Growing Blackberries in Your Home Garden, EC 1303 (Oregon ...
Growing Blackberries in Your Home Garden, EC 1303 (Oregon ...
Growing Blackberries in Your Home Garden, EC 1303 (Oregon ...
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Figure 4. Marion blackberry just before fruit harvest season show<strong>in</strong>g new primocane tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g technique.To tra<strong>in</strong> primocanes, wrap them, one or two ata time, <strong>in</strong> a spiral around the trellis wires, work<strong>in</strong>geach way from the plant (Figure 1). The canesfrom adjacent plants should overlap as little aspossible on the trellis (Figure 4). Plants may alsobe tra<strong>in</strong>ed as shown <strong>in</strong> Figure 3 (page 4). Wraplong branches around the ma<strong>in</strong> canes. No w<strong>in</strong>terprun<strong>in</strong>g of primocanes is necessary.Erect blackberryErect cultivars require little prun<strong>in</strong>g dur<strong>in</strong>gthe plant<strong>in</strong>g year. Don’t be surprised if canes trailalong the ground a bit the first year.These blackberries require summer prun<strong>in</strong>g.Early <strong>in</strong> the summer, remove the top 1 to 2 <strong>in</strong>chesof new primocanes when they are about 4 feettall. This causes the canes to branch, and thesebranches will produce fruit the next year. Checkthe plant<strong>in</strong>g several times to make sure you pruneall of the primocanes as they grow.Primocanes (“suckers”) that grow outside thehedgerow are weeds. Remove them as soon as yousee them.In w<strong>in</strong>ter (December–February), remove thedead floricanes that fruited last season. In latew<strong>in</strong>ter, shorten the lateral branches to about 1 1 ⁄2 to2 1 ⁄2 feet long.Primocane-fruit<strong>in</strong>g erect blackberries. Thistype of blackberry produces new primocanes fromthe crown and buds on the roots. Primocanes willflower and fruit <strong>in</strong> the current season. If left tooverw<strong>in</strong>ter, the portion of the primocane that didnot fruit will become a floricane and will flowerand fruit the follow<strong>in</strong>g summer. Thus, this type ofblackberry can produce two crops per year. Thefirst, <strong>in</strong> July, is produced on the floricanes; the second,from early September until frost, is producedon the new primocanes.However, if you have enough space togrow two types of blackberries, grow aObsidian.6