Session
One:
Understanding the Blueberry Bush
When talking about
blueberry pruning it's important to understand some fundamental aspects
of the blueberry bush. First of all, the base of the bush is
called the crown. The crown is the point from which the canes or
the bearing part of the bush arise. Canes may come directly from
the crown or may arise off of an older cane. A young cane has smooth bark and is bright green, yellow or
reddish-yellow in color as shown on the right.
 As
canes age the bark becomes rougher and becomes a little bit lighter in
color. (Picture on the left)
The
picture below shows a grayish, rough bark which a cane of four or
five years old will develop.
Canes that are older
than five years are much less productive, and in pruning it is important
to remove these old canes to favor new canes.
The flower buds on a
highbush blueberry are formed on the shoots that grew last year.
Flower buds are rounded and plump, and are usually found near the tips
of the shoots. There is a direct relationship between the size of
the fruit that results from a flower bud and the diameter of the shoot
that it grows on. The most productive shoots on a blueberry bush
are those that are five years of age or less. 
One-year old shoots often have a large number of flower buds near the
tip (picture on right). These will be productive flower buds and
will produce large fruit. A three-year old shoot often branches
several times and many flower buds may form on the side branches.
As is the case with a one-year old shoot these will be productive flower
buds. Older shoots, around five years of age or older produce
growth at the top of the shoot that is very thin and twiggy. While
there are many buds on this thin, twiggy growth, they will not be
productive and the fruit that results from them will be small in size.
In the next session we
will discuss the steps in pruning.
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