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There are several steps in pruning a mature blueberry bush.  The first step involves the use of loppers.  Keep in mind that the oldest canes are less productive.  Remove, one, two, or possibly three of these oldest canes.  Generally these canes would be removed to the ground; however, if a new, young cane arises from the older cane and we wish to save it we can remove the old cane back to that point.  By removing the old canes you will have opened up the structure of the bush.

The next step involves the use of our hand pruners.  Keeping  in mind that one of the goals of proper pruning is to position the fruiting zone for most efficient harvest, you will need to remove all the shoots which are weak and growing from below the knees.  When pruning one- or two-year old blueberry bushes the goal is to develop the bearing framework of the bush.  Favor two, three or four upright, vigorous growing shoots, and remove weak, twiggy growth.

We now turn our attention to the shoots that grew last year.  Keep in mind that we want a mixture of canes of different age in a bush.  An ideal bush will have approximately the same number of canes that are one-year, two-year, three-year, four-year, and five-years old.  An average bush should have around twenty canes, which translates into about four canes of each age group.  Examine the canes that grew last year, and select the four strongest canes to save for our current season's crop of canes.  Each cane should have reached near the top of the bush in one year's growth, which is a good sign of vigor.  Remove unneeded extra canes.  Also remember that the good canes to save are not those thin, willowy canes which are going to fall down in the row middle during the harvest season, so selectively remove those as well.

The next step in pruning a mature blueberry is opening up the center part of the bush.  This step will reduce conditions that favor disease, and will also thin out flower buds, encouraging larger fruit size in those buds that remain.  Often removing one or two fairly good-sized pieces of the bush will greatly open up the center part of the plant.  Now turn attention to thinning out the growth that has flower buds near the top.  This step can be time consuming.  Speed up the process by using your hands to break off many of these small, twiggy shoots.  Some shoots will require the pruners.  Favor the flower buds on thick, productive wood and remove thin, twiggy wood.

Again, remember the major points in pruning a mature blueberry bush.  An unpruned bush has older, less-productive canes, too much growth in the center part of the bush, and a lot of growth near the base of the bush.  When pruning a bush, first thin out the older, less-productive canes,  remove the low growing wood, thin out the central part of the bush, and thin the flower buds near the top of the bush.