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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 simple, within the power of a novice gardener.
Growing blackberries in the country
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.
How to grow garden blackberries
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 area by the sun. According to the structure of the bush, the culture is divided into two types:
- kumanika - bush variety;
- dewdrop is a weaving variety.
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.
You can visually determine the quality of the soil 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.
Nuances of growing blackberries in the Urals
To grow blackberries in the Urals, it is necessary to have specially bred cold-resistant varieties. The most popular are:
- Polar. Ideal for beginners. With a minimum of care, the plant will thank you with a bountiful harvest. The bush grows up to 2.5 m. The yield per plant reaches 7 kg.
- Loch Tay. The thornless blackberry produces large berries. High-yielding variety. Strong bushes with long shoots need support.
- Ruben. The new variety is characterized by a compact bush.Elastic branches grow without thorns, do not break from strong gusts of wind. Fruiting lasts until the onset of frost.
- Agave. Winter-hardy American variety withstands frosts down to -40aboutC. The bush per season brings up to 4 kg of berries weighing 3 g.
- Darrow. The frost-resistant variety yields more than 3 kg of berries per bush per season. The cone-shaped fruits weigh 3 g.
Cultivation of a crop in the Urals follows standard rules. Only the timing of planting seedlings differs. The procedure begins after warming up the soil around mid-May.
Growing blackberries in Siberia
You can grow in Siberia blackberry varietiessuitable for the Urals. However, there are varieties that are more adapted to cold climates. The following varieties are considered the most popular:
- Black Satin. An unpretentious plant can take root in Siberian conditions 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 brushes of 15 pieces. A thornless variety from 1 bush brings up to 20 kg of yield.
- Tronfri. The thornless variety yields more than 100 berries on each shoot. The whips grow over 5 m long. The berry weighs about 6 g. Ripe berries are harvested in August.
- Abundant. The bush has long, creeping whips without thorns. The roots grow strictly vertically, which makes it possible to maintain a small distance between the bushes. The mass of one berry reaches 7 g.
Saplings are planted in Siberia since mid-May. During the summer, the plant has time to take root. The first harvest can be expected next year.
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 takes place by root buds.
Blackberry propagation by layering
A weaving bush from cuttings allows you to get a lot of new seedlings. The breeding process involves the following steps:
- In early August, annual plant stems 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 break out of the ground. Seedlings can be immediately cut off from the mother bush, but it is better to do this next spring.
Up to 5 new seedlings grow from one layer.
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:
- In the fall, annual lignified branches are cut off on an adult bush. Cuttings 40 cm long are cut from them.
- Twigs are buried in the garden until next spring. The depth of the backfill is about 20 cm.
- With the onset of spring, cuttings are dug out of the ground. At the twigs on both sides, the sections are updated with a pruner. The cuttings are laid out in a row in a groove at a distance of 10 cm and again covered with soil.
- Before sprouting, the cuttings are watered. To speed up the process, arcs are installed and a greenhouse is pulled from the film.
- After the emergence of shoots, when 3 full-fledged leaves grow on the plants, the cuttings are dug out of the ground. Each twig will have 2 or 3 plants with their own roots. They are separated by secateurs and planted in separate containers for further cultivation.
- When new leaves appear on the seedlings and the stems grow, the plants are planted in a permanent place.
You can get blackberry seedlings from cuttings cut in the spring. This should be done before bud break.
Green (stem) cuttings
Even green cuttings cut from a bush in summer are suitable for breeding blackberries:
- The tops of the branches are cut from the bush with pruning shears in July. The length of the handle 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 reproduction. A piece of cutting is cut from the twig, which has two leaves.
- On the handle, the bottom leaf is cut off, leaving a part of the hemp on the twig. A half is cut off from the top leaf.
- Prepared green cuttings are dipped in Kornevin's solution, planted in separate pots with soil or peat. A greenhouse is made of film over the plants to maintain 96% humidity. Optimum air temperature +30aboutFROM.
- Some of the green cuttings will surely disappear, but the established plants will also remain. After the appearance of new leaves, the greenhouse gradually begins to air.
Reproduction of blackberries by green cuttings is considered a complex process. About 10% of the seedlings grow out of the total.
Root
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 folded in a bag. Storage takes place in a refrigerator or cellar at a temperature from +2 to +5aboutC. Cuttings begin to germinate in February in flower pots.
The video shows the process of propagation of blackberries by root cuttings:
Offspring
Benefits can be found from the young shoots of blackberries. Reproduction by offspring can be done until July. Usually, the shoots grows distant 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 clod of earth and planted in another place.
Apical shoots
The breeding method works well for weaving varieties. Long lashes of plants practically take root 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:
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 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:
- grains are immersed in melt water for three days;
- the soaked seeds are mixed with moist soil in about a 1: 3 ratio, refrigerated for 60 days;
- after about 10 days, the crops are moistened from the sprayer;
- after a two-month stay in the refrigerator, a mixture of seeds with soil is sown in boxes filled with earth to a depth of 8 cm and placed in a warm room, where the air temperature is maintained at +20aboutFROM;
- dense shoots are thinned out, leaving a free space of about 3 cm for each sprout2;
After four leaves of blackberry seedlings appear, 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 vaccination site is wrapped with foil. There must 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.
Growing and caring for blackberries, forming a bush
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:
- nitrogen - 20 g / m2;
- potassium - 40 g / m2;
- phosphate - 50 g / m2.
From organic fertilizers for the plant, dry mullein is used as mulch. Humus or compost will do.
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. Remove all fruiting branches 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.
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.
