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The delicious blackberry comes from the wild. Breeders have bred many cultivars, but they do not grow the crop on an industrial scale in the Russian open spaces. The plant settled in the homesteads of summer residents and in private gardens. The process of growing blackberries is easy, within the power of a novice gardener.
Garden blackberries in the wild are thorny shrubs with long stems and black raspberry-like berries. Breeders have developed many cultivated varieties. A studless and remontant blackberry appeared with a creeping as well as an erect type of bush.
The taste of the cultivated berry was quickly appreciated by summer residents. Blackberries began to grow in suburban areas. Supports are installed for the plant to simplify harvesting and caring for the bush. Summer residents propagate the culture with purchased seedlings. More experienced gardeners have learned how to get new plants from cuttings. It can be propagated by seeds, but the process is complex and does not always bring results.
Attention! More information about the rules for growing blackberries can be found in the article.
Choosing the right place for growing blackberries is the key to a rich harvest. The plant loves space. Scourges grow long, branched root, going deep into the ground. Thanks to this structure of the root system, blackberries can do without watering for a long time, taking moisture from the ground.
The site for growing is selected by the number of bushes. Depending on the variety, an interval of up to 2 m is maintained between the plants. An important condition for growing a crop is the illumination of the site by the sun. According to the structure of the bush, the culture is divided into two types:
The bush variety is considered the most finicky to care for. Kumanika loves fertile loamy soil or sandy loam. Rosyanka is capable of bearing fruit well on heavy soils. The plant does not like only stagnant moisture. A low content of nutrients in the soil will affect poor harvest and shrub growth. You need to feed the plant annually.
You can grow blackberries with an apple tree in the neighborhood. You cannot place a plant near strawberries and strawberries. Raspberries are considered a good neighbor, but both crops have the same pests and diseases. Here the gardener must make his own decision. If there is not enough space on the site, then you can plant the blackberries next to the raspberries.
Important! Blackberries prefer neutral acidity soil.
You can visually determine the quality of the soil by the plants growing on the site. The presence of moss, sorrel or horsetail indicates a high acidity. About 500 g of dolomite flour should be added to the ground per 1 m 2.
To grow blackberries in the Urals, it is necessary to have specially bred cold-resistant varieties. The most popular are:
Cultivation of crops in the Urals follows standard rules. Only the timing of planting seedlings differs. The procedure begins after warming up the soil around mid-May.
In Siberia, it can be grown suitable for the Urals. However, there are varieties that are more adapted to cold climates. The following varieties are considered the most popular:
Saplings are planted in Siberia from mid-May. During the summer, the plant has time to take root. The first harvest can be expected next year.
Blackberries can be propagated in different ways, but each variety has its own preferences. Erect bushes produce many root suckers. They are propagated by the top or side shoots. Bush remontant varieties prefer dividing the bush. Reproduction takes place by root buds.
A weaving bush from cuttings allows you to get a lot of new seedlings. The breeding process involves the following steps:
Up to 5 new seedlings grow from one layer.
Important! The use of cuttings for reproduction of blackberries reduces the yield of the next year, since future fruiting branches of the bush are buried in the ground.
Reproduction of garden blackberries by cuttings
Any kind of blackberry can be propagated by cuttings. The method is considered universal. It consists of the following actions:
You can get blackberry seedlings from cuttings cut in spring. This should be done before bud break.
Even green cuttings cut from a bush in summer are suitable for breeding blackberries:
Attention! Cuttings cannot be cut parallel to the petiole of the underlying leaf. The optimum cutting angle is 45o.
Reproduction of blackberries by green cuttings is considered a complex process. About 10% of the seedlings grow out of the total.
The method of propagation of blackberries by root cuttings allows you to get guaranteed up to 70% of seedlings. The procedure can be done in spring and autumn. Root cuttings are cut 10 cm long, 1.5 mm thick.
An adult bush is dug in from different sides. After the separation of the root cuttings, the pits are buried. In spring, pieces of roots are laid out on the ground, covered with fertile loose soil up to 3 cm thick, watered. After germination, young seedlings are planted in a permanent place.
If root cuttings are harvested in the fall, they are put in a bag. Storage takes place in a refrigerator or cellar at temperatures from +2 to +5 o C. Cuttings begin to germinate in February in flower pots.
The video shows the process of propagation of blackberries by root cuttings:
Benefits can be found from young shoots of blackberries. Reproduction by offspring can be done until July. Usually, the shoots grow remotely from the bush at a distance of 30 cm. When the offspring grows at least 10 cm in height, it is dug out together with a lump of earth and planted in another place.
Attention! When digging up offspring, the main root cannot be pulled from an adult bush. It is cut off with a secateurs or chopped off with a shovel bayonet.
The breeding method works well for weaving varieties. The long lashes of the plant practically take root by themselves in the place where they come into contact with the ground. For forced rooting, starting from the third decade of July and ending with the first decade of August, the tops of the annual lashes of the bush are bent to the ground, hilling the upper 15 cm. In a month, roots will appear, new young shoots will grow. For the winter they are covered with spruce branches, and in the spring they are separated from the bush and planted in another place.
The method for propagating blackberries with tops is shown in the video:
The blackberry seed is very small. If you look at it in section under a microscope, you can see the structure of the nut. Due to the dense shell, the seeds germinate poorly. In production, to destroy the shell of grain, they are scarified or soaked for 20 minutes in sulfuric acid.
At home, you can try to get blackberry seedlings from seeds as follows:
After the blackberry seedlings have four leaves, the plants are planted in the garden.
The considered methods are suitable for reproduction: by seeds, tops, green or lignified cuttings. However, there is another way - with air layering. On an adult bush, the vaccination site is wrapped with foil. There should be earth under the bandage. Moistening the soil is done with a syringe, piercing the film. A month after the appearance of cuttings with roots, they are separated from the blackberry bush and planted in a permanent place.
Blackberry care involves watering. This is done infrequently, as the soil dries out. Young bushes are watered with 7 liters of water. It is advisable to do mulching with peat.
At least once a season, the plant is fed with mineral complexes. When using fertilizers individually, adhere to the following dosage:
Of the organic fertilizers for the plant, dry mullein is used as mulch. Humus or compost will do.
Important! Blackberries rarely get sick, but it is better to treat young seedlings with preventive drugs.
Plant care involves the installation of a trellis. The structure consists of two-meter pillars with 3-4 rows of wire stretched between them.
To form a blackberry bush, fruiting shoots that have reached a length of 1.2 m are shortened by 10 cm.The lateral shoots of the plant are cut off when a length of 50 cm is reached.
On hot sunny days, blackberry plantations are shaded. For the winter, after pruning, the bushes are bent to the ground, covered with spruce branches or non-woven material.
The main pruning of an adult blackberry bush is done in the fall. All fertile branches are removed from the plant. 6-8 shoots of the current year are left on the bush. They will bear fruit next season. Re-pruning of the bush is carried out in the spring, removing all damaged and weak stems.
The process of growing blackberries in the country is very exciting. In addition, with a good result, the gardener receives a large harvest of healthy and tasty berries.
A semi-shrub from the Pink family from the Rubus genus has long been known to gardeners, which is actively cultivated in summer cottages and backyards. Bushes are distinguished by varieties of blackberries and by the presence and absence of thorns, which greatly complicate the pruning of this prickly culture. Recently, hybrid varieties of blackberries without thorny thorns, as a rule, with large sweet fruits, have become widespread. These varieties greatly facilitate all care activities for them: from planting to preparation for winter storage with.
In addition, the difference is in the spreading and erect stems, although both need supports (stakes or trellises). Caring for any variety of blackberries is not difficult, but the list of primary measures includes the correct autumn pruning and its correction in the spring.
No one cuts only the wild-growing blackberry, but in this form it grows in impassable clumps. The berries are like this, if it is nestled in a lighted place, smaller in size, but it is not inferior in taste and aroma to the garden one. Only to collect it because of the prickly density is a big hunt!
Caring for blackberries, as well as for raspberries, has both general measures, and purely blackberries, and it is precisely pruning in this matter that is almost the main thing - the health of the plant, and the quality with the amount of harvest, with the size and saturation of the color of the blackberry drupe, directly depends on it.
In addition, with proper autumn pruning, the root is strengthened and the whole bush is strengthened. Autumn pruning of bushes preceding the useful for all types of blackberries - winter-hardy and non-hardy. In both cases, this is the path to a healthy plant and a rich harvest, especially since there is nothing difficult and impossible with such a shelter - only desire, awareness of the importance of the matter and time are needed.
Considering that this pruning takes place in the fall before winter, it is she who prepares the plant, and helps it to successfully overwinter, as well as begin to develop correctly in the spring, it will give strong and healthy shoots. In addition, blackberry is a semi-shrub with a two-year cycle of stem development: in the first summer, young shoots grow into whips, ripening, lignify.
In the second summer, these mature whips are covered with large white inflorescences, form a fruit ovary and give their delicious black drupes from July to August. The crop is harvested - two-year-old whips that have borne fruit are no longer needed. They should be constantly cut at the root. Otherwise, the bushes will thicken, weaken them so much that young shoots may not have time to form and even shaded berries will be less sweet.
A very important condition when pruning is taking into account the characteristics of erect and creeping shrubs and their varieties - the approach to them should be different.
Excessive presence of old wood due to shading of the middle stems reduces the frost resistance of the plant. Such bushes are difficult to form for winter shelter. In addition, pruning of young lashes stimulates their flowering in the new season, and pruning itself leads to rationing of the crop. This, in turn, contributes to its complete and timely ripening and again enhances the power of the bush as a whole.
Experienced and even novice gardeners have an idea of the varieties of blackberries they have chosen or are planning to buy for new plantings. The task seems to be that in our case they should be considered precisely from the point of view of their pruning for the winter.
More than 300 known varieties of garden blackberry are complex interspecific hybrids and are divided into groups:
In culture, there are also raspberry-blackberry hybrids - the result of crossing related plants. These hybrids are creeping dwarf shrubs with thorny stems, but thornless clones are also found. Their cultivation is the same as Rosyanika. Rosyanka, semi-creeping Blackberry and raspberry-blackberry hybrids are varieties of low winter hardiness and need timely in regions with long frosty winters.
Pruning blackberries in the fall is the most important stage in preparing their bushes for winter shelter. It is best to prune in autumn in the second half of September, when the crop is completely removed. Shoots that bore fruit in the past season, unreliable shoots and extra branches are cut out.
Prune the shoots left for fruiting for the next season slightly to stimulate future lateral shoots. Cut the wood at the root, leaving no stumps, which can become a source of putrid flora and a wintering place for harmful insects.
Correct pruning of all varieties of blackberries for the winter is the most important condition for a future rich harvest of its full-fledged fruits.
We grow stems of creeping varieties of Rosyaniki to a maximum length or at least 2 meters, if it becomes necessary to shorten them.
Experienced gardeners hardly need our guidance, and we hope that it will be quite useful for novice blackberry growers. Consider step by step appropriate and timely measures for pruning blackberries for the winter.
You should not be afraid to cut out extra shoots on a blackberry - its bushes have great vegetative strength. For him, thickening due to uncut last year's fruitful lashes is much more harmful.
It is very important to make the correct shaping of kumanik and mildew bushes in a timely manner, even in the spring, so that autumn pruning for the winter becomes productive and not so cumbersome, in the spring it is necessary to correctly form both erect varieties and creeping ones, but each in its own way.
Erect blackberry Immediately in the spring, it should be formed on a trellis support in a fan-like manner: overwintered, difficult-to-bend shoots are raised and tied vertically, placing them in the middle, and young shoots should be tied on both sides to the lower wire so that they grow horizontally.
In the fall, it will only be necessary to cut out the middle, fruiting stems at the root, and the lateral stems remain only in that bent state to which they got used to over the summer, leaving 8-10 of them the strongest. Remove the rest at the root without hemp. The stems left for wintering should be shortened, try, as their flexibility permits, pinned to the ground as low as possible and covered in a way that is safe for plants and in a way convenient for you.
In the spring, remove the shelter, wait for the temperature at which the stems warm up and become flexible enough to lift them in the center of the bush and fix them in an upright position, and young shoots - on both sides on the lower wire of the trellis. And so it is necessary to alternate in spring and autumn in order to maintain the fanning position of the bush, which is convenient in all respects for the gardener.
Creeping varieties of garden blackberry are less hardy and cut differently. Although the creeping shoots are more flexible in comparison with the erect blackberry, it is rather difficult to remove and distribute its ten-meter stalks pricking with thorns.
On such a blackberry, it will be correct to leave 8-10 young stems for future fruiting in the spring, without waiting for their many-meter stem. This saves the strength of the bush for fruiting, wood and other branches, although during the summer it is necessary to periodically cut off the emerging unwanted shoots.
On the trellis support, the creeping blackberry is also attached in the spring in a fan-like manner, but according to a different principle. This fan will be formed as follows: on one side, rejected stems that have been spoiled during the winter, overwintered stems are fixed. We direct and also fix young shoots to the opposite side. If excess shoots were not removed during the summer, then it's time to do this during autumn pruning. Before pruning, the main stems are removed from the trellis and straightened on the ground so that they do not intertwine. Choose from among them 8-10 of the most impeccable. Cut off the remaining after rejection without hemp. Correctly cut stems are carefully placed in a trench for winter shelter until spring.
The opposite side of the "fan", which has borne fruit this season, must be cut off completely without hemp, and the cut stems must be burned so that they do not store blackberry pests until spring.
The easiest thing to do is pruning for the winter. garden blackberry remontant, because all that matters is that you completely cut off all the wood that has grown over the summer, and for the winter it remains only to cover its root system. In spring, young shoots will rise that are capable of fruiting. It is less difficult to prune thornless varieties of creeping blackberries according to all the rules described above both for pruning and for shelter for the winter.
Positive horticultural practice confirms that fan shaping of any variety of blackberries, especially for thorns, is the optimal form of caring for it at all stages and even more so when pruning for the winter. Compliance with these simple, by and large, rules will provide us with a good harvest.
Russian summer residents are happy to cultivate such berries as blackberries, the care, cultivation, reproduction and pruning of which is not difficult. Blackberries are rich in nutrients and vitamins; they taste better than raspberries; they are more often grown as a hedge. There are varieties with sharp thorns, but some varieties of blackberries do not have them and are called thornless.
To harvest delicious berries, you need to learn how to properly grow, propagate, prune and care for blackberries. Not the last place in the care of the berry is occupied by the correct preparation of the shrub for the cold season. It is imperative to carry out autumn and spring pruning, then mulch the soil around the root system with sawdust and peat, or any of them separately. To protect the plant from diseases, the branches of the blackberry and the soil under it are cultivated. Treatment with actellik will help prevent the appearance of pests.
To prevent blackberries from dying in winter and bearing fruit abundantly the next year, they should be carefully prepared for the cold, creating a shelter from severe frosts.
If in the growing region the temperature in winter drops to -10 degrees and below, berry bushes must be covered, but this is not necessary for frost-resistant varieties. If in the region frosts are from -20 degrees and below, you will have to wrap up any varieties for the winter, since the plants may not tolerate such a temperature. 
In Russia, there are mainly two types of blackberries:
The green grafting method is advisable to use in cases where there are few mother bushes, or it is necessary to propagate the bushes urgently.
The main methods of breeding blackberries:
To propagate a blackberry with a root cut, you need to find the strongest upright bush. Wait until autumn, when young shoots will have their own root system, and then dig them out together with the ground. If you need to propagate the blackberries by layering, then this should be done in the spring.
For blackberry propagation, the bark is shallowly cut with a ring with the tops of the layers along the upper part (about 30 or 35 cm from the end), under the buds. Each is bent to the ground, pressed into a previously prepared trench from 4 to 5 cm deep, fixed and buried in earth.
The level of the ground and its moisture are monitored, watered on time and added soil. Cover with sawdust or peat before the onset of frost. By next spring, the layers will take root, they will have to be cut off from the mother plant, dug up and planted in a place where they will grow constantly.
After the emergence of shoots, which have 2-3 leaves, you can propagate the blackberry with green cuttings. To do this, they are cut underground at a depth of 3-4 cm underground, transferred to a greenhouse and planted there under a film so that the humidity level is always high. A year later, in the fall, you need to plant it where a permanent place will be prepared.
In late summer or early autumn, blackberries are propagated vegetatively. To do this, the bush is dug, the branches are divided along the root, so that each part is 15 centimeters, or slightly less in length, half a centimeter thick. They are planted and wrapped before wintering. If it is impossible to plant immediately, the prepared material is placed in grooves to a depth of about 10 cm, after which the earth is poured into them, watered, and the soil is compacted.
To, you need to learn. Reproduction, pruning and care require skill, so seed propagation is rarely used due to poor germination. At the same time, culture does not lose its properties.
To increase germination, the hard seed coat should be damaged.
Sow in river sand, previously watered, deepen by 6 cm, plus or minus 1 cm.When a couple of leaves appear, dive the plants in pots, you can plant them in their places. For the winter, young shoots will have to be covered. The first berries will appear only after 3 or 4 years.
How to prune blackberries in the spring, you can learn from the video, doing it is troublesome, but necessary. The plant is trimmed with pruning shears at any time of the year, except for winter. The height of the kumanik is about 3 meters, sometimes even higher, it is akin to raspberries, it gives many shoots. In erect blackberries - kumaniks, biennial shoots bear fruit.
When the snow melts, the question of whether it is necessary to prune the blackberries in the spring does not arise, the answer is obvious, it is necessary. Until the buds have awakened, dry and injured shoots are removed, one-year-old shoots are cut twice to enhance the growth of lateral shoots. This is done in May, when about 6 cm of the tops are cut off, and the shoots that have grown to a length of more than half a meter are shortened by 7-10 cm in July. Pieces 6 or 8, the most powerful, are left, others are cut out. Pruning blackberries in the fall is carried out after harvest, in fact, it is sanitization.
When pruning blackberries in the spring, the video diagram shows that on mature plants, not only branches that have suffered from frost in winter are removed, but also broken, weak ones. Leave a few pieces, from 4 to 10, the most powerful. Lateral shoots are shortened to a length of 20-40 cm, leaving 8 to 12 good buds on each. To get an excellent harvest, you need to know how to properly prune blackberries in the spring, how to remove excess shoots from the sides of the bush in the summer, leaving the spring ones.
They will delight you with a plentiful harvest, since the shoots do not bear fruit in the first year. Pruning blackberries in the spring for novice gardeners is not difficult if you watch the video on how to do it right.
Starting from 2-3 years of life, the blackberry bush is distinguished by its unique unpretentiousness, it can be fruitful regardless of sunlight, during frosts and in drought. To achieve this effect, planting technology should be fully observed, as it directly affects the health of the plant and yield.
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Unlike other representatives of the Pink family, planting blackberries is best done in the spring, after the soil has warmed up and the last frost has ended. In the regions of the middle lane, the bushes are planted from late April to early May; in the north, it is advisable to postpone planting until the end of May or the beginning of even June.
Today, dozens of varieties of garden blackberries have been bred, differing in yield, fruiting period, features of the bush and berries. For small household plots and industrial plantations, thornless blackberries are usually used, since this greatly simplifies the process of care and harvesting.
The most productive varieties of the crop are Loch Ness, Thorn Free, Black Satin and Navajo. For the northern regions, it is advisable to choose frost-resistant and unpretentious varieties of blackberries, for example, Eldorado, Erie, Snyder, Darrow and others.
It is advisable to plant the acquired planting material as soon as possible. If there is no opportunity to plant within 5-7 days after purchase, they should be removed to a dark and cool place. During the day, the seedlings must be removed from the package, the bottom part must be cleaned from the dry crust, and then soaked for 8-10 hours in water and transferred to the growth stimulator for another 4-5 hours.
The most effective means to improve rooting are Kornevin, Etamon, Zircon or Heteroauxin. Fungicide treatment is not necessary at this stage.
Annual seedlings are recommended to be purchased only in a specialized nursery, planting material has a developed root system and at least two stems from 0.5 cm thick in diameter, there must be a formed bud on the roots.
For growing blackberries, it is advisable to choose a well-lit place, protected from strong winds. Bushes are usually planted next to fences or a blank wall of the house.
Strong gusts of wind can not only injure leaves and berries, but also reduce the quality of pollination of flowers. It is not recommended to plant blackberries on a flat area; the best yield is noted on the slope. The crop bears fruit best of all on well-drained and light soils, the optimal solution is nutritious loamy or sandy loam soil.
Plants should not be planted on calcareous soils, as blackberries reacts sharply to a lack of iron and magnesium. The recommended acidity level is 6 pH. The occurrence of groundwater should be located at least 1.5 meters to the surface.
Compliance with crop rotation is an important requirement for growing any crop. Legumes and pumpkin plants, beets and carrots are suitable as precursors. It is not recommended to plant a bush in a place where raspberries or other varieties of blackberries used to grow.
The site for planting blackberries should be prepared in advance. About 6 months before planting the bush, you need to completely clear the soil of weeds and dig up the ground to the depth of a shovel bayonet.
In autumn, a complex top dressing is introduced - organic fertilizers (10 kg of mullein, bird droppings or humus per 1 m 2), as well as mineral compositions (15 g of superphosphate, 25 g of potassium sulfate per 1 m 2). If you regularly fertilize the soil, then the amount of fertilizing should be halved, especially organic matter. It is not yet recommended to introduce nitrogen compounds, as this will enhance the growth of leaves, and not shoots and fruiting buds.
Blackberries are planted in individual pits 40 × 40 cm in size and up to 45 cm deep, which is optimal for the powerful root system of the plant. The distance between the bushes should be from 80 cm, but for some varieties with spreading shoots, it can be increased to 1.5 m.
After this preparation, you can proceed directly to planting:
After planting, the soil will sag slightly, so it is worth adding a little substrate after 2-3 days, so as not to expose the root part of the plant. You can not overdo it, since if the planting is too deep in the blackberry, the growth of replacement shoots slows down, which can lead to the death of the bush.
After planting, the blackberries need to be watered as the top layer of the soil dries up; for young bushes, the optimal amount of watering is 5-7 liters per plant. Even at the planting stage, it is recommended to carry out mulching - this facilitates the subsequent removal of weeds and loosening.
Once a season, you need to apply complex fertilizers to activate growth, it is advisable to use ready-made liquid formulations for horticultural crops, which can be found in any specialized store.
If you use single-component fertilizers, then they are applied in the following proportions:
Blackberries respond well to organic fertilizers, among which mullein is very popular. Some gardeners use it as a mulch, which makes the feeding process easier.
In the first year, treatment for diseases and pests is required only if the first signs of infection appear. However, subject to planting agrotechnics and high-quality care, blackberries rarely suffer from diseases.
Already in the first year of the life of the bush, trellises should be installed, which are important for the garter of fruiting shoots. For this, strong posts up to 2 meters in height are used, which are dug in from both sides of the plant. Three rows of rope or galvanized wire are pulled over them - at a distance of 65, 125 and 180 cm. After that, the shoots must be constantly guided to avoid chaotic growth.
Most varieties of garden blackberries do not yield in the first year, in order to get berries in the next season, the main young shoots should be pinned, which have reached a length of 120 cm.They should be shortened by 10-12 cm, the lateral branches are cut as they grow, starting from 50 cm. If the procedure is carried out correctly, by the end of summer the bush should look well-groomed and neat.
The area with blackberry bushes must be shaded from direct sunlight, which has a detrimental effect on the formation and ripening of fruits. Abundant lighting can spoil the presentation of the berries, they will become faded and light.
To avoid this, on especially sunny days, shade nets should be pulled on the site; they can be removed at night. Shelter of bushes for the winter period is required only when grown in the northern regions, as well as when planting heat-loving varieties.
Most often, garden blackberries are propagated by vegetative parts of the bush, but the seed method can also be used to preserve varietal characteristics or increase the planting of unique varieties. Let's take a closer look at each of them.
Suitable for varieties with long side branches and a spreading bush. Algorithm for propagation by horizontal layers:
To increase the chances of rooting, the procedure should be carried out on several bushes at once. The mother plant must be at least 2 years old.
Apical shoot propagation of blackberries is the easiest way to increase the planting of a crop. It is best used for breeding mature and sturdy shrubs.
To do this, in the fall, the tip of the shoot is tilted down and buried in the ground. No pruning is required, but the cambium should be slightly cut to improve rooting. In spring, the seedling can be separated from the bush and transplanted to a permanent place.
Blackberry bush can be propagated by root suckers. This method is not suitable for hybrid and large-fruited crop varieties.
Step-by-step instruction:
After transplanting, the plant needs to be mulched, watered and inorganic fertilizers applied; it is not recommended to use organic matter, as this leads to the appearance of rodents and pests.
Cutting is not suitable for thornless varieties, since the daughter plant loses varietal qualities, thorns appear and yield decreases. It is advisable to transplant with root cuttings.
To do this, the bush is dug out together with the root, and then it is divided into parts, leaving up to 60 cm of the root system. Each stalk must have a thickness of at least 0.5 cm. Subsequent planting in a permanent place occurs according to the standard scheme described above.
Propagation by green cuttings is more suitable for experienced gardeners as it may not always be possible to achieve an optimal rooting rate. To do this, in July, 1/3 of the length is cut off from a green and healthy shoot, leaving at least one bud and a leaf.
The branch should be treated with a growth stimulant and the top layer of the bark should be slightly cut. After that, the seedling is planted in an individual peat pot and covered with polyethylene. The root system is formed within 30-35 days, after which the plant is transplanted to a permanent place.
The seed propagation method of blackberries is suitable for rare varieties or hybrid varieties of crops. Not recommended for northern regions where rooting of planting material is more difficult to achieve.
Before planting, it is required to prepare a peat container, where light and fertile soil is placed. The seeds are immersed in water for 2-3 hours, after which they are placed in a damp cloth for 3 days.
The planting material should swell slightly, after which it can be planted in a pot to a depth of 1 cm. Containers with seedlings are placed in a cool place for 2 months, and during this time, moderate watering and airing should be carried out regularly.
After the emergence of shoots, containers with blackberries are transferred to a warmer place. A pick at a permanent place can be carried out when 3-5 true leaves appear on the seedlings.
Blackberry shaping is an important nursing step necessary for the berry shaping process. The procedure is carried out only with a sharp instrument to avoid injury to the bush. The pruning algorithm depends on the variety of blackberries, which are divided into erect (kumanika) and creeping (dew).
Almost all blackberry varieties bear fruit only once - in the second year. During the first season, the bush and stems are formed, and then it begins to bloom and yield.
Pruning allows you to restart the fruiting cycle, as well as improve the quality and taste of berries, and avoid crowding planting. Young bushes are pruned to stimulate flowering for the coming season.
Pruning is carried out 3-4 times during the period of active growth. For the first time, it is advisable to carry out the procedure in the spring after the end of the spring frosts. You can determine the required time by the presence of young buds actively appearing on the plant.
The next pruning is called pinching, it is carried out when the shoots have already grown, and the last formation of the bush occurs at the end of the season - the procedure is carried out before preparing the plant for winter.
The yield of the bush, as well as the health of the plant, depends on the quality and compliance with the technique.
During this, it is advisable to observe the following recommendations:
During pruning, it is imperative to use trellises, which simplifies the procedure, and also allows you to determine the required length of each branch. All fruiting vegetative parts of the plant are distributed evenly around the entire perimeter of the support, using a pre-stretched wire or rope for this purpose.
Growing blackberries on your backyard is a complex and exciting process. To obtain a large harvest of berries, one should take into account not only the variety of the plant, but also the climatic conditions, the location and characteristics of the soil on the site.
Crop maintenance includes regular watering, loosening, pruning and setting up supports. It is especially important to observe agricultural techniques in the first years of a plant's life, when the formation of fruiting shoots and a central stem takes place.
Blackberry shrubs, although they do not need strict maintenance, a lot of moisture and sunlight, can still help to increase the fruiting of shrubs. For example, when planting a plant, you need to calculate the place so that the blackberry ends up was protected from blowing... This, in turn, will not only increase the quantity of the crop and its quality, but also help in winter the shrubs simply do not die at low temperatures. In the area where there is no wind, snow will not fall from the bushes, which means that they will be covered with snow all winter.
In addition, blackberries, like any other plant, must be pollinated, and in strong winds, bees cannot fly up and do their job. Gusts of wind can even break the fragile branches of the blackberry especially after the winter period, when the plant has not yet gained its full strength.
As mentioned above, when planting blackberries, you can not attach importance to the amount of sunlight. Fruiting occurs equally well both in a darkened place and in an open area, but it is impossible to plant in complete darkness. If sunlight stops reaching the plant, the berries will become smaller over time, and this will negatively affect the quality and taste of the crop.
Planting blackberries in the garden is best produce in spring time... In the southern parts of the country, I also practice planting in the autumn period of the year, but nevertheless, the best performance is achieved in the bushes that were planted in the spring. In this case, cuttings take root better, and the likelihood of plant death when the cold period begins.
Soil is the very element that does not play any role in the cultivation of blackberries. Usually, planting is carried out near the fence, in order not only to increase the convenience of harvesting, but also to further refine this part of the garden plot, hiding the fence.
The whole procedure for planting blackberry bushes can be split into several stages... in order to subsequently achieve high results during plant engraftment.
Best for growing in a garden blackberry is suitable... The most popular varieties include:
These varieties are great for courting at their summer cottage. Lack of thorn c simplifies harvesting, and if the plant is no longer taken care of, then it will not grow as much as other blackberry varieties.
Although blackberries can grow on their own, the first year is the most difficult for them. At this time, you need to take all the necessary measures for the plant to take root in a new place. This includes all basic maintenance, pruning and watering activities. The entire growing procedure must be especially carefully observed in the first year, and then after the growth of the bushes, some stages of the procedure can be omitted.
First of all you need pay enough attention to watering... In the first year, it simply does not make sense to expect a harvest, but you should not refuse to water the blackberry, because just at this time the crown and the strength of the root branches are formed. As a result, proper watering in the first year can significantly increase yields in subsequent years. As a result, massive roots help the plant to feel comfortable in dry weather. Raspberries cannot boast of such quality.
Watering in the early stages of berry bushes should be abundant, but still do not overdo it. It is necessary to increase the amount of moisture as the blackberries germinate and during the beginning of the ripening of the crop. In addition, moisture should freely flow to the root system, so before this procedure it is better to loosen the bud first. Blackberry bushes do not like it very much when the soil is compacted too much. In addition, with dense soil layers, moisture simply does not reach the root system, but disperses in different directions from the shrub. Fertilization before watering is carried out exclusively in the first year after planting, and then in the summer you can do without feeding the plant.
To increase the growth activity of blackberries, fertilizers may be needed only in the spring season. Apply top dressing needed once. For this it is best to use components such as:
In the form of additional fertilizers, phosphorus, nitrogen and potash fertilizers can be used, but there is no particular need for them. Shrubs do not require a large amount of minerals, and they receive all the main components exclusively from the composition of the soil.
Pruning blackberries is an important stage, which ultimately determines how strongly and evenly the shrub will germinate, and already from these conditions the amount of harvest will flow and ease of picking berries... If you do not prune, then you can get an impenetrable jungle at your summer cottage. In order to avoid such problems, it is necessary to undertake pruning of the stems about 3-4 times during the period of active growth. Pruning should be done very often, because the growth of branches in blackberries is fast. If you do not want to spend too much time on pruning, then it is best to plant thornless bushes.
The first pruning begins after the end of winter, as soon as the temperature exceeds the beginning of the growing season. This time can be determined by the presence of buds that only appear on the stems of plants. You need to cut off any stems that have been damaged during the winter or have dried out. Usually, no more than 15 shoots or 8 shoots on one of the bushes are left per square meter. Throughout the rest of the year, new shoots should be pruned to avoid weakening the plant.
Re-pruning shoots called pinching. It is produced at a time when the shoots have already grown. Usually, each of them needs to be shortened by no more than 15 cm, but if there is no time for constant care of the bushes, then 20 cm of the shoot can be removed. Such pruning is especially important for summer residents who want to significantly increase the amount of harvest on blackberry bushes. Pinching promotes the formation of new branches, which in the future will give an additional harvest of berries. When pruning shoots, you need to leave only the strongest, and cut off all weak branches so that they do not take all the strength from the bush.
The last pruning is done in the fall before winter. All weak and dry shoots are removed. Particular attention should be paid to branches that show signs of disease. On the contrary, it is better to leave the shoots before the beginning of winter, because at the expense of it, in the spring you can see a formed and strong crown.
The question of how to care for a blackberry is not too difficult to understand, in contrast to the reproduction of this bush. There are many methods of propagation using seeds, seedlings or techniques that, in the initial stages, do not even require cutting the stem of the blackberry. The most popular blackberry propagation method among gardeners is planting a sprouting stem... This method can help to propagate blackberries from just one shrub.
To propagate blackberries, you will need a stem about 3 meters long from a nearby bush. A hole is dug up to a depth of 30 centimeters and sprinkled with humus. The end of the stem is placed in the hole in a semicircle or in a full circle and sprinkled with a little earth. Immediately after that, you need to make the first watering and wait until the water is absorbed into the ground. The rest of the soil layer completely covers the hole.
With this breeding technique, it is important that the stem is buried in early August, and at the end of the autumn period it can be cut off from a nearby shrub. In this case, the length of the sapling should be no more than one meter above the ground... This is the easiest method of propagation, which requires the least amount of effort, and does not require the purchase of additional seedlings.
Blackberries, along with raspberries, are considered the most delicious berries. It can be grown by any summer resident, even without much experience, the main thing is to follow the basic recommendations. The main advantages of this variety of berry bushes are the minimum need for maintenance, high yield, as well as a way to increase the aesthetic appearance of the landscape in the garden area.
Growing blackberries at home
With a bush type of planting
Blackberry propagation scheme with horizontal layering
Reproduction of garden blackberries by apical shoots
Reproduction of garden blackberries by root suckers
When planting in autumn, it is undesirable to use organic fertilizers (humus, compost). It is them that insects and rodents feed on in winter. By the spring, the seedling may die.
Blackberry varieties without thorns are not propagated in this way. Otherwise, the plant will grow with thorns.
A full-fledged seedling can be grown from blackberry seeds
Normalizes the load on it, improves aging.
Leave no extra plants, even if they are healthy. Excessive density harms the future harvest.
Scheme of the formation of an erect blackberry bush
Scheme of the formation of a blackberry bush of creeping varieties
Top dressing, watering, pruning, processing will allow you to get high yields and delight the family with medicinal berries.
Home "Blackberries" When and how to properly prune blackberries
Raspberry is familiar to every person since childhood. What child did mom not treat with raspberry jam in winter? And in the summer, many climbed into thorny bushes to feast on this berry. Over the past period, a relative of raspberries, sweet blackberries, has begun to appear more and more often in summer cottages.
The blackberry plant belongs to the Pink family, which in turn belongs to the Rubus genus. It is a semi-shrub with erect or spreading stems, which are covered with a large number of thorns. Recently, several thornless hybrids have been bred, which greatly simplifies harvesting, and pruning blackberries in the fall is much easier and more pleasant. 
In the wild, blackberries can be found in forests, near marshy places and rivers, where there are damp and humid lands. You can meet such bushes on the territories of many continents: America, Europe and Asia. Of course, pruning of blackberries in the fall is carried out only in dachas and in gardens. In nature, branches are woven into dense growth and form large thickets. Walking through the forest, you can enjoy the wild berries of this plant.
Blackberry belongs to perennial shrubs, its height can reach 4 meters. It has a powerful root that grows deep in the ground, making it drought-resistant. The large leaf of this plant consists of 5-7 small ones, connected by a common petiole. They are green on top and light on the underside. The leaves are pubescent and have small thorns. Blackberries bloom at the end of June with large white flowers, which are collected in panicles. The fruits begin to ripen by August. Since flowering lasts until the end of autumn, the collection of berries is also lengthy. When ripe, the blackberry fruits first acquire a green color, then pink, brown, and the berry, ready for use, has a black color.
Of the large number of varieties, the blackberry garden is popular. Care (pruning, watering, feeding, etc.) for this variety does not differ from caring for other species of this plant.
Blackberry is an unpretentious plant, this is due to the fact that it was cultivated from a wild plant. In nature, it grows in humid places and, thanks to its deep roots, it feeds on moisture from the ground almost all summer.
However, at home, the plant should still be given some attention. This applies to soil, watering and breeding. Pruning blackberries for the winter is also important. This strengthens the root of the plant and strengthens the bush. 
This blackberry care item is one of the most important. Pruning blackberries in autumn, especially a young bush, guarantees a good wintering and subsequent strong shoots in the spring. By the type of growth, the bushes are divided into upright and creeping. Accordingly, different care is needed for them.
A wire is pulled near a young bush and supports are made so that the branches can be tied up. In the first year after planting, all the shoots are fixed on one side, and the next - on the other. When lateral shoots appear, they are cut off, leaving 3-4 buds. Fruiting occurs on second-year branches. Pruning blackberries in the fall consists in removing the branches on which the fruits were. They are cut off and carefully removed from the wire so as not to damage the rest. Such pruning of blackberries for the winter allows you to make room for new shoots, which are braided in place of the old ones.
The branches are selected by power, 6-8 pieces, and tied to the supports in a fan-like manner, they can also be placed close to each other. Garden blackberries, care (pruning and garter) for which takes place in this way, can densely braid the supports. It can be planted near a fence, although this reduces the amount of yield due to poor permeability of solar heat and light. It is also recommended to remove several lower buds on each branch. With the development of shoots and ripening of fruits, they can be smeared on the ground or simply deteriorate from watering. 
Pruning of blackberries is also necessary in the spring, while the upper parts of the shoots are cut off, leaving branches no more than 1.5 meters long.
For planting a bush, you can choose any soil, but it should be well warmed up by the sun, so you need to find an open place. Also, the soil should be sufficiently loose and well-drained, since stagnant water causes blackberry roots to die due to lack of oxygen.
Despite the fact that the blackberry bush is moisture resistant, it is worth watering it during the growth of shoots and ripening of fruits. Especially if the summer is hot and dry. But it is worth making sure that moisture does not linger under the bush for a long time. Garden blackberries, when pruned correctly, create a thick shade with their branches and leaves that retain moisture for longer. 
Blackberries can be propagated by root suckers or by rooting of green tops. These methods are easy and do not require special skills or equipment. When propagating with the help of root suckers, it is necessary in early spring to dig up a small piece of the lateral root and transfer it to a permanent place of growth. It is planted in prepared soil, where it must be placed horizontally. 
Several varieties of blackberry do not give root shoots, they can be propagated by rooting the tops. To do this, one or more branches are bent to the ground, tilting the branches in an arc-like manner, and placed in a hole, the depth of which is no more than 10 cm. The tops of the branches should remain on the surface by about 10 cm. The hole is covered with fertile soil. This process takes place in late summer or early fall.
The next year, by the fall, you can separate the shoots from the mother bush, having previously checked the presence of roots and their strength. If necessary, the process can be repeated or left to take root for another year.
Before planting the plant, it is necessary to loosen the soil well. The pit should be up to 50 cm deep. Pour humus or compost and top dressing with potassium on the bottom. It is advisable to mix fertilizers with the ground. The distance between plants in a row should be at least 1 meter, and between rows - 1.5 meters. It is necessary to plant various varieties of blackberries in a row for good pollination and a high yield.
After the correct planting of the blackberry bush, fertilization is not required for 2-3 years. Starting from the fourth year, it is necessary every autumn, after pruning, to bring a good layer of rotted manure under the bush. Also during the spring-summer period, feed with fertilizers containing nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. 
Blackberries, pruning and caring for which takes place according to the rules, annually pleases with abundant flowering and a good harvest. The berries are collected from the bush in several stages, since the flowering is stretched for a long period. Blackberries are very useful, and the bush does not need careful care, so keeping such a plant on your site will not be a hassle. Pruning blackberries in the fall, timely watering in spring and summer - and there will always be blackberries on the table until the end of autumn.
Everyone knows this wonderful wild berry, distinguished by its original taste and usefulness. And also the fact that it is not very pleasant and convenient to collect, since the thickets of blackberries are usually difficult to pass and very thorny. But modern breeding science does not care about anything. And now we can pamper ourselves with garden blackberries, which are distinguished by the absence of thorns on the shoots, and its berries are large and sweet.
All blackberry varieties (over 300) are divided into 3 groups:
Since this is a fairly rare plant in our garden plots, a reasonable question arises - how to care for blackberries. First, it will be very convenient to lift the blackberries up on the trellises, like grapes.
This will save space, the plant will receive enough sun and air, the berries will be able to fully ripen, and they can be easily harvested (blackberries bear fruit not at once, but within a month and a half), and young shoots will be able to spread freely along the ground. They are often attached to a trellis in the form of a fan. Optionally, you can tie the bush to a pole or pipe.
The plant loves lighted areas. Feels good in partial shade, but the ripening period of berries in this case lengthens by 5-7 days, they become smaller and lose their taste.
Blackberries are drought-resistant, since their roots are located at a considerable depth.
During flowering and ripening of berries, it requires watering. But do not overdo it: excessively moist soil can cause the death of the bush.
In the spring, before the buds swell, it is necessary to do formative pruning: remove frozen, dried, diseased, underdeveloped shoots and shorten too long ones.
4-6 shoots should be left on one bush. It is advisable to trim the tops off to form a compact bush. It is noticed that with strong pruning, the berries become larger.
In summer, pinch the tops and remove excess young shoots. In the fall, the sprouted shoots are cut off.
Many gardeners are frightened by the low frost resistance of this garden culture, but if you know how to care for blackberries in the autumn-winter period, then it will delight you with a bountiful harvest.
It should be noted that the dew grass does not tolerate winter well, and the kumanika can withstand frosts of twenty degrees. But still it is better to cover any blackberries for the winter.
Most varieties are bent to the ground, and if you have erect blackberries, then they are tilted gradually as they grow, as if accustoming them. Covering is used for particularly sensitive varieties. Most often with plastic wrap, but you can use leaves or spruce branches. It is advisable to cover it with snow on top. If the plant is not prepared for winter, then the adult bush will not die, but the ground part may freeze slightly, which will undoubtedly affect fruiting.
The plant propagates with seeds, green and root cuttings, rooted shoots and dividing the bush.
It is advisable to plant a blackberry in a place that is well lit and protected from the winds. Planting is best done in the spring to prevent freezing.
The plant prefers slightly acidic or neutral soil. Do not use limestone soil for planting.
First, dig holes to a depth of 45-50 centimeters. Fertilizers mixed with soil are placed on the bottom: rotted manure or compost (5-6 kilograms), potash fertilizers (45-50 grams) and superphosphate (130-150 grams). Then a blackberry bush is planted so that the root collar is 2-3 centimeters below the soil level. Plants are watered, mulched and pruned, leaving 20-30 centimeters.
Plants are planted in rows. Erect bushes are placed at a distance of 0.9-1 meter, row spacing - up to 2 meters. A distance of 2.5 meters is left between creeping plants.
In one place, blackberries can bear fruit for 12-15 years.
To obtain a bountiful harvest of berries, the plant needs feeding. An excellent result can be obtained with early spring mulching of the soil with a layer of 5 centimeters. For mulch, they take rotted manure or compost. You can also add urea or ammonium nitrate.
But keep in mind that 2 - 3 years after planting, blackberries are not fertilized.
Blackberries are resistant to pests and diseases. Sometimes raspberry beetles can attack it. To prevent this from happening, try to pick ripe berries on time. With a lack of iron and magnesium, chlorosis develops.
The berries ripen at the end of summer. Collect them in several steps.
If you take care of the blackberry and take proper care of it, then it will certainly delight you with an abundant tasty harvest.
Growing and caring for blackberries is in many ways different from the cultivation of raspberries, although they are the closest "relatives" in terms of biological parameters. The choice of propagation method for blackberries depends on what kind of seedlings you purchased - upright or creeping. Another nuance: when caring for garden blackberries, pruning must be performed not only traditional, but also using methods such as normalizing and pinching shoots, as well as shortening the stems.
Blackberry is a semi-shrub plant of the Rosaceae family. It happens with erect, arcuate or creeping shoots. Under natural conditions, the aboveground part of the plant dies after the second year of life, but the root system continues to live for many years and can sometimes give new shoots.
Erect blackberries are also called kumanik, according to their biological characteristics, it resembles raspberries. Forms with creeping, creeping shoots are called dewdrops.
Blackberries differ from raspberries mainly in that their berries do not separate from the fruit. Therefore, blackberries are more suitable for transportation and storage, they hardly wrinkle.
Erect blackberries (cultivated varieties) are quite demanding in choosing a place, they love the sun, so good growth and fruiting can be obtained only in areas that are reliably protected from the wind, well lit and warmed up. In conditions of even light shading, the shoots are strongly elongated, shading the fruiting ones. The yield and quality of berries are sharply reduced. Plants lose their resistance to pests and diseases.
Erect blackberries do not grow well in arid places. One of the conditions for growing these varieties of blackberries is high air permeability and moderate moisture. The plant prefers a well-drained soil with high fertility. The most suitable soil for it is permeable light and medium loam with a thick layer of humus and good moisture. For growing garden blackberries, sandy or sandy loam soils are suitable only with abundant organic fertilization and watering.
Only some varieties of creeping blackberries are relatively drought tolerant; its root system penetrates much deeper into the soil, saving the plant in arid regions. Creeping blackberries can grow well on dense black soil and even on coarse, heavy loams if they contain enough humus. Only too heavy, waterlogged soils and sandstone are not suitable for growing blackberries.
Reproduction of blackberries is carried out with green and lignified cuttings, rooted tops, layering.
Reproduction of erect blackberries. This species is propagated by lignified and green suckers, root cuttings. When propagating blackberries by cuttings, it is preferable to take young roots of larger diameter (0.3-1.3 cm) at the age of 1-3 years. They are cut into 5-8 cm long. When planting, the cuttings are placed horizontally in a pre-prepared groove at a depth of 7-10 cm.
Erect blackberries can be propagated by single-bud cuttings. They are cut from the upper third of the shoot, with the exception of the last two buds. After cutting, the cutting should consist of a stem, a bud and a leaf. Before planting, they are treated with 0.3% indolylbutyric acid. Then they are planted in small containers such as plastic or paper cups. The container is pre-filled with a special soil mixture of peat, perlite, sand, vermiculite (1: 1: 1). Containers with cuttings are placed in a greenhouse for rooting.
Reproduction of creeping blackberries. Creeping blackberries are propagated by rooted tops or green cuttings. In uterine bushes, which have risen to a height of 60-90 cm, the replacement shoots are pinched. After that, 3-5 buds awaken on it, from which lateral shoots grow. The ends of these shoots in August acquire a peculiar appearance - they become thinner, elongated, the leaves on them become small. Finally, thickenings form at the very apex. It is these shoots that, when blackberries are propagated, are slightly buried with tops into the soil and watered.
Most likely, in the same year he will release roots, and the next year an aerial shoot will grow. This is the formation of an independent plant, which can then be separated from the mother bush.
Blackberry propagation by layering. In July, shoots that have reached 1.5-2.5 m in height are laid out in grooves 8-10 cm deep, previously dug out around the bush. When blackberries are propagated by layering, they are not separated from the mother plant. A few superficial notches are made under each bud with a razor. Then the grooves are covered with soil so that the leaves and tops of the shoot are on the surface. The soil near the layers is constantly maintained in a loose and moist state.
Over time, a thickening will appear at the top of the shoot, which is sprinkled with soil to obtain a seedling. As a rule, in the first year or the next season, roots appear on the stem laid in a groove under each bud in the places of notches, and the bud itself gives rise to an aerial shoot. In the fall, between the adjacent young shoots, they grope an old stem in the soil and cut it with a pruner. Then the layers are carefully separated from the old stem along with a lump of earth and transplanted to a permanent place. In a new place, they take root well and quickly grow, begin to bear fruit. Thus, with the help of layering, you can get a lot of planting material from each bush - up to a dozen young plants.
The video "Reproduction of blackberries" will help you better understand the technology of the process:
When is it better to plant blackberries so that the shrubs take root better? In the northern zone of central Russia, it is better to plant blackberries in the spring. A long, wet spring helps the planted plants to take root well. The result when planting in autumn may be unsuccessful, since the plants freeze out if the snow cover does not fall on time.
In the middle zone of central Russia, blackberries are planted both in autumn and spring. But here the autumn planting is more profitable, its period is longer. With a timely autumn planting, no later than the first half of October, the blackberries will get stronger by winter. Freezing of a plant planted in autumn can occur only when planting too late, if severe frosts occur before the formation of a normal snow cover.
How to plant blackberries for optimal shrub growth and maximum fruiting? Plants are planted at intervals of 3-3.5 m between seedlings. More vigorous varieties - at a distance of 4.5 m between the bushes.
Soil preparation and fertilization of a plot for blackberries are almost the same as for soil preparation for raspberries. The depth and width of the seats depends on the type of planting material.
Erect blackberries in harsh climates are usually grown in a row pattern with trellis fastening. A distance of 90 cm is maintained between plants in a row, and the row spacing should be 120-180 cm wide. For vigorous forms, the recommended distance between plants is 1.5-2 m or more.
Before planting and caring for blackberries, about 2-3 kg of humus per 1 m2 are introduced into the soil, then the soil is dug up. For planting seedlings, holes are dug up to 40 cm deep and up to 50 cm in diameter.
The seedlings are placed at the bottom of the hole, the roots are spread and covered with soil so that the bud at the base of the stem is 2-3 cm below ground level. Seedlings water and mulch the soil with any loosening materials. In dry weather, repeat watering.
In the spring, annually, for each adult plant for feeding blackberries, from 5 to 8 kg of humus and 50-60 g of mineral fertilizers are applied.
At the beginning of summer, annually, 10 liters of mullein diluted with water (1: 5) are poured out. At the end of summer, 0.5 liters of wood ash and 100 g of superphosphate (after fruiting) are introduced under each adult plant.
The soil under the blackberry should be kept loose, cleaned of weeds, regularly cultivating to a depth of 5-10 cm.
In dry times, the plant must be watered. Under normal climatic conditions, this is done immediately after flowering.
After loosening the soil and conducting watering, the surface under the blackberry is mulched with any loosening materials to retain moisture and protect against weeds.
Seedlings of moderately growing varieties in the first year after planting are shortened to about 25 cm from the soil level. As soon as young shoots appear, they are directed along a trellis or a column. It is important from the very beginning to prune the garden blackberry in the right direction so that the plant does not get used to growing freely. At the end of the growing season, all the weak tops of the carefully tied young stems are cut off.
In the summer of the second year, blackberries will bear fruit on the side shoots. At the same time, new powerful shoots grow from the base of the bush, which form as they grow, tying them to the trellis in the right direction: either in one direction, or they are lifted vertically, and then directed along the upper wire in both directions.
Before pruning the blackberry, the fruiting stems are always separated from the young shoots. Old ones are completely removed after fruiting, new shoots are placed in their place, cutting off only weak tops from them. Further pruning consists of removing the fruiting stems annually and replacing them with young shoots.
Watch the video "Pruning Blackberries" to show you how to do this correctly:
The powerful stems of winter-hardy varieties left for fruiting, which hibernate in an open state, are shortened in the fall, pruning at the same height of 1.6-1.8 m. This work can be done in the spring at the same time as tying the stems to the support. It is carried out taking into account the state of the plants after wintering, the degree of damage to the lower buds by fungal diseases.
Many of the buds often die in winter at a height of 0.7-1 m from the base of the bush, so shortening the stems at the same height (1.61.8 m) is not always rational. In this case, the fruiting zone is sharply reduced.
It is more expedient to shorten the stems above the first bud from above, which is well formed and overwintered normally. If a significant part of it is frozen to the level of snow, then pruning is carried out so that it is convenient to tie the stems to the support. If you shorten the shoots to the first living bud, you will have to lower the wire to the appropriate height. Completely frozen stems are removed to the very base.
Stems of varieties with drooping tops are shortened at the point of inflection in order to increase their resistance to lodging, as well as to obtain larger berries.
Simultaneously with the spring shortening of the stems of winter-hardy varieties, their final normalization is carried out. On each bush, 4-6 healthy stems are left for fruiting.
Newly growing shoots can be normalized in May-June, cutting them off when they reach a height of 8-10 cm. How to properly cut a blackberry using the shoots normalization method? In this case, the bush is formed from thin shoots of the second growth wave. Usually they are less affected by purple spot or shoot gall midge. By the end of the growing season, these shoots reach a height of 1.6-1.8 m, so they are not shortened. It is more convenient to bend them down for the winter, but next spring and summer they will need support during fruiting. These shoots are one-dimensional, the harvest on them ripens more amicably.
Gardeners tend to prefer the first shoots, which are located closer to the uterine part of the plant. When they grow up to 40-45 cm, 6-8 of them are left per bush, cutting off all the less developed ones just below the soil level. The first shoots develop quickly, they can be powerful, tall, but they are more susceptible to diseases and pests than others. They are poorly attached to the rhizome at the base, they break easily under the influence of wind, rain, or at the moment of bending. Outwardly viable shoots are often useless for the plant.
In seedlings of the first year of development, one replacement shoot grows on each bush, which indicates a low yield in the next year.
To increase the future fruiting zone, shoots are pinched at the beginning of June, removing the top 3-5 cm long. As a result, lateral buds awaken, new branches are formed. The next spring, inflorescences will grow from the buds of the side branches. You should not hesitate with pinching, otherwise the grown shoots will not have time to prepare for wintering.
This procedure is a mandatory technique for the cultivation of erect blackberries. When is the pruning of garden blackberries made by pinching shoots? The first time it is carried out when the shoots reach a height of 60-90 cm, cutting off the 5-centimeter top. The second time - when the side shoots grow to a height of 60 cm, they are shortened to 40 cm. This technique will help to form a miniature tree from each shoot. It is better to transfer the second pinching to the next year of the shoot's life, leaving 8-12 buds on each lateral branch. Having thus prepared the plants, they are tied to a trellis wire.
How to prune a blackberry bush correctly? In this video I show you how to prune a fruiting blackberry bush.
I prune blackberries in the spring, when the situation as a whole is clear to me.
1. In the fall, you can cut out all the shoots that bear fruit.
2. In the spring, we cut out those branches that:
Have been damaged by rodents
Winter badly (froze out)
There is nothing here to complicate the process of pruning blackberries.
In early June, trim (pinch) the crown. Side branches will go, which will be full of berries.
forgive me for my imbecile humor, but when I read “How to cut correctly. "Then the foreskin was added by itself. aakhahah Malysheva to help you with blackberries.))))
Blackberries love grooming
How to plant, prune blackberries. Caring for the planting of blackberries. Detailed instructions for planting, pruning blackberry bushes. … Initial pruning. In the first summer after planting, young shoots are formed. Attach them securely to the bottom wires.
lubludachu.ru (love. ru)
In the first summer after planting, young shoots are formed. Braid them securely to the lower wires. In the second summer, these shoots will give flowers and berries. At the same time, new shoots will rise at the base of the plant. They should be formed according to the chosen method.
When fruiting is complete, untwist the old branches and cut them back to the base. With a fan system and when weaving, new branches should be sent to replace the old ones. With a one-way direction system, new branches have already been formed by this time and will bear fruit next year.
And I have many fruits at the ends of long branches. I know that blackberries, like raspberries, have a two-year cycle. Maybe in the spring, cut off the ends of the branches so that the whole branch begins to bear fruit?
Depending on the ultimate goal and taking into account the age of fruit trees, there are 4 types of pruning. Formative- aimed at creating a crown of a certain type and size. Regulatory- ensuring the preservation of the specified parameters of the crown and the most favorable ratio between the growth and fruiting of the tree. Rejuvenating- is aimed at stimulating the growth of branches in aging and old trees. Restorative- the purpose of this pruning is to restore the growth and fruiting capacity of neglected or damaged plants.
Pruning trees after planting - even in autumn - is done mainly in the spring. Shorten all the skeletal branches that will shape the crown later. The main rule: powerful branches are shortened by a third, weak ones - by half. All unnecessary branches located below the future crown are cut out at the very base on a ring.
Pruning a tree in the first years after planting is aimed at the formation of large skeletal branches and the first fruit branches. Remove all upright shoots growing into the crown and shorten the skeletal branches again so that the crown has a pyramidal shape.
As long as the tree bears fruit regularly, pruning ensures a harmonious relationship between fruit formation and growth. Continue to remove all strictly upright tops and competing branches on the center conductor. Also prune old, highly branched side branches that bear little or no fruit.
With rejuvenating pruning in the spring, the crown is greatly thinned out and the outer old fruiting branches are removed. Next year, you can return to regulatory pruning.
Pruning fruit crops is significantly different from pruning ornamental trees and shrubs discussed in previous articles. Although apple trees, pears, cherries, currants and other fruit plants delight in spring with magnificent flowering, they, of course, are grown primarily in order to harvest a rich harvest of useful aromatic fruits. By having the most important basic knowledge of pruning these crops and having studied the specialized literature in advance, blunders can be avoided.
When pruning plants yourself, remember: each pruning contributes to the formation of shoots. If done incorrectly, the crowns of the plants will most likely need to be corrected again.
How much to cut... depends on the type of fruit crop, the age of the tree or shrub, and also on the stock. It often "gets" from hardy wild relatives and forms the root system of the tree. A so-called cultivar is grafted onto it, which has certain characteristics for flowering and fruiting.
Trees on strong and medium-sized rootstocks with a strong root system form a wide crown and, with good care, can reach the age of 30 years. Varietal plants on low-growing rootstocks are shorter and live shorter, but at the same time they enter fruiting earlier - already in the third year after planting. In the garden, they are grown in the form of trees with a spherical crown, reaching 3-5 m in height. If there is very little space for planting, trees on low-growing rootstocks are grown in the form of a fusiform shrub or, as it is also called, a "slender spindle". This narrow, low crown shape is especially good for growing apple trees. Pears of most varieties have a pyramidal crown shape, which does not require active intervention to adjust it. But all pears have one drawback: the appearance of a large number of tops (strong, vertically growing fatty shoots). All tops that are unsuccessfully located and clearly thickening the crown should be removed, and the rest should be turned into overgrowing fruiting branches by pruning. The crown of stone fruit trees begins to form in young, two to four-year-old plants. It is impossible to delay with this, since adult cherries, sweet cherries and plums are difficult to reshape the crown and react painfully to the cutting of large branches on the ring.
Among berry bushes there are real shrubs, such as currants and gooseberries, and semi-shrubs, such as raspberries and blackberries. The latter bear fruit on one- and two-year substitutional basal shoots and often need support. Currants, gooseberries and garden blueberries form skeletal branches and are traditionally grown as free-growing shrubs or standard plants. The advantages of shrubs are that they are much more durable than half-shrubs and give almost twice as much fruit from year to year.
Apple and pear on tall and medium-sized rootstocks, they are traditionally pruned in winter or early spring. In apple trees planted close to each other, having a crown of a "slender spindle" and reaching a height of no more than 2.5 m, summer pruning is also carried out. Important: if new shoots grow densely or reach more than 50 cm in length, this indicates their too strong growth, which will help to restrain pruning in summer. In doing so, remove all those long shoots that shade the inside of the crown. Leave about a third of these branches, as after too much pruning - especially in plants grafted onto vigorous rootstocks - new shoots appear even more actively. In adult apple and pear trees, most of the fruits are formed on spears up to 20 cm long and on ringlets 2-5 cm long.When pruning, pay attention to the fact that these fruit formations should prevail, therefore, in winter, in adult, well-formed trees, remove only densely growing or drooping fruit branches. Apple trees They bear fruit on three- or four-year-old ringlets, and some varieties also bear fruit on two-year-old fruit twigs and spears. To stimulate the appearance of new lateral shoots, 5-6 years after planting the plant, old fruit branches must be removed. Summer pruning aims to ensure that fruits ripening in the middle of the crown receive enough light.
Cherry most often give a spherical crown shape. After the period of completion of the formation of the crown, it is enough to thin it out annually. In adult trees, you can neatly lower the height to 2-2.5 m. Plum It is also necessary to prune regularly but in moderation (it is better not to prune too much). But peach, apricot and cherry They age quickly, therefore, in order for them to form new fruit shoots, they need to be cut strongly. Pruning during the formation of the crown is carried out in the spring, shortly before flowering. Regulatory pruning is done in summer.
Cherries unassuming to care for. After the end of the crown formation period, it is cut off only slightly. In late summer, simply remove old fruit branches or whole skeletal, very old branches. Vertical shoots, as usual, are completely removed.
Peach blooms and bears fruit on annual branches 20-60 cm long. Older branches quickly become bare, so they are greatly shortened annually. When pruning in summer, remove most of the branch down to the last leaf and competing shoots at the base of the branch. The distance between still young, nut-sized fruits should be about 10 cm.
Plain or summer raspberries... for example, ‘Meeker’ and ‘Schonemann’ are planted in one row and tied to a wire support. Fruiting occurs on biennial branches - replacement shoots of the previous year. After harvesting, all biennial branches that have borne fruit, as well as weak annual replacement shoots, are cut out at their very base at the level of the soil surface - instead, 8-12 new powerful shoots grow from the roots, on which berries will appear next year. After pruning, renew a layer of mulch, compost or dung under the bushes so that the soil under the plants remains evenly moist for a long time.
Summer raspberry depending on the variety, ripens in June - August. In summer, young replacement shoots are tied to a wire support.
Raspberry remontant varieties... such as 'Autumn Bliss' and 'Aroma Queen' produce flowers and fruits on the current year's replacement shoots. The first berries ripen from the end of August, you can harvest until the end of autumn... After picking the last berries, cut off all root suckers at the level of the soil surface. Advice: remontant raspberries are almost not susceptible to diseases affecting root shoots, so cut shoots can be crushed and used for mulching the soil in flower beds for the winter. However, if an infection is suspected (discoloration of leaves, small crumbling berries), the cut stems should be destroyed.
Gooseberry can be grown as a traditional bush or as a standard tree, the standard plant needs a stable support up to the middle of the crown. In any form of growth, the main branches 3-4 years old are completely removed or cut off over the side branch directed downward. Densely growing side shoots on the bushes are also completely removed. At the standard plant, they are shortened, leaving a stump of 1 cm.
From the fourth year after planting red and white currants it is necessary to rejuvenate every year.After harvesting, 2-3 of the oldest branches (they can be identified by the dark brown rough bark) are completely cut out. They are left to replace the same number of new strong root shoots. All weak young shoots are removed. Then cut off everything lateral branches that have borne... leaving 2 cm stumps. New fruit shoots will grow from them, which will yield a harvest in 1-2 years. Fruit shoots newly formed on the branches are thinned out only if they grow too close to each other. The ideal distance between them is 10 cm. At the standard currant leave 5 skeletal branches. Lateral branches are cut in the same way as in bush-shaped plants. Red currant the largest racemes occur on one-year lateral growths appearing on two- and three-year branches.
Per blackberry it is much easier to care for and harvest berries if fruiting branches and young shoots are constantly separated from each other. Point all of last year's branches that have berries this year to the same direction. Leave the other half of the trellis for the young root shoots that WILL APPEAR in the spring and bear fruit next year. Remove all weak young shoots, and attach 5-10 of the strongest to the support. Important: finally, shorten all lateral shoots on new root suckers by 2-3 leaves. After harvesting or at the end of autumn, the branches that bear fruit are cut as close to the soil as possible.
Also, you can always use the services of our company. Experts will properly trim trees and shrubs in your garden. The cost of tree pruning services can be viewed in the Garden Maintenance section.
Our climate allows us to successfully grow berries such as garden blackberries. What kind of culture it is, the photo demonstrates well. Conditions for it are favorable in most regions of Russia. It has high taste and contains trace elements necessary for humans. Its cultivation does not present any particular difficulties, and as a hedge, it reliably protects the site.
Blackberry is often confused with another member of the same family (Rosaceae) - raspberries. In recent years, many varieties and hybrids have appeared, some of which are bred on the basis of raspberries, so it is not surprising that an uninformed person can make a mistake in identifying a plant.
A semi-shrub with juicy and tasty berries is not too demanding for the soil, but it needs lighting. You need to plant blackberries in sunny areas. Plant care consists of three main activities:
In one place, the bush can bear fruit for up to 15 years. Reproduction occurs by cuttings and root suckers.
There are two types of blackberries. This division is arbitrary and is based on how the shoots behave. If the blackberry is bush-shaped with erect shoots... that is - kumanika... Plant with creeping stems - dewdrop... As a result of crossing these two types, semi-creeping varieties were bred. Erect varieties do not differ in large berry, while in dewberry the berry weight can reach 15 g.
Growing blackberries is no more difficult than other berry bushes. Nevertheless, it is not often possible to meet her on the plots of our summer residents. If raspberries, gooseberries and currants are found in almost every garden, then this culture is started by real enthusiasts. In terms of yield, it surpasses popular shrubs. Blackberries begin to bloom in May. Ripening can be expected by early August, depending on the variety.
The stages of planting and forming a bush have a lot in common with the agricultural technique of raspberries, but here you need to understand that different types require different care. First, let's talk about general recommendations for planting and care, and then dwell on the features of the reproduction of each form.
Blackberries are planted in mid-spring. It depends on the geographic location and weather conditions. In some regions, it is better to postpone planting until the end of May. Regardless of the shape blackberries love two things: moisture and warmth... therefore it is planted where there is most of the sun. The site must be protected from the influence of winds.
Among shrubs, this culture is considered a long-liver. With good agricultural technology, it can bear fruit for more than 15 years. Amateur gardeners who share their experience on how to grow blackberries say that 20 years is not the limit for it. If everything is done correctly, responsibly approach the choice of a place for a plantation, carry out all the necessary measures on time, the blackberry harvest will grow from year to year.
The correct landing pattern is to arrange rows in a sunny area in a north-south direction... This will provide good lighting for the entire bush throughout the day. It is advisable to place trellises along the rows of blackberries. To facilitate watering and root dressing, trenches are prepared for seedlings. In such shallow depths, they will feel good.
The width of the groove for planting the blackberry must be at least 0.4 m. The depth is the same. The distances between plants and between the rows are made taking into account the length of the shoots of a particular form of blackberry. For dewweeds, it will be at least 3 m, for kumanik, a little less - about 2 m.
If you plan to use drip irrigation, then you need to lay the hoses just at the stage of planting the bushes. In areas with stagnant water, drainage is poured at the bottom of the prepared trench. It can be sand or fine gravel. Add humus to the soil to increase fertility.
All berry crops respond well to horse manure. When adding it to the soil, pay attention to the fact that it must be rotted. From the side of the trellis along the edge of the groove, a small ridge should be poured. We put the seedlings or cuttings so that they lie on this ridge. Gently straighten the roots and cover the seedling with earth.
Recommended before boarding treat blackberry roots with a stimulant such as Kornevin or Epin... If spring promises to be cold, cover the soil with a film. It will keep the roots warm. In dry May, the task is different - to cover the seedlings from the sun. For this, a mulching material is used. It is better to plant blackberries on a cool, cloudy day.
Despite the fact that the culture is demanding on moisture, excessive moisture for it is no less dangerous than the lack of watering. Water the blackberries regularly. Weekly watering is usually sufficient. Several buckets of water are poured into the groove or the irrigation system laid down during planting is connected.
Mulching significantly reduces the frequency of watering. For blackberries, this agrotechnical technique is almost mandatory. In arid regions, mulch is the only way to avoid moisture loss. When caring for blackberries, you can use straw, last year's hay or sawdust as a mulching material.
Growing blackberries on trellises makes maintenance easier behind it and allows the crop to ripen without loss. It is especially important that with this method the rule for the arrangement of the rows "north-south" is observed.
To stimulate the growth of new shoots, fertilizing is done with fertilizers, which include nitrogen and phosphates. Spring application of 50 g of ammonium nitrate under the bush, as well as natural fertilizer in the form of compost or humus, will increase the yield of the berry bush. Planting and caring for thornless blackberries is done in the same way.
During the period of fruit setting, that is, from June to the end of July, nitrogen fertilizers are excluded, and the amount of phosphates is increased. As in spring, potash fertilizers are used to a minimum. At the end of summer, the bush begins to prepare for winter, so nitrogen fertilizers are not applied. New shoots are not needed now. In the fall, organic matter, superphosphate and potassium salt are introduced under the blackberry.
Without trimming, the inherent length of the type and grade of lashes can significantly exceed the capabilities of your site. Uncontrollably, the whips grow up to 5 meters or more, so a blackberry bush must be formed, but this must be done correctly, otherwise you can not wait for the berries.
The basic principle of pruning is that the berries are tied on the shoots of the last year, so there should always be young and lignified lashes on the bush. Young shoots gain strength during the season, and berries are tied on old ones (last year's). So that the yield does not decrease from year to year, it is imperative you need to remove all lashes that are more than 2 years old... It is easy to identify those - they just had berries on them this season, and they should be cut out in the fall.
Creeping and erect forms of blackberries reproduce in different ways. Rosyanika does not give offspring. It is propagated by dropping lashes. After they take root, the young plant is separated from the mother plant and transplanted to a permanent place. Another way is grafting.
Kumanika easily propagates by offspring from the roots. It can also be bred with scions and cuttings. With sufficient watering of the planting material, a lot is obtained, there is nothing complicated in its preparation.
It is not recommended to dig up the ground under bushes with blackberries. For weeding and loosening, it is better to use a flat cutter so as not to cut the roots. Damage to the roots is not dangerous for the plant. The fact is that overgrowth will grow at the site of the cuts, unauthorized reproduction will begin and it will be extremely difficult to remove blackberries spreading in all directions from the site.
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Blackberries are in many ways similar to their close relative, raspberries. But in our country it is not popular. This berry grows mostly in nature, only a few gardeners bred it on purpose. But recently, blackberries have begun to gain more and more fans. 
Blackberries respond to spring frosts and low temperatures. The landing site should be selected without access to cold winds. The best option may be the western and southern parts of the house. For breeding upright varieties, light loams are suitable, and heavy loams for climbing species. The plant feels good in sandy soil. Temporary flooding has a detrimental effect on young shoots. To breed fruitful blackberry bushes in the country, it is undesirable to plant a crop on calcareous soils, since the plants will be deficient in iron and magnesium.
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We must not forget about the previous culture. Leguminous herbs, beets, carrots, cucumbers, and zucchini are considered favorable for blackberries on a personal plot. The site is prepared for planting in several years, and is left fallow. It is cleared of weeds and pathogens. Six months before planting, in the fall, apply organic and mineral fertilizers to the ground. If the land is saturated with nutrients, then organic matter can be excluded.
The entire procedure for planting blackberry shrubs can be divided into several stages in order to subsequently achieve high results during plant survival.
For growing on a garden plot, the thornless blackberry is best suited. Of the most popular varieties, one can single out such as agave, abundant, darrow. These varieties are great for courting at their summer cottage. The absence of thorns makes it easier to harvest, and if the plant is no longer cared for, it will not grow as much as other blackberry varieties.
Now you know how to plant blackberries, and if you can get some seedlings, you can plant them correctly. If a garden blackberry has already been planted in the garden, cultivate and care for it in terms of watering and dressing by analogy with raspberries. In all other respects, the agricultural technology of this berry differs sharply from what gardeners of a temperate climate are used to.
In fact, blackberries are the same raspberries, only more aggressively growing. For this reason, if a blackberry is already growing in some corner of the garden, it is absolutely impossible to plant raspberries next to it. Firstly, these crops have common diseases, and secondly, blackberries will simply "strangle" raspberries underground with their roots, preventing them from growing, even if there is a small distance between the plants on the soil surface.
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If you like the studless blackberry, planting and caring for it will take some knowledge and some experience. The cultivation of this culture cannot be called simple. Best of all, those gardeners who have experience in growing grapes will "cope" with the garden hybrid blackberry, since the agricultural technology of these crops is similar.
The scourge of the hybrid thornless blackberry grows beyond hours and the problem quickly arises of where to place them. Blackberries, like raspberries, bear fruit on biennial shoots. Therefore, it is most reasonable to install trellises on both sides of a row and wind fruiting branches on one side, and only young ones growing this year on the other. 
The trellis must be installed thoroughly, since the vine, along with the side shoots, will grow impressive in size. And when the harvest begins to ripen on it, its mass will grow many times over. Every two meters of a row, strong supports with a height of 180-200 cm are dug in, between which galvanized wire is pulled at a height of 50, 100 and 170 cm.
In preparation for wintering, the lashes are removed from the trellis, wound into a ring and laid on the ground. From above, they are pressed down with a board and covered with non-woven material.
Caring for blackberries in the spring is to get the whips from under the shelters and throw them on the trellis. Vibrant green leaves should remain on the lashes. It is on these overwintered shoots that berries will appear this year.
Hybrid garden blackberry per unit area gives a yield 5 times higher than raspberries.
During the summer, when the plant is blooming and the harvest is ripening, the culture needs watering, weeding and feeding. The plant quickly develops a gigantic vegetative mass and carries out many nutrients from the soil that must be replaced.
When a blackberry has just been planted on the site, spring care for young plantings consists only in abundant watering. Fruiting bushes are fed with urea in the spring. A tablespoon of fertilizer is dissolved in a bucket of water and poured into each well in a bucket of such a solution.
Cold well water should not be used for irrigation and preparation of fertilizer solutions. It is best to install a container on the site for collecting precipitation or heating well water in the sun.
Pruning blackberries is troublesome, but you need to do it regularly. Processing of blackberry bushes with pruning shears is carried out in spring, summer, and autumn. Blackberries are divided into erect, which is called kumanik, and creeping - dewberry. Shoots of kumanik reach a height of three meters or even more, it forms many replacement shoots, like raspberries, erect blackberries bear fruit on two-year-old shoots. Most varieties of dewrock do not give root growth, its shoots look like whips with a large number of fruit twigs. In the spring, even before the buds awaken, dry and broken stems, as well as frost-bitten tops of the shoots, are cut off before the buds are awakened to the first healthy bud. Bushes of the first year of growth are subjected to double pruning: to stimulate the growth of lateral shoots in May, the tops of the branches are shortened by 5-7 cm, and in July, the tops of those lateral shoots that have reached half a meter are cut off by 7-10 cm, in addition, only 6-8 of the strongest, and the rest must be removed. In mature bushes, in addition to frozen and broken branches, all weak shoots are removed in the spring, leaving only 4-10 strong branches on the bush, the lateral branches are shortened to 20-40 cm so that 8-12 buds remain on them. During the growing season, remove root shoots that appear in the summer, leaving only those that have grown since spring - they will bear fruit next year. These spring shoots in the fall need to be pruned at a height of 1.7-2 m.In addition, remove all weak branches and, most importantly, cut all the second-year shoots under the root immediately after they have stopped bearing fruit - they will no longer produce berries, so in vain the plant does not need to spend food and strength on them.
The process of reproduction of blackberries is carried out in three ways - by seeds, dividing the bush and vegetatively. Almost all blackberry varieties retain the properties of the parent bushes. We must stratify the seeds, soak them in melt or rain water for several hours and sow them in a greenhouse. We plant seedlings in open ground with the formation of 4 leaves. Reproduction by apical layers is also possible. The method consists in deepening the apex of the shoot into the groove. This method is very simple. The cuttings take root in a month. It is better to replant it next year in the spring. Reproduction by cuttings is as follows. We dig out two- or three-year-old roots, cut into cuttings of 6-8 cm. In winter, we store the planting material in wet sand in the basement. We plant in early spring in grooves 20 cm deep. Reproduction is also possible with green cuttings. Towards the middle of summer, we cut off the cuttings with buds, treat them with indolylbutyric acid, and then plant them in small cups with soil. By dividing the bush, the blackberry propagates by dividing the bushes into parts, trying to keep several strong shoots on each unit.
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An amazing blackberry grows in the wild. The healing properties are superior to raspberries, but they are not grown on a large scale in Russia.... And in the garden, blackberries are becoming more and more popular. Let's look at a detailed description and instructions for proper care, growing, reproduction and pruning of blackberry bushes at home, which will be useful to both the experienced and novice gardener.
Blackberries respond to spring frosts and low temperatures. The landing site should be chosen without access to cold winds.... The best option may be the western and southern parts of the house.
For breeding upright varieties, light loams are suitable, and heavy loams for climbing species. The plant thrives in sandy soil... Temporary flooding has a detrimental effect on young shoots. To breed fruitful blackberry bushes in the country, it is undesirable to plant a crop on calcareous soils, since the plants will be deficient in iron and magnesium.
We must not forget about the previous culture. Favorable for blackberries on a personal plot are considered legumes, beets, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini.
The site is prepared for several years for planting, and is left fallow.... It is cleared of weeds and pathogens. Six months before planting, in the fall, apply organic and mineral fertilizers to the ground. If the land is saturated with nutrients, then organic matter can be excluded.
First of all, it is necessary to decide on the variety of blackberries, paying attention to the climatic conditions of the place of growth: the Moscow region, Siberia or the middle zone of Russia. Planting material should be chosen with a developed root system, which is better purchased in nurseries. The seedling should have 2 stems and a developed bud near the roots.
The distance between blackberry seedlings depends on the shoot formation of the variety
Maintain the distance between the planting material 1 meter, rows - 2 meters. This method is called tape and is suitable for varieties with a high level of shoot formation.
With a bush type of planting the scheme is 1.8x1.8 (m), 2 seedlings are planted in each hole and are acceptable for varieties with low shoots.
The planting material is lowered into the groove and the roots are carefully straightened. The soil with fertilizer is poured from above, the basal bud is covered up to 3 cm below the soil. The top layer of the bush is mulched, compacted and watered. Pour from 3 to 6 liters of water under each bush.... The last step is to prune the seedling up to 20 cm and remove the fruit stem.
You do not need special knowledge of caring for blackberries to grow a healthy bush, it is enough to fulfill the following requirements:
In the garden, blackberries propagate vegetatively (by layering, offspring, cuttings). You can propagate this culture by seed method.... It is used to preserve the varietal characteristics of the crop.
Hybrids and large-fruited blackberries do not produce offspring... Therefore, this breeding method is unacceptable for them.
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Blackberry bushes bear fruit only once. If the first year is spent on its full-fledged cultivation to lignified stems, then in the second year of life it blooms and bears fruit. This is where her fruiting cycle ends. Therefore, from two-year-old specimens, you should get rid of and properly form a bush. Because:
Young specimens should also be pruned to stimulate flowering for the next season. Pruning in the fall strengthens the bush., normalizes the load on it, improves aging.
Algorithm of actions:
The chosen place and proper care of the blackberry: feeding, watering, pruning, processing will allow you to get high yields and delight the family with medicinal berries.
The garden blackberry belongs to the genus Robus, which belongs to the Pink family. In our climatic conditions, gray blackberries and bushy blackberries are usually grown.
This perennial plant is a bush with flexible branches covered with thorns. To date, through the efforts of scientists, a thornless blackberry has been bred. Its foliage, slightly covered with fluff, jagged. Flowers of white color, small, thanks to them the blackberry is a good honey plant.
It is rather difficult to classify blackberry varieties, due to the abundance of hybrid and varietal varieties. Let's give an example of some varieties:
Thornfree - a hybrid that does not have thorns. Differs in early ripening of fruits and large yields. In general, it is quite unpretentious and tolerates winters normally.
Polar - also a frost-resistant variety. The bushes are small, but they have a high yield.
Black satin is a tall, thornless variety that can grow up to 6 m in height. Despite the strong growth of the bush, root shoots are quite rare for it. The berries are slightly elongated.
Chester - has a highly branching shoot, due to which many medium-sized sweet fruits are formed on it.
Navajo - a thornless variety with a not very large bush size, but a high yield. The berries are sweet, medium in size, with little visible seeds.
Kiova - a plant with large berries that crumple slightly and therefore are good for transportation. Fruiting is long-term and at the same time the fruits retain their taste for a long time.
Giant - gives very large yields due to its huge berries. It bears fruit for a very long time and has a high frost resistance.
Triple crown - the branches of these plants are straight, grow quite strongly. The fruits are medium, but the number and size are larger than those of the common Thornfree.
Repairing blackberry is still a novelty, but many varieties of it have already appeared. It is distinguished by long-term fruiting before cold weather.
Black Magic - one of the remontant varieties, which generally tolerates the conditions of our belt well and can form a fruit ovary during dry summer. It has medium-sized oblong fruits with a short shelf life.
Ruben - Another remontant variety, which is quite early, but does not withstand too much frost and does not bear fruit if there is a severe drought in summer.
Growing a blackberry in your garden is not an easy task. Despite the fact that this genus belongs to Rosaceae, it is better to plant it in the spring, and not in the fall. The best time to plant is in May, when the frost has passed. Choose a site that is well-lit and not blown by the winds, because drafts can damage pollination.
It is desirable that the soil be drained, or at least water does not stagnate in it for too long. Light loams or sandy loams are well suited, the acidity of the soil is close to pH 6.
Before planting, it is necessary to dig up the site in the fall and disinfect it in order to get rid of weeds and pests.
If the soil is nutritious, then no pre-fertilization is required. Otherwise, organic matter should be added - 10 kg per m2 - and minerals - 15 g superphosphate and 25 potassium also per m2.
When buying material, you should first of all pay attention to one-year-old seedlings, since they root best of all. The roots of the seedling must be developed, have a couple of stems extending from them and must have a formed bud.
Choose the size of the hole for planting based on the size of your seedling, and the distance from other plants, as well as buildings, should be at least 1 m.
The distance between the bushes depends on how much your species is branching. If the branching is low, then the bush method is used, which involves planting a pair of seedlings in one hole, and the gap between the holes is 180 cm.
The second method is tape. It is used when planting varieties with strong shoot formation. In this case, young plants are planted in a row in the furrow, keeping 1 m between specimens and 2 m between rows.
When planting, the rhizome must be straightened and filled with soil in such a way that the bud at the base of the shoot is a couple of centimeters above the substrate. You also need to fill the hole not before the formation of a hill, but vice versa - so that a hollow is obtained.
After planting, abundant watering is carried out - 4 liters under the plant - and the area is covered with manure. At the end of all these procedures, the stems are shortened to 20 cm, and all fruit buds are cut off.
Caring for a blackberry begins with the installation of supports, preferably trellises. Only the oldest stems are tied to them, and the young ones already cling to the supports. Try to direct the branches in the right direction, otherwise they will be more difficult to care for.
Species with straight shoots do not bear fruit in the first year, and in order to have berries in the second, all branches that have reached a meter must be shortened by 10 cm, and the side branches must also be cut a little when they grow to half a meter.
After planting, the bushes must not forget to water for a month and a half. Watering is also required during the heat and when the crop is ripe. For watering, you need to take rain or settled water, you can not water the plants with cold water.
This culture has such a peculiarity: at a time when the harvest is ripening, it must be shaded, since the bright sun can badly affect the harvest.
Another representative of the Pink family is raspberry, it is easily grown when planting and nursing in the open field, it is a very useful berry. Recommendations for growing, grooming, pruning and much more about raspberries can be found in this article.
Top dressing is applied in the same way as for similar berry crops.
Fertilizers with a high nitrogen content are applied at the beginning of the period of active green mass growth. It can be urea (20 g per square meter) or organic (4 kg per square meter).
Every year, fertilizing with potassium (40 g per square meter) is introduced into the soil, but make sure that they are free of chlorine. When mulching a plot with manure, the introduction of phosphorus fertilizing is not required. Otherwise, 50 g of phosphorus per square meter is added every 3 years.
With the arrival of autumn, preparations for winter begin. To begin with, you should perform pruning, but in general this procedure should be carried out not only in the fall, but throughout the whole year.
Spring pruning is carried out even before the juices begin to move and the buds swell. At this time, sanitary cleaning is performed, removing dry, diseased and shortening frostbitten branches.
Young plants are stimulated to grow by pruning them by 5 cm in May. In July, their lateral branches, which have grown to 50 cm, are pruned by 10 cm, as mentioned above. If a young bush has a lot of side shoots, and most likely it will be, then some of them are removed, leaving only 8 of the strongest ones.
Adult bushes are pruned, leaving up to 10 strongest branches, and side branches are cut up to 30 cm, so that each one has about 10 buds.
From the root growth, only the one that appeared in the spring is left, and all that has grown during the rest of the growing season is cut off. Young stems that appeared in spring are cut to 170 cm in autumn, and second-year stems are cut to the root, since they will no longer bear fruit the next year.
The next point in preparation for winter, after pruning, will be mulching the area with peat, and disinfecting the soil and bushes with Bordeaux liquid. In warm winters, when the thermometer does not fall below -10 ° C, the plants need not be covered.
If the winters are colder, then shelter should be made. To do this, they remove the supports, put the branches on the ground and cover them with hay or leaves of dried corn. After that, the area is covered with oilcloth.
It is a little problematic to bend the stems of species in which they are straight to the soil, so you need to do this carefully so as not to break. We do not recommend using dry leaves from trees as a shelter and, in general, it is impossible for any foliage to remain on the site for the winter. Alternatively, you can take straw or sawdust for shelter.
Blackberry propagation is not difficult. Creeping species reproduce well by layering, and those with straight shoots, by cuttings and dividing the bush.
Apical cut is the easiest method. To do this, you need to bend any branch to the soil and sprinkle it with earth. Roots appear quickly and when they develop, it will be possible to separate the branch from the parent.
Horizontal layering assumes complete falling asleep of the branch. Thus, several bushes appear and all of them can be transplanted by dividing the parent. Naturally, it is better to resort to layering in the spring.
Root shoots that appear in most varieties every year are also a fairly good method for breeding straight-stemmed species. You can plant those shoots that have grown to 10 cm. It is better to do this at the beginning of summer, so that they have time to take root and settle down before the autumn cold snap.
If the variety does not expel new stems in the spring, then they resort to dividing the bush.
This is a simple procedure, the main condition of which is the division of the root into sufficiently developed parts that can take root. Old, unsuitable for reproduction roots are destroyed after the operation.
Cuttings are used to preserve valuable varieties. At the beginning of summer, material is cut from the upper part of the shoots, on which there should be a bud, leaf and part of the shoot.
The cut should be treated with a substance that enhances the formation of roots, and then the cuttings are planted in a container with peat mixed with sand.
Rooting requires high humidity, so the cuttings should be kept in a greenhouse. It will take about 30 days before rooting, after which it will be possible to plant the material in open soil.
Very rarely, they resort to other methods of reproduction, for example, seed, since they are more complicated than those described above and less often give a result.
Among the diseases of blackberries, the following are quite common:
Anthracnose - appears with an excess of moisture, most often with prolonged rains and dampness. Purple spots and ulcers appear on young stems, and in winter, the affected stems die.
To prevent the onset of the disease, you should get rid of weeds and mulch with manure. It is treated with fungicides, including Bordeaux liquid.
White spot looks like a slightly brownish white spot. It is treated with copper-containing preparations.
Didymella leads to drying out of foliage, death of buds and drying out of the entire bush. The onset of the disease can be determined by brown-purple spots on the shoots.
Gradually, the buds begin to blacken, and the foliage is covered with spots, break and dry. To protect yourself from this disease, you need to apply fertilizers on time and disinfect the kidneys with Bordeaux liquid in the spring.
Botrytis affects berries, covers them with gray rot. So that this does not happen, you must not allow dense thickets in which the berries can begin to rot.
Powdery mildew the most common disease. It covers all parts of the plant with a whitish bloom. Treatment is usually done with copper-containing substances.
Among the pests may appear pincers , raspberry kidney moth , weevils , aphid , caterpillars other. Usually, in order to destroy these pests, it is necessary to carry out treatment with insecticides, for example, actellik or phytoverm. Acaricides help against ticks.
The fruits and foliage of blackberries, like raspberries, which are its close relative, include vitamins, including A, C, E, K. It is rich in trace elements, fiber, acids.
The berries of this culture have a good effect on metabolism, help to reduce high temperatures, and strengthen the body's immune forces. They have a good effect on the digestive tract, and also help with sore throats.
This plant has no clearly expressed contraindications, the only exception to this is individual intolerance.
Since blackberries have high taste, they can be used for cooking various dishes and preservation.
To make Blackberry Pie you will need:
To begin with, flour, salt and baking powder are mixed together.
Add the berries and mix gently again so as not to crush them too much.
The pie is baked in the oven at 180 degrees for 40 minutes, the willingness to check with a match.
To make jam for the winter, take 2.5 kilograms of blackberries, 1.5 kilograms of sugar (if you like sweeter, you can more) and a pack of gelling mixture (you can do without it, but then it will take longer to cook).
Mix the blackberries and sugar and leave to let the juice flow. Next, put on medium heat and wait until it boils. After that, cook for half an hour, stirring occasionally and removing the foam.
After this time, add the gelling mixture and cook for another 5 minutes. After that, we roll it into banks.
If the gelling mixture was not added, then cook until tender, which can be determined by dropping the jam on the nail - it will become thick and will not spread well.
Blackberries make great wine. To do this, take 1.5 kilograms of ripe berries, 1 kilogram of sugar and a liter of water.
Syrup is boiled from water and sugar, which is poured into mashed berries. Everything is mixed and poured into a glass fermentation bottle. Do not fill the container up to the top, as the liquid will rise during fermentation.
Close the bottle well, make a water seal, otherwise the wort will sour. It is best to leave the container with the wort in a room with a temperature of 20 ° C or even slightly lower.
Blackberries are still not widely distributed in the areas of Russian gardeners. One of the reasons is the abundance of thorns, which make it difficult to care for the crop.
In the past few years, breeders have presented the world with a whole line of thornless varieties, giving berry lovers the opportunity to grow black fragrant fruits without much hassle, without being injured by sharp thorns. There is nothing supernatural in caring for a studless blackberry, but there are certain features that will be discussed in this article.
Blackberry bushes without thorns need constant attention and care, although the cultivation technique of this category of varieties cannot be called particularly difficult. In order for the growth, flowering and fruiting of blackberries to go their own way, they carry out standard measures:
Note: In the United States and Mexico, thornless blackberry varieties are grown commercially. In Russia, there are no large blackberry plantations even in the south of the country. So far, they have taken root only in small farms.
Thornless blackberry varieties tolerate drought well, but timely watering increases the yield and juiciness of the berries. During the season, at least 3-4 abundant watering is required. The plant especially needs moisture during flowering and fruiting. The last time the bushes are moistened after picking the berries, this watering is called water-charging and is necessary to improve the winter hardiness of the plant.
Watering a large number of bushes from a watering can is quite laborious. One of the alternative options is to dig grooves along the rows to a depth of 5-10 cm, along which to let water in. This method provides the deep hydration required for the blackberry root system, which goes deep into the ground. They wet the soil well, and also automate the process of water supply, drip irrigation systems.
In the first year of life of the thornless blackberry, there are enough nutrients that were introduced into the hole during planting. In subsequent years, triple feeding is used:
Note: If the blackberry has weakened after an illness or nutrition is not enough for it, you can additionally use any organic compounds or foliar top dressing on a leaf with complex fertilizers.
Blackberry varieties without thorns are basically a little sick and are rarely affected by pests. But preventive treatments, which are carried out 2-3 times per season, should not be canceled. The bushes are treated with phytosporin and a solution of copper sulfate.
If the blackberry is sick, then spraying with a solution of Bordeaux liquid or colloidal sulfur is used. When pests attack, Actellik, Karbofos, Fitoverm, Akarin are used.
From folk remedies against pests, you can recommend an infusion of garlic (500 g per 10 liters of water), tobacco (400 g per 10 liters of water), a decoction of tansy (2 kg per 10 liters of water).
Common thornless blackberry varieties bear fruit abundantly, but are not highly winter-hardy. They do not tolerate winter well and often freeze out. In the fall, the branches are removed from the trellis and pinned to the ground. Cover from above with straw, spruce branches, any non-woven material. In a winter with little snow, snow is thrown on top. Shelter is necessary even in the suburbs and temperate latitudes, and in Siberia and the Urals, a thornless blackberry, without additional protection measures, simply does not winter.
Tip: Should not be used to shelter foliage from other shrubs and trees. Usually, fungal spores, pathogens, and pest larvae that can infect berry bushes overwinter in it.
Most thornless blackberry varieties are grown as a biennial plant. In the first year, shoots grow, in the second year flower buds and fruits form on them. While fruiting is taking place on the shoots of the second year, annual branches are growing.
Autumn pruning is carried out before frost. In different regions, this period falls on September-October.
Autumn pruning of blackberries consists in removing the branches of the second year under the root. The bush should consist of 5-7 shoots of the first year. The tops of the branches are pinched 10-15 cm to avoid excessive stretching of the shoots.
Note: Blackberry bushes are tall and need support. A trellis is made to tie the stems. The simplest option is the pillars installed between the bushes, with wire stretched in several rows.
The growth and fruiting of a blackberry bush will depend on the correct planting in the future, therefore, special attention should be paid to this agrotechnical method.
For thornless blackberries, spring planting is the best option. During the summer period, the bush will take root, adapt, get stronger. Chances are good overwinter and start bearing fruit next year.
When planting in autumn, blackberries do not have time to root and acclimatize well, which leads to their freezing in winter. Even in the case of a good shelter, it winters poorly and sometimes blows out in the spring.
Planting sites for blackberries must meet the following requirements:
The plot and soil for spring planting are prepared in the fall. They dig up the earth, remove the roots of perennial weeds, enrich it with humus, compost, ash, dolomite flour.
Varietal seedlings are bought in nurseries. They must meet the following characteristics:
It is more difficult to identify a healthy seedling with a closed root system (CCS). But here, too, there are pluses: a seedling with ZKS does not get sick during transplantation, it takes root faster, it can be planted at any time.
Landing is carried out in stages:
Depending on the variety, the distance between the bushes is observed. For studless blackberries, this is 1 m between plants in a row and at least 2.0 m between rows. For spreading bushes, this ratio increases even more.
The choice of the variety depends on the climatic zone, the timing of fruiting, the preferences of gardeners. It is advisable to have several varieties of thornless blackberries on the site so that their productivity and benefits can be compared.
Gardeners in the suburbs prefer the frost-resistant blackberry tree. The average temperature in the central part of Russia in winter is -11 C, and the lowest possible temperature can drop below -30 C. The varieties are suitable:,. They hibernate well under cover.
Note: Most of the thornless blackberry varieties have a prolonged fruiting period lasting more than a month. The bushes look decorative not only due to the foliage: on one plant there are flowers, green and red unripe fruits and ripe black berries.
