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What summer resident refuses to contemplate in autumn on his site lush thickets of picturesque shrubs, completely covered with juicy black berries? It is not difficult to achieve such splendor at your dacha – it is enough to know how bushes are planted and what is the care of garden blackberries.
Features of caring for blackberries
In the first year after planting, young bushes will not produce a crop. This time is intended to actively grow shoots.
If the bush was planted in the spring, experienced gardeners recommend removing all the inflorescences that the blackberry will give. This will help the plant not to waste vitality, but to develop a good root system for winter.
If the bush has been living on your site for the second year, it needs to be fed at the moment when flowering begins. Fertilizer will add vitality to the bush. But be careful – beware of excess feeding. An excess of fertilizer can lead to the development of shrub diseases.
All summer, and especially in August, when the fruits begin to ripen, blackberries need to be actively looked after – regularly loosen the soil around the roots, water as needed, rid the area where the bushes were planted from weeds.
Features of care in the first year of growth
It’s no secret that the garden blackberry is a shrub with a two-year cycle: the first year of the life of the shoot is intended for its active development, the second – for no less active fruiting. He, unfortunately, will not have another chance to prove himself: immediately after the end of the harvest, such shoots are pruned. If this is not done in the fall, the old branches will only thicken the bush and waste its vitality without bringing a harvest.
As already mentioned, if the crop was planted in the spring, seedling care in the first summer of life consists in watering, weeding and loosening the soil. But in the fall you have to work hard. Preparation for winter begins with the fact that all weakened or elongated shoots are pruned.
Although blackberries are considered a winter-hardy crop, young shoots still need shelter from the cold. This is done as follows: in the fall, after pruning is carried out, all the remaining branches of the bush are gently tilted to the ground and carefully fixed in this position. After that, a shelter is constructed over the entire site from spruce branches, fallen leaves or insulation. It is in this state that the garden blackberry will wait out the cold winter, no additional care will be required this year.
Formation from the second year of growth
In the autumn, in the second year of the life of the bush, the fruiting shoots are also pruned for the winter – this is the most important care for the blackberry.
Pruning is necessary for plants for several reasons:
- old shoots take away nutrients from young shoots, wasting the vitality of the bush for nothing to maintain it;
- if pruning is not carried out for the winter, and the old shoots remain on the bush, the berries will get less sunlight, respectively, the yield will decrease;
- if the blackberry is heavily thickened, its preparation for winter becomes noticeably more complicated – lush garden blackberry bushes are difficult to place in a shelter;
- on those bushes where pruning was not carried out in time, it is difficult to harvest: the berries are not visible, and if you cultivate a variety with thorns, you run the risk of severe injury;
- if preparation for winter does not involve pruning old shoots, the future harvest of berries may suffer (the fact is that the removal of spent branches for the winter stimulates the development of young shoots).
Scheme for pruning old branches that have already fruited
Pruning and shortening stems
Caring for blackberries and preparing them for winter necessarily includes the following steps, in addition to removing spent shoots:
- carefully inspect the young lashes and remove those that seem weak, frail or short;
- if the care of the plants at some point was insufficient, and you noticed traces of the vital activity of pests, be sure to remove the damaged areas: they still cannot survive the winter cold;
- shorten all quality shoots to about a quarter of their length. This will encourage good flowering next season;
- caring for blackberries before the onset of winter also lies in the correct selection of viable lashes. Leave only about 8 of the strongest branches, since it is precisely this amount that the root system of the bush can feed. Sometimes the number of shoots is increased – in case not all lashes overwinter.
Final normalization of shoots
When the winter cold has finally passed, we open the blackberry bushes and again study the state of the whip. Those sprouts that have been provided with decent care, after warming in the sun, they will be elastic, brown and shiny, while the frozen areas will turn black, will be fragile and loose. Such shoots will no longer be helped by any care, they must be ruthlessly removed. If it happens that at least six shoots on a bush overwinter, this is a great success, if at least four lashes are preserved, this is also a good result. But if, after wintering, the blackberry bush consists of only three shoots – of course, the harvest will be somewhat lower, but such a bush will give berries that are not like large ones.
On average, a blackberry bush can live in one place for up to fifteen years. If you follow the rules of pruning and provide him with proper care, then throughout this period he will delight you with tasty and healthy fragrant berries.
Do not be afraid to experiment – growing blackberries is not fraught with any difficulties, especially for the summer resident who is familiar with the peculiarities of cultivating raspberries, but such a berry, which is still somewhat exotic for our gardens, will bring much more joy and pleasure. Take due care of the inhabitants of your garden, and they will not remain in debt, generously thanking you with tasty and healthy fruits, giving health, longevity, and just a good mood.
Video “Blackberry: getting ready for winter”
From this video you will learn what the winter blackberry care is and how to prepare the shrub for winter.
