Yes, blueberries back bud in a manner very similar to Rhododendron and Azalea. Fruit growers begin pruning right after harvesting berries. Depending on time available, pruning can go on through the winter. New flower buds for next years bloom will form on new branches in July and August. The branches that will develop the most flower buds are at least 4 years old, For fruit you prune to have as much wood as possible between 4 and 15 years old. Older branches slowly decline.
The root system of a blueberry will live a century or more. Branches come up from the roots as a whip the first year. Flower buds are usually larger terminal buds. Occasionally lateral buds will flower, but normally the terminal is the main flowering point. Each year brings more ramification of the original "whip" like branch coming up from the ground. Somewhere between 20 and 50 years the branch becomes senile and fades away. Each year a healthy blueberry should send up several "whips" from the roots if it is healthy. This habit defines them as a shrub rather than as a tree,
Pruning for fruit production keeps the blueberry looking like a "shrub" in that you want dozens of branches (canes) shooting straight up from the ground, hopefully tall enough you don't have to bend over too much to pick the berries. The reason I only planted highbush blueberries, no hands and knees picking for me.
Pruning for bonsai you will want to keep just one to three branches (trunks) for as long as possible, allowing new to develop only when its clear your oldest trunk is "aging out" which might happen around 40 years or so.
In pots blueberries seem to need a deeper pot than for example a maple, and would be a bad choice for root over rock styles. The roots MUST have water available, they are not drought tolerant, but they do not like to be too wet either. Yes, their habitat includes bogs, but most blueberry farms in Michigan are on slopes of very sandy soil. The soils are always moist, but are not ponding except maybe in late winter and early spring. Staghorn sumac, and red oak tend to be common indicator plants that the soil is acidic enough. In pots equal parts fir bark and Canadian peat moss blend as the base. To this base add either perlite or pumice to "lighten the mix". Top dress about 15 ml powdered sulfur per 4 liters of media blend to knock down pH if you have more than 120 ppm calcium carbonate in your irrigation water. They do require an "organic" media, they do not do particularly well in pure Kanuma or pure Akadama. A mix of akadama-pumic-lava will kill them in time. They are dependent on certain mycorrhiza, believed to be endo-mycorrhiza but soil microbe research is difficult. Use a fir bark - peat blend to give the mycorrhiza something to eat.
Again for fruit production blueberries need more than 6 hours of direct sun. Full sun in northern climates. Some shade in southern climates. Highbush varieties flower buds are hardy to -18 F and vegetative buds are hardy to -25 F. So for northern highbush types, winter protection is trivial.
Insects can be a problem. Seek out early maturing fruit for your growing area. Key is to have your fruit ripen before Spotted Winged Fruit Fly populations get high enough to find and attack your fruit. We grew 'Duke', 'Sweetheart' and the latest maturing was 'Bluecrop' all were done being harvested before end of July. By August in Michigan, SWFF was so bad any fruit left was quickly reduced to mush as soon as it started turning blue. Blue attracted the fruit fly. By having early varieties we were able to operate as "No Spray Organic", a big cost saving and a value add on.
Absolute best flavor blueberry? 'Bluecrop' is my favorite, and 'Elizabeth' is a close second. The 'Elizabeth' is not the best for commercial use, but the flavor is exquisite.
