Pruning my blueberry bushes

It's February, but there's still some summer in my freezer and cabinets in the form of frozen blueberries and blueberry jam.  After several years of diminished crops due to the depredations of winter moth, 2017 was one of the most productive blueberry seasons in the 20 years I've been growing them. A big thanks to the folks from U Mass.  and the USDA who released a predatory insect that targets winter moth in my neighborhood!
I was also able to harvest more berries because of the grape koolaid spray I used to deter the birds ( I got this great hack from a U Mass. newsletter.  One packet unsweetened grape powder to one quart of water, spray to dripping, repeat after rain).
Picking all those berries was not easy, largely because I have neglected  winter pruning my oldest bushes for at least 5 years. This led to shrubs so tall I had to stand on the top rung of a 5 foot ladder to  pick some of the biggest, juiciest berries, as well as so tangled with growth lower down that reaching through them for fruit in the back was difficult and left me scratched or my clothes ripped. I promised myself in July that I'd clean up the bushes this winter, and this week I followed through.
Pruning older blueberry bushes should be done between January and March, when they are dormant. I pruned half of my main crop (12 bushes of classic New England selections, including Patriot and Bluecrop) last Monday.
First I broke off all the dead twiggy bits by hand. Next I tackled the older, thick branches, removing about 25%, selecting any that were crossed and rubbing, then those branches that seemed least vigorous (had the fewest fat buds). Finally I cut the tallest branches down to about five feet.
To finish up I spread about a cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer around the root area of each shrub, then mulched over the fertilizer with an inch of fresh wood mulch, courtesy of a neighbor who culled some trees this winter.
Here are some pictures:

Berries ripening in July!

The brush pile from pruning 6 plants.

After pruning.

Unpruned Bushes -- to do next week!