Growing blackberries - feeding and construction of trellises (Moscow region)
Contents ✓
BLACKBERRY IN MOSCOW REGION - GROWING AND CARE
If you feed the bushes according to a certain method, there is a chance to get rid of not only the hassle of watering and weeding, but also from heavy thoughts about how the plantings will winter alone.
No matter how lofty it may sound, but one of the attractions of my site is the blackberry. Its thorny (but rather picturesque) branches are abundantly decorated with large and sweet berries every year. They fill up quickly, changing their "immature" green color to black. First, the central berries ripen on the brushes - they are, as a rule, the largest and sweetest, and then all the rest.
BLACKBERRY IN MOSCOW REGION - LANDING AND CARE
And I made friends with this crop unexpectedly for myself: a neighbor shared the seedlings, giving in the spring several stiff cuttings. I planted them in a sunny place (my soil is loam). Iron sheets were dug around the future plantation, since blackberries grow well, and, if you do not take restrictive measures, can fill the entire site. And then he covered the ground around the seedlings with last year's dried grass. In the fall, they gave an increase, and the next year I installed garter supports near the bushes. Plants, feeling support, began to develop even more vigorously. They began to bear fruit abundantly in the third year.
Of course, caring for blackberries is not limited to this. For example, it responds very well to clipping. I usually cut the bushes in the fall.
Under the root I cut off the fruiting branches, new ones have already grown to replace them, and from the "youth" I remove all small and low shoots, leaving only the largest and strongest ones.
I also thin out the side shoots that have grown on the branches: of them I leave only those that will adjoin the trellis. As for the height of the bushes, I try not to let them rise above 1 m 80 cm, cutting off their tops. Otherwise, it will be difficult to prune and harvest, because blackberries are also very prickly, their sharp hefty thorns mercilessly dig into the skin. Therefore, even when harvesting cut branches, you have to be careful: I handle them separately, wearing thick mittens, and I transfer the folded pile of them to the place of subsequent disposal using two sticks.
See also: Blackberry in the Middle Strip - Planting and Care, BEST GRADES
FEEDING BLACKBERRY
I also do the main dressing in the fall. I will share a recipe for making a good organic fertilizer, which is actively responded not only to blackberries, but also to other garden crops. In early June, I cut soft grass with a sickle and put it in plastic garbage bags with a volume of 160 liters. When they are full, I tie them so that rainwater does not get inside, and I make small holes on the sides from bottom to top for air to enter. After that, I put the bags somewhere in the shade until autumn. By the end of the season, the contents of the bags decay, turning into a very greasy and viscous mass, similar to manure or silt.
Then I rake around the bushes all the caked remnants of mulch from weeds, straw, hay, thin branches and stems of flowers, sprinkle ash on the freed soil, spread a lot of bags over it and return the harvested organic matter to its place.
Of course, there is a small chance that mice can start under such a flooring, but the root system will survive the winter safely, despite any natural disasters.
And in the new season, I will not need to water the blackberries and fiddle with weeding, because the weeds cannot break through the flooring. Besides, decomposing, the flooring itself becomes an excellent additional feeding. I never cover the branches for the winter - if it happens that during a cold, snowless winter they freeze, new ones will quickly grow to replace them from the preserved underground buds.
There is another advantage of blackberries: I've never seen them get sick. Therefore, she also freed me from spraying. Does the blackberry have any other disadvantages besides its sharp thorns? Yes: overripe berries crumble very quickly.
I forgot to tell you about the design of the tapestries. I tie the branches to them in the spring. The pillars themselves consist of high poles driven into the ground along a strip of bushes at a distance of about 1,5 m from each other. They are fastened together with wooden beams in two threads: the uppermost one goes just below the level of the main crown, and the other one is closer to the ground, depending on the height of the side shoots on the branches left during the autumn pruning.
I also want to note that when bushes are propagated by layering, it often happens that instead of large branches, many small and low-growing ones appear. There are few berries on such bushes, and at the same time they are small. And no matter how you take care of the plants, nothing good will come of it. Why this is happening, I do not know, it remains only to remove such incomprehensible bushes. As for the name of the variety that grows with me, it is unknown to me. But this does not particularly upset me, because I am not alone in this situation. The harvest, as they say, is, and thanks for that. The neighbor, who shared the layering with me, said that he had information that his blackberry variety was bred by American breeders. True or not - who knows.
See also: How to cover a blackberry for the winter? (+ VIDEO)
BLACKBERRY SUPPLEMENTS - VIDEO
© Author: Nikolay Borisovich TALBYKIN. Moscow 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
- Cultivation of kumanik - planting and care, the difference from dew and garden blackberries
- 2 best blackberry varieties for the Midland
- Blackberry Garden: Planting and Care
- How to cover a blackberry for the winter? (+ VIDEO)
- Loch Ness blackberry bushless - planting and care, my reviews
- Blackberry: reproduction, planting, care and ways of growing blackberries. Part 2
- Blackberry in the Middle Strip - Planting and Care, BEST GRADES
- Care for the Blackberry Garden
- The best varieties of blackberry - photo, name and description
Subscribe to updates in our groups and share.
Let's be friends!
#
Зашел однажды к своему соседу и увидел, как он вкапывает столбы рядом с кустами смородины и крыжовника. Оказывается, он решил выращивать их на проволочной шпалере. Что ж, такой опыт не грех и перенять, тем более что кусты крыжовника у меня посажены как раз на одной линии буквально в полутора метрах друг от друга.
По обе стороны кустов я вкопал столбы высотой примерно 2 м на глубину 50 см. Между ними натянул проволоку: нижнюю — на высоте 30-40 см, среднюю — на высоте 70-80 см, верхнюю — на конце столбов (1,5 м от земли). Поскольку была ещеранняя весна, обрезал кусты. Оставил по четыре самых мощных ветки, которые привязал к нижней проволоке в виде веера, а затем направил их вертикально, подвязав к средней и верхней проволоке. Остальные ветки обрезал возле самой земли. Осенью, как и советовал сосед, отобрал из отросших побегов четыре самых сильных (остальные удалил) и привязал их к нижней проволоке, слегка укоротив. А следующей весной привязал их к средней и верхней проволоке, не укорачивая. Теперь и кусты хорошо проветриваются, и урожай собирать гораздо удобнее.
#
for more than one year the hostess of the dacha where we live has been growing blackberries. For the winter, the owners remove the branches from the trellis, carefully bend them to the ground, tie them with twine so that they do not rise, and cover the entire row with spunbond. In extreme cold, the plants are additionally covered with plastic wrap, and the edges are pressed with stones. When there is snow, throw it on the shelter.
In early spring, during thaws, blackberry bushes are aired, for which the ends of the shelter are opened. Sometimes they also ventilate in winter, when the sun is very hot, - periodically open one end for 2-5 minutes. In the spring, as soon as the positive temperature is established, the blackberries are opened, tied up, and frozen branches are cut out.
#
Blackberry Growing Secrets
1. I choose a sunny place for planting blackberries, protected from cold northern winds.
4. Immediately after flowering, I feed the plants with mullein infusion (1: 4-6), as well as ash (0,5 liters per bush).
2. I dig planting holes 30-40 cm deep, fill them with fertile soil mixed with humus (1: 1), ash (0,5 l), 100-150 g of superphosphate and 40-50 g of potash fertilizers.
Z. In early June, I pinch the shoots - lateral branches form on them, and the yield increases significantly.
5. If the weather is dry during the filling and ripening of berries, I definitely water the blackberries.
6. For the winter, I mulch the soil under the bushes with coniferous litter, cover it with spruce branches.
#
The hardest part about growing blackberries is covering them for the winter. As you know, the bush needs support - two poles and 3-4 rows of wire. It is easy to hang the whips on the wire and fasten them, but it is problematic to remove and lay the shoots on the ground: they can break. The best way out is the vertical shelter of the blackberry, when the lashes are not removed from the supports, but covered with non-woven material, like a blanket. At the same time, the bottom is insulated with sawdust and snow - this is how the plant endures winter with minor damage.
Julia SKORINOVA, landscape designer, Minsk