Care for the Blackberry Garden
How to care for blackberries in the garden - planting and pruning
Recently, a real boom with growing blackberry garden has started.
At the same time, many for some reason are sure that it is necessary to take care of it the same way as for raspberries. And who told them that ?!
To begin with, I made a lot of mistakes when neighbors shared with me the blackberry layers.
I was sure that she and raspberries are the same, only berries of different colors. She took it and planted the blackberry directly to the raspberry bushes. I imagined how beautiful everything would look during the ripening season.
It was not there! In fact, it turned out that these two very similar "sisters" are blooming and ripening at different times.
Raspberries has long since plated, and the blackberry is still in bloom. Furthermore! It turned out that they grow quite differently: the first forms a bush, and the second in all directions creeps.
In short, I had to look for a separate place for the blackberry. And when she excavated, she noticed that her roots go to the ground much deeper than raspberries. That's when I realized why, even without regular watering, the blackberry harvest is much larger.
Blackberry Brown - Trimmed
Blackberry landed along the fence on the sunny side. This is very important, because those bushes, which in the former place fell into the shade, the berries gave small and not juicy. Planted in the holes on a previously deeply digging site. In each I added river sand, a little humus, a mashed egg shell and poured a solution of potassium permanganate to disinfect the soil (this is how my nearest neighbor always does, and he's a gardener from God!). The blackberry seedlings are well established, went into growth. It would seem that you can not think of anything better, but you had to tinker with big branches.
I already said that the blackberry is able to grow up to 3 meters, and the branches should be directed so that there is no complete disruption.
I dug up columns about 1,5 m high and made an ordinary cord braid in 3 rows: the lower one is almost above the ground, and the middle and upper ones are approximately the same distance from it.
This braid holds the branches of the blackberry and does not allow them to grow wherever they please. As far as the growth of the tops I constantly correct the branches, even unravel, when they are overflowing.
Like raspberries, blackberries love moisture. To keep it after watering as long as possible, fall asleep under the plants of ordinary sawdust. From time to time, they rake their reeds so they do not cake and let in air.
Blackberry trim
And the blackberry likes annual pruning. Berries appear only on branches of the second year, therefore it is necessary to cut out the old ones constantly, which have been fertilized.
They are very easy to recognize by color - they are brownish-violet in her (in raspberries, by the way, they turn straw-red, stiff, with a peeling top layer of the bark).
I cut these stems directly under the root, I do not even leave the stems. And I'm not afraid, if after cutting my planting will be thin. On the roots and raspberries, and blackberries a large number of embryonic kidneys, which the next year will rampantly grow. Pruning is usually done in the autumn, before the onset of frost. I choose for this a nice day, when nothing interferes with working in the fresh air.
See also: Blackberry - Planting and Care Part 1 и Part 2
In addition to pruning, I trim also the upper parts of the branches for about 10 cm. For winter, raspberries and blackberries are covered, although I saw that in some suburban areas the treated bushes hibernate without shelter. But I think that there is no need for extra risk. The branches of raspberries and blackberries are so flexible that it is not difficult to bend them to the ground and tie them into bundles, and the layer
snow will save them from freezing. For greater confidence (especially if the Hydrometeorological Center frightens frosts), you can hide the crooked planting with burlap, old mats, but in no way a greenhouse film! Under it, condensation forms, which only harms plants.
In the spring, after removing the covering material, I let the landings to breathe and move away from hibernation: I do not water, I do not loosen. I start watering under the root when green buds appear. Here it is necessary to start a full-fledged care of plantings: feed, repair the braid, check if there are diseased branches.
Heavy hedges and delicious blackberry tea
And everything will go its own way: flowering, ripening berries, harvesting. Despite the external similarity of fruits, raspberries and blackberries are completely different. The first berries are easily removed from the peduncle, and the second is not removed at all. Well, do not, and so delicious! Raspberry ripens already at the end of June, and the blackberry all the summer makes itself wait.
But then the bushes are covered with so many berries that you are simply amazed! They ripen gradually, but very quickly: yesterday there were 2-3 things, and in the morning - not to count. Usually the first crop is the most plentiful, then the fruits are smaller, but stubbornly ripen until mid-September.
Blackberry has practically no pests, except that the birds are satisfied. Raspberry is often affected by a crimson fly, the larvae of which can cause significant damage to the crop.
These flies are afraid of a sharp smell, and I plant dill or mint with melissa next to raspberries.
When the raspberry blossoms, the twigs of these plants are ground and sprinkled with raspberry leaves. Of course, this is not a panacea, but it helps.
Reference by topic: Useful properties of blackberries and berry varieties
If planting raspberries and blackberries do not throw to the mercy of fate, then in addition to an abundant harvest, you will also get magnificent hedges. My blackberry has become so strong that it closes the fence almost completely.
For the winter I make raspberry jam, make raspberry compotes, but only dry the blackberries. Excellent tea with blackberries grown and harvested in your garden - what could be tastier? I tried to add it to the pies - no, it does not fit, the taste is lost. You can, of course, make blackberry jam, but somehow I’m already used to tea.
Here they are, my favorites - raspberries and blackberries - similar, but different.
© T. Kudryashova. Kostroma Region
Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"
- My scheme (attached) for pruning blackberries in the AUTUMN - proven and very good
- Blackberry: reproduction, planting, care and ways of growing blackberries. Part 2
- Propagation of blackberry “heels” - photo
- Growing blackberries in the Moscow region - planting and care, varieties
- The best varieties of blackberry - photo, name and description
- Blackberries from the tops of the shoots - my reviews
- Growing blackberries in the Middle lane - planting and care (Ryazan)
- Why do blackberries not ripen berries?
- Blackberry without thorns - Karaka Black variety (photo): planting and care
- Growing blackberries - feeding and construction of trellises (Moscow region)
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I want to share how, by trial and error, we managed to achieve a stable harvest of blackberries.
This culture easily tolerates drought, which is associated with a deep location of the roots. Of course, you need to water the blackberry, especially during the ripening period of the berries, but do not pour it - the berry will begin to deteriorate and will be sour.
The blackberry is demanding to heat, in the open sun it grows better and gives larger and sweet berries than in the shade.
Plant a blackberry better 8 protected from the wind area. Strong wind breaks off the fruit branches, injures and knocks berries.
In the autumn, I cut off the bushes, remove the old and sick ones. For the winter, bushes are better sheltered, and the roots are insulated with mulch material (peat, humus, sawdust). So you save plants from frost. The weight-
To get a good harvest of blackberries, you need to make fertilizing, but remember that excess nitrogen can lead to disease with gray rot and reduce the winter hardiness of bushes.
The bushes need to be opened until the buds become swollen, cut off and raised to the trellis. A good result is the early spring mulching of the soil with compost.
We made a high fence-put up posts, welded iron rods to them and let the blackberry branches through them. In the second year after planting bushes, the blackberry began to bear fruit.
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I decided to describe my successful experience in rooting blackberry cuttings. I used to put cuttings in the water in the autumn-winter period and just waited for the appearance of rootlets. Rooting did not always happen, in half the cases, the efforts were vain. But interestingly, when the roots appeared, they were located not in the place of the lower cut, but at the top of the cuttings.
I began to wonder how others root the blackberry cuttings, and found a rather troublesome way:
The hilt of the cut should be buried and the bottom placed in water. Although rooting in this case always occurs. Thinking, I decided to simplify this method. And that's what I did.
Sliced cuttings of blackberry length 20 cm with 3-4 eyes and lower cuts put them in jars. Water in each poured a little, at about 3-4 cm. The upper cuts of cuttings with kidneys placed in bags with moist soil. I first poured the soil with water with fertilizer (infusion of chicken manure with the addition of EM). The package was cut into strips, laid on the ground and wrapped the cuttings so that the earth was snug against the tops of the cuttings. Then she also wrapped them in pieces
fabric, thus fixing cellophane tape with the ground. And so put in the water. About ten days later the roots appeared, but I did not remove the packages for another couple of weeks. In the water with cuttings I once poured the infusion of crushed egg shell.
As a result, when she removed the bandages from the cuttings, they already had a lot of rootlets. Further it is already easier: we plant the rooted cuttings in pots with the ground and send them to the sunny windowsill. For better survival, I covered the cuttings with jars for a week. And in the spring she already planted excellent saplings in the garden. I just managed to duplicate my favorite blackberry. And I wish you successful experiments and harvests!