freshly after the cut, which significantly affects their natural frost hardiness.

Educate blueberries properly

With 5 to 8 floor drives A blueberry bush is well placed for a rich harvest with large, juicy fruits. A scaffolding with more than 10 bottom shoots also gives you delicious blueberries. However, you must expect that the fruits are small and juicy. We therefore recommend the following sectioning from the planting year to the beginning of the yield phase in the second or third year. How to proceed expertly:

It is undoubtedly difficult to remove the flowers in the first two years and thus to renounce a juicy blueberry harvest. Nevertheless, we recommend getting through to this intervention for growth. As a result, the berry bush invests all its energy in a strong rooting and a healthy, profitable growth.

Tips

Too deep planting takes your blueberries the life courage. Place the root ball so that it protrudes from the substrate about two fingers wide. Cover the exposed root area with bark mulch or foliage compost, which may be up to 20 centimeters thick in an autumn planting, as a natural winter protection.

Instructions for conservation cut

An annual Conservation Section continues in modified form what you have initiated with education. The aim of the cut care is the continuous rejuvenationby replacing older ground shoots against young wood. If, with increasing age, shoot tips develop unfavorable brooms, a skilled derivation cut will help. How to properly cut established blueberries:

From one continuous rejuvenation benefits the entire blueberry bush. Every year, the oldest scaffold drive makes room for a young bottom shoot, while promoting the growth of young, one-year-old side branches as the most valuable fruit wood. At the same time, in later years, you will not be forced to place an outmoded blueberry on the hive and, as a result, to forego delicious blueberries from their own harvest for several years.

Starting with the fourth year of operation, you will be firing an older ground gear. In exchange, you use a young shoot as a fresh scaffolding component. If shoot tips massively ramify, use the drain to slash the broom down to a lower side shoot.

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To promote young fruit wood - Instructions for the derivation cut

The thickest and sweetest blueberries thrive on the annual bushes on the shrubbery. So that old, worn branches do not shade the young fruit wood or deprive them of important nutrients, a derivation cut clears the way. Old wood can be recognized from highly branched, drooping growth and gray-brown, barky bark. Look for a young runner with a green, smooth bark along the old shoot. At the crotch of young and old wood put on pruning shears. The figure below illustrates the important cutting technique that is crucial for all fruit trees.

In the derivation cut, old, worn-out wood must soften so that young fruit wood can develop freely.

Rejuvenate old blueberry bush

Blueberries can reach a proud age of up to 40 years. So much concentrated vitality it easily survives, if over a few years, the cut care was missed. If you have taken over an old blueberry shrub, you bring new momentum to growth with a powerful rejuvenation cut. This is how it works:

After a total reduction, a blueberry bush remembers its "iron reserve". Specifically, these are sleeping eyes that sleep almost invisibly under the gray, barky bark. By radically shortening the berry bush, the dormant buds are revitalized. In combination with a good portion of foliage compost and horn shavings, a fresh shoot sets in, which you can use for a rebuild.

You can revitalize a old, old blueberry bush with a rejuvenation cut. Cut all shoots back to 30 centimeters in late winter. From the sleeping eyes, the trees are vigorous in the following summer.

frequently asked Questions

Are blueberries self-fertile?

That's the way it is. A blueberry bush will bear fruit without any nearby species. Nevertheless, it is highly recommended to socialize at least two blueberries. This not only increases the yield. By locating the early-ripening variety 'Earlyblue' alongside the mid-early variety 'Bluecrop' and the late blueberry 'Gold Grape', the harvest window will be open longer.

How long does it take for a freshly planted blueberry to bear fruit for the first time?

As a rule, young blueberries produce their first fruits in the second or third year after planting. The yield is significantly improved right from the start, if you plant several varieties in the garden.

On my balcony I would like to grow blueberries. Which variety is suitable? How big should the pot be?

All blueberry varieties love a place in partial shade. For the west or east balcony or in a shaded niche on the south balcony you have thus the free choice. A bucket of at least 10 liters is big enough to grow blueberries. Please be sure to use a slightly acid substrate, such as rhododendron or peat soil.

My three blueberry bushes carry only a few, measly fruits. As a cause, I suspect an inappropriate location. When and how can I transplant the berry bushes?

Blueberries favor a sunny to partially shaded and not too hot location. A humus-rich, permeable garden soil with a pH of 4.0 to 5.0 is perfectly suitable. The best time to relocate is in the fall after dropping the leaves. Pierce the root ball in a radius that is at least half of the shrub perimeter. At the new location, ideally prepare the planting pit with peat soil or a mix of foliage compost, sand and loam, and a handful of horn shavings.

Many branches of my two-year-old blueberry are withered at the tips and have brown leaves. What are the causes? What can I do?

The diagnosis of the described damage pattern is difficult without taking a look at the shrub. The following causes should be taken into account: waterlogging, too high a pH value (greater than 5.5), compacted soil, dryness. If one of the three first-mentioned triggers applies, we recommend cutting back the blueberry shrub into healthy wood and replanting or exchanging the soil. Dryness helps regular watering with soft rainwater.

The 3 most common cut defects

When cutting blueberries joy and sorrow are close together. A pruning at the wrong time dampens the joy of harvesting as well as a faulty cut. So you do not have to worry about unnecessary problems with blueberry bushes, the following table draws attention to the three most common cutting errors and gives tips for skilful prevention:

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Tips

Blueberries have one Aversion to lime in any form. Plant the berry bushes in acid soil with a pH between 4 and 5. In order to prevent lime from accumulating in the soil, please always pour the thirsty blueberries with rainwater or well-stale tap water.