Growing Blackberries in Your Home Garden, EC 1303 (Oregon ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Figure 4. Marion blackberry just before fruit harvest season showing new primocane training technique.To train primocanes, wrap them, one or two ata time, in a spiral around the trellis wires, workingeach way from the plant (Figure 1). The canesfrom adjacent plants should overlap as little aspossible on the trellis (Figure 4). Plants may alsobe trained as shown in Figure 3 (page 4). Wraplong branches around the main canes. No winterpruning of primocanes is necessary.Erect blackberryErect cultivars require little pruning duringthe planting year. Don’t be surprised if canes trailalong the ground a bit the first year.These blackberries require summer pruning.Early in the summer, remove the top 1 to 2 inchesof new primocanes when they are about 4 feettall. This causes the canes to branch, and thesebranches will produce fruit the next year. Checkthe planting 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 winter (December–February), remove thedead floricanes that fruited last season. In latewinter, shorten the lateral branches to about 1 1 ⁄2 to2 1 ⁄2 feet long.Primocane-fruiting erect blackberries. Thistype of blackberry produces new primocanes fromthe crown and buds on the roots. Primocanes willflower and fruit in the current season. If left tooverwinter, the portion of the primocane that didnot fruit will become a floricane and will flowerand fruit the following summer. Thus, this type ofblackberry can produce two crops per year. Thefirst, in 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
primocane-fruiter for only the primocane crop.If you want fruit in July, it is best to grow afloricane-fruiting erect (e.g., ‘Navaho’) or trailingblackberry (e.g., ‘Marion’ or ‘Boysen’). Thesetypes produce better quality fruit and a higheryield than the floricane crop of primocane-fruitingblackberries.To grow primocane-fruiting blackberries foronly a primocane crop, cut all the canes off to justabove ground level in late winter. When the newprimocanes are 3 1 ⁄2 feet tall, remove about 6 inchesof the tip. The branches produced will flower andfruit in the fall. A summer-pruned primocane willproduce more than three times the yield of anuntipped primocane.Canes may benefit from a temporary trellis.Semierect blackberriesSemierect blackberries also require summerpruning. When primocanes are just over 5 feet tall,remove the top 2 inches of the tip to encourage theproduction of lateral branches. Check the plantingseveral times, and tip all of the primocanes as theygrow.In winter, first remove the dead floricanes.Train the remaining primocanes to the double “T”trellis (Figure 5). The branches do not need to beshortened. However, if they are too vigorous andare difficult to train, they can be shortened in latewinter.HarvestPick berries every 4 to 7 days, depending onweather and cultivar. Regular picking minimizesproblems with disease and insect pests that likeoverripe, rotting fruit. When the berries are ripe,you can pick them quite easily. Use a breaking,rather than pulling, motion. Pick into a shallowcontainer to prevent fruit from crushing.To extend shelf life, avoid picking when berriesare wet, and refrigerate as soon as possible.Expect yields of 10 to 13 lb/plant in trailingblackberry cultivars, 4 to 6 lb/plant in erect types,and 25 to 55 lb/plant in semierect types.Boysen.Figure 5. Semierect blackberry (‘Chester’) trained to adouble “T” trellis.7
Page 1 and 2: EC 1303—Revised March 2008 u $1.5
Page 3 and 4: Black Diamond.Dig, plow, or rototil
Page 5: How much should I fertilize?A good

Growing Blackberries in Your Home Garden, EC 1303 (Oregon ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?