Blackberry in the Middle Strip - Planting and Care, BEST GRADES
Contents ✓
- ✓ 1. CHOOSE A PLOT FOR PLANTING A BLACKBERRY
- ✓ 2. PREPARING SOIL FOR PLANTING BLACKBERRY
- ✓ 3. CHOOSE BLACKBERRY VARIETY
- ✓ 4. FEED, TYPE, CUT TO BLACKBERRY
- ✓ Hiding a hedgehog in the winter
- ✓ VARIETIES FOR ANY TASTE
- ✓ WHAT IS RASPBERRY AND BLACKBERRY HYBRID?
- ✓ WHAT IS BLACK Raspberry?
- ✓ GROWING A BLACKBERRY - PLANTING AND CARE, TIPS AND FEEDBACK
- ✓ BLACKBERRY GROWING - VIDEO
CULTIVATION OF BLACKBERRY IN CENTRAL RUSSIA - PLANTING AND CARE, SUITABLE VARIETIES
Blackberries are still not very common in the ordinary Russian garden, although the latest achievements in breeding this culture are delighted. Be sure to pay attention to the blackberry! Choose a variety, provide agricultural technology, and this culture will surprise and delight you. Just don't confuse it with black raspberries or a raspberry-blackberry hybrid.
1. CHOOSE A PLOT FOR PLANTING A BLACKBERRY
Blackberry is a plant thermophilic and weakly winter-resistant.
In the middle lane, the optimal planting period is spring. The site should be low groundwater (2 m or more) and well lit. The plant also tolerates minor shading. Therefore, it can be planted near fruit trees with restrained growth and small crown size. Blackberries are less demanding on soil fertility than raspberries, but they yield good crops with a high level of agricultural technology on light soils rich in organic matter.
Badly drained carbonate (limestone) soils and soils with high acidity and excessive moisture are considered unsuitable for cultivating blackberries. The reaction of the soil solution must be slightly acidic or neutral (pH 6,5-7).
2. PREPARING SOIL FOR PLANTING BLACKBERRY
The landing site is being prepared in the fall: they dig the land deep. The best predecessors of blackberries are pumpkin crops, root crops. It is unacceptable to place plantings after potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, beans, since they have common diseases with blackberries.
In spring, 5-6 kg of rotted manure or compost, 100-150 g of superphosphate, 40-50 g of potash fertilizer are added to the pits. All fertilizers are thoroughly mixed with the soil, make a layer of the upper fertile layer, due to which nutrients are better absorbed and there is no root burn.
3. CHOOSE BLACKBERRY VARIETY
By its biological properties, blackberries are similar to raspberries: they also belong to semi-shrubs with straight, arched or creeping shoots. Forms with creeping, creeping stems are called dewdrops, with straight-headed ones - cumans.
Examples of creeping varieties include Thornless Evergreen, Black Dimond, Karaka Black, Black Pearl. Rare seed varieties - Polar, Navaho, Arapaho, Gaj, Orcan, Ruczaj, Asterina. Intermediate are semi-mature varieties such as Thomfree, Black Satin, Natchez, Smooth Steem, Loch Ness, Loch Tay, Loch Maree, Hull Thornless, Chester Thornless, Triple Crown. In creeping and half-grown varieties, the shoots are long, up to 6-7 m, in straight-growing shoots shorter, up to XNUMX m.
The best varieties and forms of blackberries are distinguished by higher productivity than raspberries, the abundance of ovary, large and tasty berries.
Rare plants are planted according to the scheme 3 × 2 m, creeping - 3 × 0,5-0,7 m.
See also: Blackberry: growing, useful and medicinal properties and yielding varieties of blackberry - Part 1
4. FEED, TYPE, CUT TO BLACKBERRY
The following spring, blackberries are fed with nitrogen fertilizers at the rate of 20-25 g of ammonium nitrate or 10-15 g of urea per 1 sq. Km. m. On soils rich in nutrients, organic and phosphorus-potash fertilizers are re-applied after 2-3 years, on the poor - every year.
Further care consists in installing trellis, gartering plants, cutting out stems that have prolificated. Weeding, watering - as needed.
Blackberry shoots, unlike raspberries, can live for more than 2 years, but blackberries are grown in a 2-year cycle, like raspberries. After fruiting, 2-year-old shoots are cut, and one-year shoots are left - they will yield a crop for next year. In principle, 2-year-old shoots can bear fruit the next year, but since they will give little fruit, they will thicken the bush and prevent the 1-year-old shoots from harvesting, there is no point in leaving them.
Blackberries, as already mentioned, can shoot up to 7 m long per season. Accordingly, this plant needs to be allocated enough space for growth and development. A novice gardener can solve the problem by cutting too long shoots, but this will deprive him of a significant part of the crop. It is better to let the shoot grow freely along the trellis, and then gently unfold in the opposite direction.
The trellis height can be arranged so that it is convenient to harvest - at the level of a raised hand. The simplest option is a flat trellis and the distribution of shoots on it in the shape of a fan.
When growing straight-growing varieties, the same trellis is used as for raspberries. A trellis consisting of 3-4 wires stretched with an interval of 30-50 cm is suitable. Replacement shoots are formed already in the summer of the year of planting. As they grow, they are tied to a wire.
In straight-growing forms, the optimal number of shoots per bush is 4-5 pieces, in dew-nickname - 5-8 pieces.
In one place, blackberries are grown for 8 years, but with a high level of agricultural technology, the period can be increased to 12 years.
Hiding a hedgehog in the winter
In most of Russia, blackberries require shelter for the winter, so it makes sense in the summer to bend 1-year-old shoots using staples. Then in the fall they will be easy to shelter.
For this, two layers of white covering material with a density of 60-100 g / sq are enough. m
Shelter no later than the second or third decade of November.
In spring, the shoots will need to be raised to the trellis.
See also: Blackberry: reproduction, planting, care and ways of growing blackberries. Part 2
VARIETIES FOR ANY TASTE
Thomfree (Thomfree) - the most famous variety, and in some ways serves as a "standard", it can be used to select other varieties (for example, by maturity). This is a variety with very large berries weighing 5-12 g. Shootless, half-creeping shoots, 2-3 m high. It blooms in the middle lane in the second half of June and early July. The first berries ripen in early August. They have a pleasant sweet and sour taste, suitable for many types of processing. The variety is characterized by increased resistance to anthracnose of leaves and shoots, rust, stem cancer.
Smooth Steem - a variety with an extended period of flowering and ripening. Shoots are tall, spineless. Subject to the main agricultural practices and obligatory shelter for the winter, it is able to produce 3-4 kg of large (up to 10 g) berries from the bush.
Karaka Black (Kagaka Black) is a very early ripening variety, the first berries can be picked a month earlier than Thornfrey. Berries have a special aroma, but sour.
Sweeter berries in the early varieties Natchez, Loch Tau (ripen at 3 weeks earlier than Thornfrey), in varieties of medium ripening period Polar, Arapaho, Asterina (ahead of Thornfrey at 2 weeks) and in varieties Triple Crown, Loch Ness, Navaho (ripen simultaneously with Thornfrey). A little later, the berries of the Chester Thornless variety begin to ripen, they also have a sweet taste.
All these varieties can be grown in central Russia and to the north, they manage to give back the crop, or at least most of it. If you like sour berries, plant the early varieties Orcan, Hull Thornless, Gaj, Smooth Steem, Black Satine.
In the southern regions (Volgograd, Rostov regions and to the south), later varieties can also be planted: for example. Prime Ark 45 is a remontant, with very sweet and large berries that literally sprinkle the bush, but the shoots have spikes, Reuben is also remontant, with small and rare spikes (which is very good for repair varieties) and large berries. Block Magic -remontant, fruitful from July to autumn, with huge sweet berries strewn with a bush.
WHAT IS RASPBERRY AND BLACKBERRY HYBRID?
Hybrids between raspberries and blackberries are good because they have an early ripening period, so it is quite appropriate to plant them in the northern regions of our country and in the middle lane. However, when compared with raspberries and blackberries, blackberries are much more productive than hybrids and raspberries, moreover, they are not affected by diseases and pests (or very rarely). Hybrid yields are lower than blackberries, but at about raspberry level, diseases and pests in hybrids and raspberries are also about the same.
On hearing varieties of raspberry-blackberry hybrids - Loganberry (Logan berry), Boysenberry, Guiberberry, Marionberry. Some of them are distinguished by very large berries (Texas, Tyberry, Loganberry, Thorless Loganberry, Boysenberry, Thornless Boysenberry), excellent taste (Boysenberry, Guiberberry). Raspberry-blackberry hybrids ripen early: the first (in early July) - Tiberberry, then - Loganberry, Texas, in late July - August, Boysenberry matures.
Thus, having various varieties, you can enjoy berries all summer and autumn. In areas with a short cool summer it is more advisable to grow hybrids or the earliest blackberry varieties.
See also: Diseases and pests of blackberries. Signs of a lack of fertilizers. Part 3.
WHAT IS BLACK Raspberry?
Aronia raspberry looks very similar to a blackberry. However, they are very easy to distinguish: black raspberry berries can be removed from twigs without a white sprout, and blackberries can only be removed with it.
The most popular black raspberry variety in Russian gardens is the old American Cumberland variety. But there are other varieties - for example. Corner, Turn, Luck.
The main differences between the aronia raspberry and the aronia rape familiar to us are the friendly ripening of berries, high drought tolerance, and the absence of root offspring.
Aronia raspberries are significantly superior in yield to many varieties of ordinary raspberries. During the ripening of berries, it is extremely decorative due to the scattering of black shiny berries.
GROWING A BLACKBERRY - PLANTING AND CARE, TIPS AND FEEDBACK
BLACKBERRY ON THE SITE: 4 RULES OF CARE
Bushes of thornless blackberries are less capricious in comparison with the same raspberries. Nevertheless, there are several important points in caring for this berry crop.
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Selecting a landing site
Only areas illuminated by the sun and protected from the cold wind are suitable.
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soil
Thornless blackberry prefers medium-loamy soil, rich in humus, with neutral acidity (pH - about 6, 5). Do not plant in an area where other varieties of raspberries and blackberries used to grow.
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Trimming
This is a must! After harvesting, I completely cut out the two-year-old branches that have borne fruit, as well as weak annuals and those that thicken the bush. No stumps! Otherwise, pests can start on them. I burn plant residues immediately after work. And I mulch the soil under each plant with peat (5-10 cm).
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Shelter
For the winter, I carefully bend the shoots to the ground and fix them with metal arcs. I cover with spruce branches (you can use spunbond). Later I throw in snow. Before the shelter, I do not process the above-ground part with "chemistry": the pests do not touch the bushes, and fungal diseases are rare, only during heavy rains. But who poses a real threat are mice. From them, I spread poisoned baits at the roots.
© Author: Nadezhda MARUEVA, Lugansk region.
BLACKBERRY GROWING - VIDEO
© Author: N. ALEKSEEVA, agronomist
Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"
- How to make a trellis for a blackberry - good advice (+ drawing)
- Growing garden blackberries - planting and care. Shelter for the winter
- How to grow a cover blackberry
- Loch Ness blackberry bushless - planting and care, my reviews
- Basic bugs when planting a blackberry
- Blackberry: growing, useful and medicinal properties and yielding varieties of blackberry - Part 1
- Blackberry varieties - reviews + convenient breeding method (Samara region)
- Care for the Blackberry Garden
- Blackberryless carelessness
- Blackberry: reproduction, planting, care and ways of growing blackberries. Part 2
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Altai blackberry
I ordered Agawam blackberries in an online store and planted in the brightest place in the fall. Buried on the root neck. I cut off all the shoots, leaving only stumps of 8-10 cm.
In spring, the plant woke up, sprouted and grew well all season. But in the following winters, even warm, not-bent blackberries froze, and when trying to bend, most of the stems broke at the base.
It turned out to collect very few berries, and they were tasteless, watery. Bushes due to improper planting were thickened and grew so much that they formed a continuous wall. Powerful shoots up to 3 m high hung over the garden path, spiked clothes with thorns, scratched the skin. They wanted to cut it down already. But one bush, growing outside the general row, was well lit by the sun and at the end of summer gave a decent harvest of berries of a pleasant taste. It was he who prompted how Agavam should be grown in our country.
Now I plant seedlings no closer than 1 m from each other in one row. Constantly remove excess growth. For the winter I leave 5-6 well-ripened stems in the bush. After the snow melts, I cut out part of the shoots again, leaving 2-3 in one bush. Feeding like raspberries. Propagate by root lignified offspring, transplant them in spring or autumn. But the main concern is to shelter for the winter.
In late autumn, along a series of bushes, I horizontally strengthen a solid pole at a height of 30 cm from the ground and 30-40 cm from the base of the bushes. I bend through it the arcuate stems collected in bunches of 5-6 pieces, pin them to the ground with wire hooks. I sprinkle dry tops of tomatoes, potatoes and other plant debris on non-bent bushes. They not only warm the blackberry, but also prevent the snow from waking up. He lays down on top with an even continuous blanket. After a good snowfall, I still pour snow on the plants and from the sides, I fall asleep so that the cold air does not enter the blackberry.
In particularly frosty winters, when the thermometer column dropped to minus 47 °, under a half-meter layer of snow, the blackberry wintered well and fruited normally in the summer.
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How to quickly cover a blackberry
With the onset of autumn cold, take care of winterizing the annual shoots of blackberries for winter.
The easiest option: remove these shoots from the trellis, lay them on the ground and secure with studs. Now it remains only to cover from above with any mulching material - spanbond, straw, peat, humus, sawdust.
Important! In spring, the bushes need to be opened before the kidneys swell strongly and formative pruning is performed.
It happens that the escape is difficult to tilt to the ground. In this case, tie a rope to its top, drive the stake into the row spacing, then, slowly pulling the rope, attach the end to the support as low as possible. Work carefully, even in several steps, so that the escape does not break.
Sometimes, for sheltering a blackberry for the winter, wooden shields and other structures are used, under which the plants do not vypryvat and do not freeze
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My family really loves blackberries. In caring for a plant, it is important to prune it properly.
In spring, a creeping species in spring (late April) shortens long fruit-bearing shoots by a third (leaving about 1,5-1,7 m of the aerial part). I cut the stems from which the tops have dried up to a living kidney.
I leave no more than 7 fruit-bearing shoots in the bush, and completely cut the rest. I tie the stems to the upper trellis wire. In the summer, I tie the growing young shoots to the lower wire.
After fruiting, I delete the “used” lashes.
In early spring blackberries, I cut the frozen shoots to a live bud and shorten the tops of the branches by 10 cm, from which I will harvest this year (I tie them to the trellis). At the beginning and end of summer, at the annual shoots I pinch the tops on 5 cm. Cut out the fruiting stems and burn them.