I have three large blue berry bushes, that are about 8 ft. tall, they did not bear well at all this year, they are the birdeyes type, we live in south texas, they have always done great in the pass years, what type of fertilizer do they need, How can I bring them back to good health? Also I want to prune them and I heard somewhere that berrys bear on new growth, so should I prune them now?Thank you Tom

-- Tom texas (tkorsborn@cs.com), July 19, 2001

Answers

Tom,

Noe is the time to prune rabbiteye blueberries, if you prune them now they will have time to put on new growth. The new growth is where you are going to get your berries. We are pruning ours now in Mississppi, we have about five thousand bushes. They don't need much fertilizer, about one ounce per year of age up to eight ounces. I would split it up though. They don't like nitrate based fertilizers. Nitrates will kll them. We use fertilzer with ammonium sulfate instead of ammonium nitrate. They need alot of water, so water though well and often. I hope this helps.

Rick

-- Richard Arnold (Trickn7474@yahoo.com), July 20, 2001.