Garden blueberries, weakened after winter, need timely spring care. It consists of 3 mandatory stages: pruning, fertilizing and treatment against pests and fungal pathogens.
First spring preparations
With the arrival of spring, covering material is removed from the bushes. It is better to do this in the first half of March.
Then the tree trunk circle is cleaned, removing the old layer of mulch, plant debris and weed residues. After cleaning, this place can be mulched again using pine needles or high-moor acidic peat. Before laying the mulch, the top layer of soil is loosened.
If the tree trunk circle has not been mulched for the winter, then the ground can be dug up. This must be done with caution so as not to damage the root system of the bush.
Trimming
Before the start of sap flow and bud opening, spring formative pruning is carried out. Blueberries that were planted in open ground more than two years ago especially need it.
Pruning will give the bush the correct shape, promote active growth and abundant fruiting.
The procedure is carried out at temperatures above +5 °C. Usually, weak shoots and second-order branches that grow inside the bush are removed. Leave strong skeletal branches intact. Equally important for blueberries is sanitary pruning, which involves removing damaged and dry branches.
Fertilizer application
In spring, blueberries are fed 2 times.The first time is when the kidneys are swollen. Nitrogen fertilizer is applied to the soil: ammonium sulfate or ammonium nitrate. You can use complex nitroammophoska.
Repeated application of fertilizers occurs immediately after flowering. Potassium fertilizers are used: potassium magnesium, potassium nitrate.
Fertilizer in the form of a liquid solution is poured under the root. 2 hours before this, the soil should be watered.
Preventive actions
Before the buds open, after sanitary pruning, preventive spraying is carried out with solutions of insecticides and fungicides. Use 1% Bordeaux mixture. It is sprayed onto the bush and onto the soil in the tree trunk circle.
The next treatment is before flowering, during the formation of buds. The bushes are sprayed against pests with one of the ready-made insectoacaricide preparations: “Aktellik”, “Fufanon”, “Iskra M”. At the same time, re-treatment with Bordeaux mixture is carried out.
Consistently carried out measures will allow blueberries to gain strength before the fruiting period and will have a positive effect on yield.
