NOTICE 



An all day session for Fruit GrcT^ers operating roadside stands is being 

 arranged for Tuesday, February 28, 1956, at the College of Agriculture, Storrs, 

 Connecticut, by John Chandler of the Nev; York, New England Apple Institute, 

 Sixty people attended the lively meeting a year ago and it tias observed that the 

 meeting was worth several thousands of dollars to every grower attending. All 

 Fruit Grov/ers operating stands are welcome! 



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PRUMBTG CUT.TIVATED BLUEBERRIES 



Pruning is one of the most important operations in the successful production 

 01' large crops of highbush blueberries. 



The basic principles underlying the pruning of this crop are ao different 

 than those for other fruits. It is only the mechanics that differ. 



All the operations in fruit growing are aimed at producing more or better 

 fruit, or both. If the idea of "better" is limited by substituting the idea 

 "larger", it is seldom possible to obtain both objectives, that is to increase 

 both crop size and fruit size. It has been shoivn repeatedly for other fruits, such 

 as apples and peaches, that maximum crop size, or number of fruits, is obtained 

 at the expense of fruit size. Or conversely, that large fruit size can be obtain- 

 ed only by reducing the number of fruits, that is crop size, Highbush blueberries 

 are no different in this respect. The following statement is from a bulletin is- 

 sued by the Michigan Experiment Station in 19Uii: " the more severe the pruning 



given a mature highbush blueberry plant the greater the reduction in yield, the 

 larger the berries produced, and the earlier the maturity of the berries," 



There is the basic choice: light pruning to obtain maximum crop and late 

 maturity, or heavy pruning to obtain maxmum size and early maturity. Each 

 grower Tdll have to decide" vrhich best suits his ovm particular conditions or 

 whether some compromise is desirable. However, be \Tamed against going to extremes 

 in either direction. It doesn't follovir that if little pruning v;ill produce big 

 crops, no pruning will produce bigger. It may for a year or tvro but the end result 

 will be bushes weakened by over cropping, producing small crops of very small 

 berries. On the other hand, it is possible to overdo the pruning and cut out so 

 much bush that the crop is cut vinnecessarily vri-th no compensating increase in size. 

 After all, the maximum size of blueberries, as well as any other fruit, is set 

 by heredity. After this maximum is reached no amount of pruning, fertilizing, 

 or any other practice will increase size fiirther. In my opinion very few Mass- 

 achToeetts blueberry growers are over-pruning but many are pruning too little, 



Nov/ comes the much more difficult and controversial part of pruning, vfhat 

 to cut out and how to go about it. To do a good job of pruning requires both 

 good judgement and skill. Frequently, much more time is used deciding what to 

 cut than it takes to do the cutting. This demonstrates the necessity for the 

 training of judgement. No one can learn to do a good job of pruning by reading 

 a book or watching someone else. These are helpful, especially watching someone 

 with experience who vfill take the time to explain why each cut is made. This is 



