I've thinned my blueberries. I've taken a few smaller berries out of each clusters. It's helped the remaining berries to size up well.

However, this year, a couple of bushes set berries too well. Berries are on almost every branches, many on small twigs that have no leaves!!!

Do you take ALL those berries on twigs that have no leaves out?

I know there are a lot of experienced blueberry growers here. I'd like to hear from all if you thin your blueberries and if you do, how do you do it. Thank you.

Mine are all pruned now since harvest is done. I took off about half of the big shoots and 70-80% of the small shoots. So basically I'm growing a whole new canopy. I'll do more pruning in winter as stated above. I'll take out and shorten the smallest shoots that set fruit buds. The goal is a moderate set of big berries.

Those of us in the south that have a long season after harvest play a different game than northern growers who harvest late into summer.

PS: You ask about the twigs with berries and no leaves. I'm wanting more of those provided they are thick twigs with big berries. I'm not totally sure how to get more of those shoots. To me they are half vegetative and half fruit. I think they are forced by pruning the year before.

If they are small twigs with small berries cut them out. Even if big with big berries there must be enough leaves elsewhere to support the berries. Leaf to berry ratio needs to be high to get large sweet fruit.

I'm not sure how much the quality would be improved by thinning as they get quite sweet when left to fully ripen. My thinking is that picking smaller berries only shortens your harvest season- those are the later ripening fruit. The earlier ripening fruit tends to be bigger when ripe as the plants kind of peter out towards the end of their harvest but one of the best things about blueberries is the long steady harvest. Of course, you could probably say the same about apples and peaches- the smaller fruit probably formed later and would ripen later so it might be a good idea to leave some when thinning.

If you thin, I suggest you do it experimentally on just a few of the canes on any given plant and let us know how much it improves the fruit. I, for one, am curious.

It is a great year for blueberries in the northeast- I've never seen my plants with a heavier set. At least it is potentially a great year.

RM

Most of my blue are about 5 years old. I have early, mid and late season varieties. They are healthy but not tall. After 5 years, most are about 3.5 ft tall.

The different approach I have done this year is to prune some old canes out in early spring and fertilize them with ammonium sulfate. After reading your input, I think I do not prune enough and not as often as I should.

The no-leave twigs I have are all skinny ones. Looks like I need to prune them (both twigs and berries on them) all off.

I will try to experiment with thinning to see if it'll increase fruit quality. I can do that on my Chandler since I have two of them. Not sure if I could trust my taste buds, though. I will enlist other family members to taste them.

Thank you again for giving me a lot of good ideas. .

Most years, the birds got the berries before I did. Last year was the first time I netted the bushes. Of the varieties I grow, I like Chandler the best for its size and taste. But again, taste is subjective.

1. I see you have all the berries grouping. Is that for the purpose of netting, a protection from birds? - Good Idea!

2. I see raised bed in the picture. Is that to contain the raspberry from creeping everywhere into uninvited location?

I only have 2 raspberry last year but now I have over 10 clones and very worry about its persistency, creeping all over everywhere. I also have a row of strawberry, growing in another location. And, I just bought 4 blueberry this year! Your picture sort of giving me the idea that I should group them together for easy protection! Can you show a few more pictures of your set up? Thanks.