Promoting good bush health. Learn about the parts of the blueberry bush. Be able to recognize young canes and older canes. A blueberry bush should have an equal number of canes of one, two, three, four and five years of age. Learn about flower buds and learn that the best fruiting wood is the thickest wood.
Older canes are less productive and produce smaller berries.
The importance of preventing the spread of diseases through your pruning practices. Disinfect your pruning shears between bushes and disinfect them within a bush if you have a problem with stem blight. When pruning young young blueberry bushes that the goal is to develop a strong bush framework, which includes removing the fruit or the flower clusters for the first two years. When pruning mature bushes your overall goal is to balance fruit production and the production of new fruiting wood.