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The delicious blackberry comes from the wild. Breeders have developed many cultivated varieties, but the crop is not grown on an industrial scale in Russian spaces. The plant has settled in the garden plots of summer residents and in private gardens. The process of growing blackberries is simple and can be done by a novice gardener.
Growing blackberries in the country
Garden blackberries in the wild are a thorny shrub with long stems and black berries shaped like raspberries. Breeders have developed many cultural varieties. Thornless and remontant blackberries appeared with creeping and also erect types of bush.
The taste of the cultivated berry was quickly appreciated by summer residents. Blackberries began to be grown in suburban areas. Supports are installed for the plant to simplify harvesting and caring for the bush. Summer residents propagate the crop using purchased seedlings. More experienced gardeners have learned to produce new plants from cuttings. It can be propagated by seeds, but the process is complicated and does not always bring results.
How to grow garden blackberries
Choosing the right place to grow blackberries is the key to a rich harvest. The plant loves space. The vines grow long, the roots are branched, going deep into the ground. Thanks to this structure of the root system, blackberries can do without watering for a long time, drawing moisture from the ground.
The growing area is selected according to the number of bushes. Depending on the variety, a gap of up to 2 m is maintained between plants. An important condition for growing a crop is the illumination of the area by the sun. According to the structure of the bush, the crop is divided into two types:
- bramble - bush variety;
- dewberry is a climbing variety.
The bush variety is considered the most fastidious in care. Kumanika loves fertile loamy soil or sandy loam. Dewberry can bear fruit well in heavy soils. The plant only does not like stagnant moisture. A low content of nutrients in the soil will affect poor harvests and shrub growth. The plant needs to be fed annually.
You can grow blackberries next door to an apple tree. The plant cannot be placed near strawberries. Raspberries are considered a good neighbor, but both crops have the same pests and diseases. Here the gardener himself must make a decision. If there is not enough space on the plot, then you can plant blackberries next to raspberries.
The quality of the soil can be determined visually by the plants growing on the site. The presence of moss, sorrel or horsetail indicates high acidity. 1 m into the ground2 you need to add about 500 g of dolomite flour.
The nuances of growing blackberries in the Urals
To grow blackberries in the Urals, you need to develop specially bred cold-resistant varieties. The most popular are:
- Polar. An ideal variety for growing for beginners. With a minimum of care, the plant will reward you with a bountiful harvest. The bush grows up to 2.5 m. The yield per plant reaches 7 kg.
- Loch Tay. Thornless blackberries bear large berries. The variety is high-yielding. Powerful bushes with long shoots need support.
- Ruben. The new variety is characterized by a compact bush. Elastic branches grow without thorns and do not break from strong gusts of wind. Fruiting lasts until the onset of frost.
- Agawam. Winter-hardy American variety withstands frosts down to –40OC. The bush produces up to 4 kg of berries weighing 3 g per season.
- Darrow. The frost-resistant variety produces more than 3 kg of berries per bush per season. Cone-shaped fruits weigh 3 g.
Growing crops in the Urals follows standard rules. Only the timing of planting seedlings differs. The procedure begins after the soil has warmed up around mid-May.
Growing blackberries in Siberia
Can be grown in Siberia blackberry varieties, suitable for the Urals. However, there are varieties more adapted to cold climates. The following varieties are considered the most popular:
- Black Satin. An unpretentious plant can take root in the conditions of Siberia on any land. The shrub is distinguished by the growth of long stems up to 7 m. The berries are large, weighing about 7 g. On the branches, the fruits are formed in clusters of 15 pieces. The thornless variety brings up to 20 kg of harvest from 1 bush.
- Tronfree. The thornless variety bears more than 100 berries on each shoot. The vines grow more than 5 m long. The berry weight is about 6 g. The ripe berries are harvested in August.
- Abundant. The bush has long creeping vines without thorns.The roots grow strictly vertically, which allows maintaining a small distance between the bushes. The weight of one berry reaches 7 g.
In Siberian conditions, seedlings are planted from mid-May. Over the summer, the plant manages to take root. Next year we can expect the first harvest.
How to propagate blackberries correctly
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 occurs by root buds.
Blackberry propagation by layering
A weaving bush from cuttings allows you to get many new seedlings. The reproduction process involves the following steps:
- In early August, the annual stems of the plant are bent to the ground.
- The branches are covered with soil in grooves 20 cm deep. Only the top remains on the surface.
- After two months, the cuttings will take root and shoots will emerge from the ground. Seedlings can be immediately cut off from the mother bush, but it is better to do this next spring.
From one cutting up to 5 new seedlings grow.
Propagation of garden blackberries by cuttings
Any variety of blackberry can be propagated by cuttings. The method is considered universal. It consists of the following actions:
- In autumn, annual woody branches are cut off on an adult bush. Cuttings 40 cm long are cut from them.
- The twigs are buried in the garden until next spring. The depth of backfilling with earth is about 20 cm.
- With the onset of spring, cuttings are dug out of the ground.The cuts on both sides of the twigs are renewed with pruning shears. The cuttings are laid out in a row in a groove at a distance of 10 cm and again covered with soil.
- The cuttings are watered before emergence. To speed up the process, install arcs and stretch a greenhouse out of film.
- After germination, when the plants grow 3 full leaves, the cuttings are dug out of the ground. Each twig will have 2 or 3 plants with their own roots. They are separated with pruning shears and planted in separate containers for further cultivation.
- When new leaves appear on the seedlings and stems grow, the plants are planted in a permanent place.
You can get blackberry seedlings from cuttings cut in spring. This must be done before the buds open.
Green (stem) cuttings
Even green cuttings cut from the bush in summer are suitable for propagating blackberries:
- The tops of the branches are cut from the bush with pruning shears in July. The length of the cutting is about 20 cm.Attention! Cuttings cannot be cut parallel to the petiole of the underlying leaf. The optimal cutting angle is 45o.
- The top of the plant itself is not used for propagation. A piece of cutting with two leaves is cut from the branch.
- On the cutting, the bottom leaf is cut off, leaving part of the hemp on the twig. Cut off half of the top leaf.
- Prepared green cuttings are dipped in Kornevin's solution and planted in separate pots with soil or peat. A greenhouse is made of film over the plants to maintain 96% humidity. Optimum air temperature +30OWITH.
- Some of the green cuttings will certainly disappear, but established plants will remain. After new leaves appear, the greenhouse gradually begins to ventilate.
Propagation of blackberries by green cuttings is considered a complex process.Of the total amount, about 10% of seedlings grow.
Root
The method of propagating blackberries by root cuttings guarantees up to 70% of seedlings. You can do the procedure in spring and autumn. Root cuttings are cut 10 cm long and 1.5 mm thick.
An adult bush is dug up from different sides. After the root cuttings are separated, the holes are buried. In spring, pieces of roots are laid out on the ground, covered with fertile, loose soil up to 3 cm thick, and watered. After germination, young seedlings are planted in a permanent place.
If root cuttings are prepared in the fall, they are placed in a bag. Storage takes place in a refrigerator or cellar at a temperature from +2 to +5OC. They begin to germinate cuttings in February in flower pots.
The video shows the process of propagating blackberries by root cuttings:
Offspring
You can find benefits from young blackberry shoots. Reproduction by offspring can be done until July. Usually the shoots grow at a distance of 30 cm from the bush. When the shoot grows to a height of at least 10 cm, it is dug up along with a lump of earth and planted in another place.
Apical shoots
The propagation method is well suited for climbing varieties. The long lashes of the plant practically take root themselves in the place where they come into contact with the ground. For forced rooting, starting from the third ten days of July and ending with the first ten days of August, the tops of the annual vines of the bush are bent to the ground, hilling the top 15 cm. In a month, roots will appear and 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 of propagating blackberries by tips is shown in the video:
Growing blackberries from seeds
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 do not germinate well. In production, to destroy the grain shell, they are scarified or soaked for 20 minutes in sulfuric acid.
At home, you can try to get blackberry seedlings from seeds as follows:
- the grains are immersed in melt water for three days;
- the soaked seeds are mixed with moist soil in approximately a ratio of 1:3 and placed in the refrigerator for 60 days;
- after about 10 days, the crops are moistened with a sprayer;
- after a two-month stay in the refrigerator, a mixture of seeds and soil is sown in boxes filled with soil to a depth of 8 cm and placed in a warm room where the air temperature is maintained at +20OWITH;
- dense shoots are thinned out, leaving a free space of about 3 cm for each shoot2;
After the blackberry seedlings have four leaves, the plants are planted in the garden.
How to propagate blackberries without thorns
For reproduction thornless blackberry The considered methods are suitable: seeds, tops, green or lignified cuttings. However, there is another way - air layering. On an adult bush, the grafting site is wrapped with film. There should be soil under the bandage. The soil is moistened with a syringe, piercing the film. A month after the cuttings with roots appear, they are separated from the blackberry bush and planted in a permanent place.
Growing and caring for blackberries, bush formation
Caring for blackberries involves watering. This is done infrequently, as the soil dries out. Young bushes are watered with 7 liters of water. It is advisable to mulch with peat.
The plant is fed with mineral complexes at least once a season. When using fertilizers separately, adhere to the following dosage:
- nitrogen – 20 g/m2;
- potassium – 40 g/m2;
- phosphate – 50 g/m2.
As an organic fertilizer for the plant, dry mullein is used as mulch. Humus or compost will do.
Caring for the plant involves installing a trellis. The structure consists of two-meter pillars, between which 3-4 rows of wire are stretched.
To form a blackberry bush, fruiting shoots that have reached a length of 1.2 m are shortened by 10 cm. The side shoots of the plant are cut off when they reach a length of 50 cm.
On hot sunny days, blackberry plantations are shaded. For the winter, after pruning, the bushes are bent to the ground and covered with spruce branches or non-woven material.
The main pruning of an adult blackberry bush is done in the fall. Remove all fruit-bearing branches from the plant. 6–8 shoots of the current year are left on the bush. Next season they will bear fruit. Repeated pruning of the bush is carried out in the spring, removing all damaged and weak stems.
Conclusion
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.
