Content
- 1 Do I need to prune blackberries
- 2 When to prune blackberries in spring
- 3 Correct formation of the blackberry bush and pruning
- 4 Scheme of pruning garden blackberries in spring
- 5 Garter blackberries after pruning
- 6 Leaving after spring pruning: garter, loosening, watering
- 7 How to prune blackberries in summer
- 8 Possible mistakes when pruning garden blackberries in the spring
- 9 Conclusion
Despite the intensive growth of lashes, blackberry bushes have an attractive decorative effect. However, in addition to beauty, it is also necessary to harvest. Excess shoots thicken the bush. The plant becomes weak, hibernates poorly, yields few berries, the palatability of the fruit is noticeably reduced. The problem can be solved only by the correct shaping of the bush, and you cannot do without pruning.
Do I need to prune blackberries
By its natural origin, the blackberry is a two-year-old plant. The first year the bush grows. This period is important for the formation of fruit buds. In the second year, the plant throws out peduncles in the spring and bears fruit. The third year, only foliage will grow on the old branches. There is no sense from these shoots, and they can only be pruned. New lashes will bear fruit next spring. If the old shoots are not removed, they will accumulate so much that the blackberries are woven into a huge green lump. Such a bush will no longer bring harvest.
In addition to old shoots, pruning of young root shoots is also needed. Too much of it grows, which also creates a thickening of the bush.
When to prune blackberries in spring
Blackberries, like most other plants, are pruned in the fall, when fruiting ends and the crop enters a calm stage. The timing depends on the climatic conditions of the region. Usually pruning falls in October - November.
In the spring, a sanitary procedure is carried out. Remove frozen and damaged shoots and shorten the long branches of the blackberry to increase yield. The best time is considered to be the short period immediately after the snow melts. It is advisable to choose a moment when the kidneys have not yet swollen, and the threat of night frost has passed.
How to properly prune blackberries
The blackberry bush consists of thin twigs. To trim from tools, you only need a sharp pruner. To make the procedure painless for the blackberry bush, they adhere to simple rules:
- only clean, sharply sharpened secateurs are used for trimming;
- thick lashes are cut with a garden saw;
- adhere to pruning dates in the spring;
- observe the rules for forming a bush.
After wintering, the plant is carefully examined. If pruning has not been done since autumn, then in the spring all old shoots are immediately removed at the very root.
After pruning old branches, young overwintered shoots are examined. On the lashes, areas damaged by rodents or simply frostbitten in winter can be observed. A bad shoot is determined by the black color, roughness of the bark, fragility. When identified, such twigs are completely cut out without leaving a hemp.
Even healthy lashes need to be examined for vitality in the spring. The unfitness of such a stem can occur due to freezing or loony of the buds. Such a blackberry shoot is not cut at the very root. It is allowed to leave a stump here if there are 1-2 living buds. New shoots will grow from them in the summer.
We suggest watching a video for beginners on how to prune blackberries in spring:
In the spring, during pruning, all thin and weak stems are removed, even if they have wintered well. Experienced gardeners recommend pruning any suspect shoots. Thin lashes are not worth pitying. Fewer healthy branches will yield more yield than a pile of thin, weak growth.
After wintering and spring pruning, a bush with 6–8 healthy stems of last year is considered to be full-fledged. If only four normal shoots remain on the plant in the spring, then the bush is considered weakened. It is not allowed to bear fruit, but shortened. The bush will recover over the summer, grow, and the next year it will harvest. If this situation repeats, it is necessary to take measures to restore the shrub - feeding, competent care.
There is also a repeated control pruning of blackberries in the spring after foliage bloom. In an adult plant, fruiting shoots are shortened by 10 cm. The procedure is aimed at increasing the yield.
Correct formation of the blackberry bush and pruning
The formation of the bush in spring makes it easier to harvest berries, fall pruning and shelter for the winter. The erect view is fanned out over the trellis. Shoots in creeping species blackberry gardeners divide into young (this year's shoots) and fruiting (last year's) shoots.
Erect varieties
Blackberries, which have an erect crown structure, are distinguished by the fragility of the stems. A bush is formed according to the following rules:
- in the spring, overwintered lashes are vertically fixed on the trellis;
- young shoots growing in summer are allowed to go sideways;
- in the fall, before the shelter, all erect stems are allowed to be pruned;
- 10 strong ones are left from young side shoots, and the rest are also cut off;
- in autumn, the branches left behind are shortened by ¼ of the length, laid on the ground and covered.
The following spring, these lashes are tied vertically to the trellis, and new shoots are let out to the side. The cycle repeats itself.
Creeping varieties
Blackberries with a creeping crown structure are distinguished by good flexibility of the stems. Scourges can grow up to 10 m long.The plant is formed according to the following scheme:
- In the spring, overwintered lashes are spirally wound on a wire. Usually they are allowed in the right side.
- Young shoots are directed to the left and, similarly, they are wound on a wire with a spiral.
- In the fall, the branches of the right side are cut. 10 strong lashes are left from the left wing, and the rest are pruned.
Blackberry whips overwinter in a prepared trench. In the spring they become fruitful and run along the wire to the right. New stems will grow to the left. The cycle repeats itself.
Pruning non-prickly blackberries (thornless)
Curly thornless varieties of blackberries are called dewberries. The culture is formed by side shoots. The stems are pruned, leaving areas with four buds. In summer, lateral shoots will grow from them, which are left to creep along the ground. There will be no berries on young lashes.
After wintering, these branches already become fruitful. The lashes are fixed to the trellis, and new lateral replacement shoots are launched along the ground.
Pruning repairing blackberries
The easiest way is to form remontant blackberry bushes. The plant is pruned only in the fall to zero, that is, the entire aerial part is removed. The remontant culture bears fruit only on the stems of the current year.
Scheme of pruning garden blackberries in spring
In cold regions, blackberry seedlings are planted in the spring. The plant is immediately pruned. Removing most of the stems has a positive effect on the growth of the root system. After rooting, after almost a couple of weeks, young shoots begin to grow.
Pruning blackberry seedlings in the spring must be done according to the following rules:
- Immediately after planting, the lateral processes and tops of the seedling are cut off, leaving a twig up to 30 cm.
- The next season, in early spring, the grown lateral stems are pruned, shortening by 15 cm. They will bear fruit. In the fall, these lashes are cut out, and in the spring, the replacement shoots that have grown in the summer are left.
- In the spring of the third year, last year's branches are already shortened by 30 cm. Now they will bear fruit.
The further pruning cycle is repeated from year to year.
How to shorten the stems
Healthy stems are shortened by ¼ of their length since autumn. In the spring, they will throw out more flower stalks and bring a rich harvest. Branches should be pruned only above the buds without leaving hemp.
After conducting a spring inspection of the overwintered culture, they begin sanitary pruning. Only a partially frozen stem can be shortened to 1-2 buds. Pruning completely damaged branches is carried out at the root.
Standardization of the number of shoots
A full-fledged blackberry bush is considered, consisting of 7-8 shoots. After wintering, 5–6 shoots usually survive by spring. You can leave 10 branches from autumn in order to reach the desired result. Extra lashes can always be cut off in the spring. In general, overwintered six shoots are considered the norm for a plant.
If only 4 branches came out by the spring, then the bush is considered weak. But it can be restored, leaving an additional 3-4 young shoots. When only three branches survived after wintering, the plant is considered very weak. It is better to remove such blackberries from the garden or strengthen the shrub with top dressing.
Garter blackberries after pruning
It is more convenient to grow a blackberry by tying lashes to a trellis. Last year's, fruiting shoots are brittle. Under the weight of the crop without support, the stems can break off. Blackberries tied to a trellis are much more convenient to care for during the season, and harvesting is much easier. Moreover, the plant is fully illuminated by the sun and ventilated. Tying the stems to the trellis is carried out in the spring immediately after pruning. The plant is formed according to one of three popular patterns.
Fan
The scheme is based on fixing young shoots to a trellis in the center of the bush. Old fruiting branches direct one stem to the side. The fan pattern is more suitable for an upright blackberry variety.
Cable car
The scheme similarly provides for the distribution of young blackberry shoots in the center of the bush, tied vertically to the trellis. Fruiting branches are let out to the side, but weave them in two pieces. The resulting braids increase the resistance of the tied plant.
Wave
In the wave scheme, young shoots are tied to the trellis vertically and allowed to go sideways along the upper wire. Fruiting stems are sent to the sides in waves along the three lower wires of the support.
Leaving after spring pruning: garter, loosening, watering
Immediately after the end of the spring pruning, all branches are removed from the site and burned. Pests hibernated in the damaged bark, and you need to get rid of them. The cut bushes are tied to the trellis according to one of the selected schemes.
The soil of the near-trunk section is loosened, watering, mulching with peat is carried out. With the onset of active growth, the plant is fed with a nitrogen-containing fertilizer. You can use organic matter or add 20 g of nitrate per 1 m². When forming, the ovary is fed with potash and phosphorus fertilizers.
How to prune blackberries in summer
Summer pruning of blackberries allows you to get rid of the thickening of the crown. Remove unnecessary, intensively growing shoots. If the bush throws out a lot of extra shoots, they are also pruned.
Immediately after fruiting, you can remove old branches so that the bush can use all its strength to form new lashes. In early varieties, extra branches are removed in June.Pruning of remontant, mid-season and late blackberries is carried out as needed.
Possible mistakes when pruning garden blackberries in the spring
Pruning blackberries in the spring can sometimes seem like a daunting task for novice gardeners. A person begins to get confused in his actions, to make mistakes, which leads to bad consequences.
To prevent spring pruning from harming the blackberry bushes, the following rules must be adopted:
- If, before the buds awakened, you did not have time to cut the stems, it is better to leave them in this state until autumn.
- In the spring, you cannot cut off the branches of the previous year. A crop will be formed on them. Only biennial, fruiting shoots are cut off.
- It is necessary to take into account the varietal characteristics of blackberries. There are varieties that it is desirable to prune once every two or three years. The annual removal of branches will lead to decorative splendor of the bush, and the berries will be small and sour.
- When forming the crown, you cannot leave more fruiting branches than the prescribed amount. The plant is unable to provide nutrients to shoots with a lot of berries.
Following these four simple rules will help you avoid blunders of cropping.
Conclusion
Pruning blackberries in the spring is a very important event, the purpose of which is to standardize the number of shoots, form a shrub and remove damaged, frozen stems. The point of this procedure is to increase the yield of blackberries. The pruning process may seem difficult for some. But later, having gained experience, the gardener's hands will intuitively determine which branch to remove and which to leave.
