Content
Blackberries can be propagated in several ways throughout the warm season. To choose the most convenient and effective method, you should study all existing options.
Peculiarities of reproduction at different times of the year
The best time for propagation of shrubs remains early spring and autumn. Like any plant, during these periods blackberries quickly grow their root system, since they do not spend resources on the development of green mass. However, there are ways to increase the crop population on a site, even in high summer.
How to propagate blackberries in spring
Spring is optimal for planting blackberries with an existing root system. You can propagate the culture:
- seedlings;
- stem and root cuttings with regrown underground rods;
- root suckers;
- dividing the bush.
In all cases, you need to choose a dry and warm, but cloudy day for planting. The soil should thaw by the time the procedure is carried out.
Propagation should be carried out in spring after temperatures reach about 10 °C.
How to propagate blackberries in summer
In the summer, green and lignified cuttings, as well as horizontal and apical layering, are most often rooted. Until autumn, parts of the plant have enough time to build up the root system. Reproduction is usually carried out on a cloudy, dry day; the weather is chosen as cool as possible.
The main danger of summer rooting is that cuttings and seedlings do not tolerate drought well and may not take root in the heat. In order for propagation to be successful, it is necessary to regularly water the blackberries until autumn as the soil dries out. The soil around the seedlings and cuttings is mulched with material that prevents the rapid evaporation of moisture.
How to properly propagate blackberries in the fall
The most convenient way to propagate blackberries from a bush in the fall is by division, planting sprouted cuttings and rooting horizontal and apical layering. If you carry out the procedures several weeks before the cold weather, the crop will have time to safely take root in the new place and will begin to grow with the onset of spring.
In addition, in the fall it is customary to harvest lignified cuttings and root suckers. The crop tolerates the separation of shoots well before the onset of winter - the cuts quickly overgrow and rarely begin to rot.
Methods for propagating garden blackberries
Blackberries on the site can be propagated by seeds and numerous vegetative methods. Each method has its own advantages.
Dividing the bush
Upright blackberries are most often propagated by division, which does not produce offspring and at the same time does not allow young shoots to be bent to the ground. The method is optimally suited for well-developed shrubs older than 4-5 years, with a powerful root system and numerous stems.
The reproduction procedure looks like this:
- A healthy and strong blackberry bush is dug out of the ground, trying not to damage the roots. The plant should be well watered beforehand, in which case it will be easier to remove it from its old place.
- Using a sharp and clean shovel or ax, the blackberry rhizome is divided into several parts. Each of them should have at least two strong above-ground shoots and one underground bud.
- The delenki are carefully inspected and damaged, dry or rotten areas of the roots are removed. All cut areas are treated with wood ash, crushed coal or potassium permanganate solution to avoid infection.
- The resulting seedlings are immediately transferred to the prepared holes. The holes in the soil for blackberries should be approximately twice the size of the roots of the seedlings.
After planting, the cuttings are watered abundantly, mulched in a circle, and over the next weeks the condition of the soil is monitored, not allowing it to dry out.
Reproduction by dividing the bush is recommended to be carried out a month before the first frost.
Apical layering
Apical layering is usually used for propagating varietal blackberries of creeping varieties; in such plants the shoots can be easily bent to the ground.The procedure is best carried out in August and September, so that the crop has time to give new roots.
The selected blackberry shoot must be cleared of leaves and the growing point on it must be plucked off. After this, the branch is tilted and buried into the ground up to 10 cm with its upper part. It is better to separate the apical cuttings from the mother plant with the onset of spring.
Until the end of the season, the apical layers need to be moistened weekly.
Horizontal layering
Propagation of garden blackberries by horizontal layering is also used mainly for creeping varieties. It is necessary to select a young flexible shoot, tilt it to the ground and deepen it to 20 cm so that the base and top protrude from the soil.
With regular watering, after 1-2 months the cuttings form new roots in the buried part. In autumn or spring it can be separated from the main plant.
The top of a horizontal layer must be cut off, otherwise the shoot will not produce new shoots
Root suckers
Many varieties of blackberries produce offspring - shoots that grow at a short distance from the mother bush from root segments. Usually you have to fight them to prevent thickening. But if necessary, the offspring can be used for their own purposes.
Bush blackberries are propagated as follows:
- At the end of May or at the end of August, several strong, not twisted shoots with a shoot thickness of at least 8 mm are found on the plant.
- Carefully dig up the root system of the blackberry and select those stems whose underground part has the longest shoots up to 20 cm and a powerful lobe.
- Using a sharpened tool, the offspring is separated from the mother bush and immediately transferred to a new place using the same algorithm as a regular seedling.
With this method of propagation, blackberries can bloom in the second year after planting. However, it is recommended to remove the buds so that the plant can focus on root development and produce a more abundant harvest next season. It is convenient to propagate upright varieties using root suckers.
Root cuttings
Blackberry root cuttings differ from offspring in that they do not have a well-developed above-ground part, they only have unsprouted buds. But this material is also well suited for reproduction:
- In October or November, the blackberry trunk circle is lightly dug up and parts of the roots are cut into pieces at least 10 cm in length with a diameter of up to 4 cm.
- For the winter, the offspring in damp sand are put away in a dark, cool place, for example, in a cellar. It is necessary to preserve the planting material so that it does not start growing until the next season.
- With the onset of spring, the offspring are buried in the selected area to a depth of about 5 cm. They need to be positioned horizontally.
- Planting material is watered regularly until new shoots appear.
When planted in spring, root cuttings manage to produce 2-3 well-developed shoots per season
Lignified cuttings
Woody cuttings are the most unreliable way to propagate blackberries. However, the method is used if the deadline for preparing green shoots has already been missed, and there is no opportunity to use offspring and layering.
In mid-autumn, sections of woody branches up to 30 cm long are cut. They are kept in the cold until spring, and with the onset of warmth, the cuts are renewed and laid out in rows, sprinkled with earth on top.The cuttings need to be watered and weeded from time to time; to speed up the process, you can stretch a plastic film on top. After the formation of young shoots with leaves and roots, the planting material will need to be dug up and distributed into pots or transferred to temporary beds.
Shoots from lignified cuttings are planted in a permanent place when a pair of true leaves appear
Green cuttings
For propagation by green cuttings, young shoots of the current year are used. In June and July, flexible stems with several internodes are cut, the lower leaves are removed, and the upper leaves are shortened by half. The cuttings are dipped in a growth stimulator, and then planted in a temporary bed or in pots and covered with a jar on top to create greenhouse conditions. After about 3-4 weeks, the rooted shoots are transferred to a permanent place.
The upper two buds of green cuttings are cut off before propagation.
Propagation of blackberries by seeds at home
Vegetative methods can be used to quickly increase the shrub population. But it is also possible to propagate blackberries at home from seeds - when collected by hand, germination reaches 80%.
To obtain planting material, you need to take healthy overripe berries, gently crush them and rinse them in water. Good large seeds will settle to the bottom of the container, and they should be used for propagation.
The germination algorithm looks like this:
- The washed seeds are dried on a towel and then stored in the refrigerator for three months in damp sand. Stratification allows you to increase the germination of the material and strengthen the endurance of blackberries.
- At the beginning of March, the seeds are removed from the refrigerator and sown in shallow but wide containers in a nutrient substrate consisting of sand, peat and garden soil. It is necessary to immerse the grains up to 5 mm.
- The seeds are generously sprayed with water from above and the container is covered with a transparent film. For several weeks, the container is placed under a special phytolamp at room temperature, not forgetting to moisten the soil every five days.
- After four true leaves appear, the seedlings are transferred to a temporary open bed, leaving a distance of about 15 cm between individual seedlings.
- During the summer, blackberries from seeds are regularly watered and complex fertilizers are applied, and the soil is weeded to remove weeds.
Before the onset of winter, the roots of the seedlings are covered with peat, sawdust or humus for insulation. The blackberries are transferred to a permanent place the next year, when the plants are finally stronger.
The upper two buds of green cuttings are cut off before propagation.
Dormant kidney
An unusual way of winter propagation of blackberries suggests using dormant buds for germination. The diagram looks like this:
- In October, annual cuttings about 15 cm long with several buds are cut from the plant.
- The shoots are cleared of leaves and stored for the winter in a cellar or refrigerator.
- At the end of February, the cuttings are removed and immersed with the top bud down in a jar of water.
- Place the container on a lighted windowsill and periodically add liquid as it evaporates.
- After the bud sprouts with roots, it is cut off and transferred to a pot with soil for growing.
Using this method, you can awaken all the buds on the prepared cuttings.But it is important to immerse them in water one by one.
Reproduction by a dormant bud is more effective than regular shoot germination
How to propagate thornless blackberries
It is convenient to propagate thornless blackberries using vegetative methods. Namely:
- green cuttings;
- apical and horizontal layering;
- dividing the bush.
Garden blackberries without thorns rarely reproduce by offspring, since most varieties, in principle, do not have basal shoots. As for growing from seeds, when using it, the unique characteristics of hybrids are often lost; in particular, the bushes can grow thorny.
How to propagate climbing blackberries
For climbing varieties of shrubs, propagation by horizontal and vertical layering is well suited. The shoots of such plants are thin and flexible, they can be easily tilted towards the ground and fixed so that they do not straighten. Root cuttings and suckers, as well as seeds, can be used, but it is less convenient.
Conclusion
Propagating blackberries is a fairly simple task that can be accomplished in several ways. If there is at least one mature plant bush on the site, then to increase the crop population you will not have to buy seedlings from nurseries.
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