Garden blackberries: how to harvest a good harvest. Why blackberries don’t bear fruit Blackberries bloom in the first year

Blackberry – unique plant, rich in nutrients and medicinal substances. However, not only the fruit is useful, but also the leaves and roots, from which teas, decoctions and infusions are brewed. Blackberry juice is also beneficial, having strengthening and soothing properties. Thanks to this, many people have a desire to grow berries in their own garden.

You should still figure out what is the reason that blackberries grow poorly.

Blackberries thrive in northern temperate climates. But people who grow berries often have questions about their fruitfulness. And its lovers have to hope every year that nature will be favorable. After all, its taste is unique and not similar to other berries and fruits.

At the moment, there are about 300 varieties, but not all of them are successful in terms of fertility. Depending on the growth of the stems, two types are distinguished: erect and creeping branches. There are also non-thorny blackberries and prickly ones.

As a rule, upright varieties are characterized big amount crops and do not grow so slowly. There are fruit-bearing varieties that have a number of advantages:

1. Agavam - up to 10 kg of fruits from one bush. Aug. Sept.
2. Doyle – juicy and large berries. July – September.
3. Apache - 7-8 kg per bush. June August.
4. Black Satin – large berries; 14-17 kg. June August.
5. Karaka Black – large; 8-10 kg. June August.
6. Ruben – purchased; 14-15 kg. Until the first frost.
7. Thornfree – 12 kg. August.
8. Loch Tay – large fruits; powerful shoots; July.
9. Arapaho is the best in terms of aroma and taste. July.
10. Polar - 7 kg. July – September.

Having chosen these varieties of blackberries when proper care The question that the berry will not bloom or bear fruit will not concern.

Fully creeping varieties of blackberries are known for poor yields, but they have an advantage in the size of the berries: they grow juicy and large.

Many varieties are developed by crossing blackberries and raspberries. They have excellent taste, but the lack of propagation of such varieties is manifested in yield.

Failure to comply with agricultural technology

The survival rate of the berries is guaranteed only if certain conditions are met.

Violation of blackberry cultivation techniques affects fruiting. Berries need proper care. Do not forget that during the cold season you need shelter for blackberries. If ignored, the shoots may freeze, which will affect fruitfulness next year: they may either not bloom for a long time or not produce a harvest at all. The same applies to flower buds, which are absolutely not prone to low temperatures.

Top most frost-resistant varieties:

1. Agawam -30˚
2. Apache -20˚
3. Ruben: tolerates cold well, you don’t need to cover it for the winter.
4. Arapaho -25˚, winters without shelter.
5. Osage -13˚

Some gardeners make a mistake when pruning vines. Exists certain period performing this important procedure. You should not do this in the spring: there is a possibility of pruning new shoots, that is, the fruitful vine. Autumn - perfect time of the year. During this period, old vines from which the harvest has already been harvested and which will not be able to bear fruit in the future are pruned.

The exception is the Ruben variety, which was previously mentioned. It bears fruit until the first frost. Accordingly, the time for pruning the vine increases. This needs to be done in winter.

Care and watering

Maintaining water balance - an important part in caring for any plant. Blackberries are no exception. The seedling requires regular watering with sufficient water. Fruits may dry out and shrink in size, which can also affect yield.

In gardening, it is important to know that moisture should not get on the blackberries that are ripening, that is, on the berries themselves. In this case, the brushes do not touch the ground. If you ignore these conditions, there is a high probability that the berries will become damp and rot.

Remember, you cannot use well water for hydration. For these purposes, it is better to use either water supply or rainwater. But in any case, the water is poured into some container and left in the sun for several days.

At the age of one year, when the blackberry takes root and reaches a height of 130 centimeters, the top of the shoot should be cut off by 10-12 centimeters. This procedure promotes the growth of lateral buds and branches. It is recommended to shorten the side shoots by 45 centimeters.

It is necessary to take into account that two-year-old fruits first bear shoots, and then stop doing so; they need to be cut out.

In addition to providing the fruits with nutrients through watering, the plant also requires fertilizer. Before planting, it is recommended to add a little manure or humus and ash. At the beginning of the flowering season, you can feed with nitrogen fertilizer, and in the fall it is appropriate to replace this with potassium-phosphorus fertilizer that does not contain chlorine.

Soil maintenance is also required. It needs to not only be moistened, but also loosened. This is done 5-6 times per season to a depth of 5-7 centimeters. Around the flowering blackberry bushes, they loosen the soil in a slightly different way: with a pitchfork, 5 centimeters 2-3 times.

Pests and diseases

Blackberries are a susceptible plant. It succumbs to rust powdery mildew, anthracnose, septoria or white spot, didimella or purple spot, botrytis or gray mold.

It also suffers from a lack or excess of microelements in the soil, as mentioned earlier. But this can be avoided through fertilization.

Diseases appear different ways: if sedge, cedar, pine trees grow nearby; rainy weather In any case, prevention and treatment are necessary, although only already weakened blackberries are susceptible to disease. Plants need more space, bushes must be ventilated.

The main thing is not to forget about proper care, then problems with diseases will not arise.

In pest control, spraying with acteplic or karbofos is recommended. This will help prevent the appearance of insects such as: mites (spider mites and raspberry hairy mites), raspberry bud moths, raspberry-strawberry weevils, raspberry beetles, gallworms, as well as aphids, gall midges and caterpillars of fire butterflies, raspberry glass beetles.

Pests affect yields, so it is best to get into the habit of treating either in the fall after the flowering season or in the spring before this period.

List of varieties that are rarely affected by diseases and pests:

• Doyle: rarely gets sick.
• Karaka Black: resistant to diseases and pests.
• Thornfree: practically free from disease.
• Osage: Disease resistant.

RESULT

Having only favorable conditions growing blackberries, you may not achieve the desired result. The plant requires careful care and adherence to agricultural technology: shelter during the cold season, pruning the vine after the flowering season. Timely and abundant watering plays an important role; loosening the soil in and near bushes, which differ slightly in loosening techniques, which you also need to know. Watering is also not as simple as it seems: either tap water or rainwater, and blackberries should not be wetted during ripening and flowering. It is recommended to pay attention to fertilizing plants, as this promotes productivity.

The variety plays a big role. The gardener must take into account the qualities that he personally needs, and then select a variety based on these criteria. The article presents lists of both high-yielding plants with large fruits and frost-resistant plants that are not susceptible to pests and diseases. The latter property does not exclude the appearance, however, it is resistant to this and responds much less frequently, however, spraying should still be used in care.

Depending on the properties of blackberries that are a priority for the gardener, you can easily select a variety.

Ruben is suitable for lovers of large and juicy fruits with high yields who do not intend to worry about the plant in winter. It also bears fruit until the first frost. Ideal variety for those whose beloved garden berry– blackberries and who doesn’t want to eat frozen berries most of the year. When all the varieties have already died, Ruben still blooms and bears fruit, and this is a huge advantage of this variety among others.

Reuben's replacement will be Arapahoe - best variety in terms of taste and size. Also suitable for those who do not want to worry about covering in winter, but enjoy the taste of the fruit.

If desired, everyone who grows ogina will find their own variety that will satisfy their desires in all respects. But Special attention should be paid specifically to the yield of the fruit, because having excellent blackberries taste qualities, we will definitely be worried about collecting as much of it as possible, and if the blackberries are not blooming, this is a real problem.

There is another variety with excellent yield, and the blackberry is not prickly. Sometimes only the second fact pleases farmers who immediately purchase the variety. This is Thornless Evergreen - an evergreen plant.

If you follow all these rules for caring for blackberries and a number of other factors affecting the fruitfulness of the fruit, then the question of blackberries not growing in the garden will no longer bother gardeners.

Blackberries are considered one of the most unpretentious berry crops, capable of producing a harvest in any conditions. There is nothing surprising in this: until quite recently it was a wild shrub, and its natural habitat (and this is most countries) northern hemisphere) taught her to survive and bear fruit in any conditions. However, with the transformation of blackberries into a garden plant, some owners of personal plots who grow them sometimes complain about their low yield, or even lack of fruitfulness.

What is the reason for this behavior of an unpretentious and hardy culture and is it possible to do something about it?

Reasons and details

The most common reasons for blackberry crop failure (or poor fruiting) are:

1. Varietal features. The fact that the yield of a particular crop directly depends on its variety is a well-known fact. In the case of blackberries, it manifests itself as follows: all its varieties available today (and there are about three hundred of them, or even more) are divided into erect, semi-erect and creeping. The first two can form clusters with many medium-sized berries, the total number of which will amount to kilograms. Creeping species are initially characterized as slightly fruit-bearing, but their berries themselves are larger than those of other species. It should be said separately about hybrids: their yield is also insignificant, but their taste is superior to other varieties.
2. Violation of the rules of agricultural technology - primarily covering for the winter and pruning. Blackberries are afraid of frost, and if they are not protected from the winter cold, the shoots will freeze, and in the most severe cases, tissue necrosis may occur around a bud that does not have frost resistance. Naturally, there can be no talk of any harvest in this state of affairs. As for pruning, you should remember its main rule: you need to cut only old, fruit-bearing branches. If you shorten new shoots or do spring pruning, the plant will not be able to produce a harvest - at least this year. For the same reason, it is recommended to prune old branches only in the fall.
3. Irregular or insufficient watering during the ripening of berries, due to which they can become small and dry, and the yield may decrease. The worst case scenario is also possible, in which the berries may not ripen at all.
4. Absence of flower buds on a green vine. The reason for this could be any - for example, the lack of shelter for the winter, which we already talked about a little higher - and the result will be that the empty vine will interfere with the fruiting of other shoots.
5. Landing in an inappropriate place and, most importantly, on inappropriate soils. The first refers to an insufficiently lit area of ​​land, and the second refers to carbonate soils. If blackberries grow on them, sooner or later their roots will reach the lime, and eventually the crop will begin to dry out. It is possible to determine that the cause of crop failure was the soil, and not infectious chlorosis, by the following signs: yellowing sheet plate while maintaining the natural color of the veins, the absence of damage and necrosis of tissues and veins, mummification of the berries directly on the branches.
6. Unsuitable or unstable climate. Even in their natural habitat, which is not particularly soft, blackberries may not have time to ripen. The fact is that it itself requires not only warm, but also long-lasting growing season and usually begins to bloom a month later than its long-cultivated relative, the garden raspberry. In conditions middle zone it is the beginning of July. It takes at least two months for the berries to ripen, and thus, in the best case scenario, blackberries begin to bear fruit in early September. And although it is still warm at this time and “Indian summer” is ahead, unstable weather is quite possible, due to which the blackberries simply will not have time to bear the harvest. It is also possible that the variety you chose was not originally zoned for your area.

How to deal with crop failure

For your blackberries to bear fruit, you need little: just follow the rules for growing them and all the nuances inherent in this process, and avoid what we talked about above. For example:

1. When watering the plant, you should remember that moisture should not get on the berries, and the fruiting clusters should not touch the ground. If this happens, the berries will become infected with gray rot, and then the harvest can be forgotten for a long time.
2. When caring for blackberries, you must definitely add different kinds fertilizers that have a beneficial effect on the yield and taste of the crop. The type of fertilizing is individual in each case and depends not only on the variety, but also on the season, the soil on which the crop grows, etc.
3. When deciding to grow blackberries in your garden, you should carefully choose the variety. It should not only produce a harvest that suits you, but also be suitable for your area. Unfortunately, experts have not yet developed varieties that would be both large-berry and abundantly fruit-bearing, so when choosing you need to rely not only on recommendations experienced gardeners, but also to your own preferences.
4. When planting bushes, you should follow simple recommendations: plant the plant in a well-lit area (slight shading is acceptable); bushes should be arranged in rows, and the distance between them should be chosen depending on the variety; Fruiting branches must be tied to supports approximately two meters high.
5. If the blackberry is unlucky and it turns out to be planted on carbonate soil, the situation can be corrected foliar feeding iron chelate and adding a weak solution of iron sulfate to the root. It is also recommended to apply more manure in the fall or compost in the spring on such soils.

If you follow all these tips, then long years you can provide yourself with a stable harvest of excellent and very healthy berries - and, as you know, in one place blackberries can bear fruit for 12 to 15 years, depending on the variety.

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Blackberry classification

​Useful tips​

1. ​5.Many barren flowers​
2. ​2. Freezing of the kidneys
3. Firstly, in order for the blackberry to bear fruit, its branches are buried in soil. You also need to know what variety you bought; late varieties do not ripen here.​

Growing on a trellis

The lifespan of a group of blackberry bushes depends on soil and climatic conditions, methods of its cultivation and the thoroughness of pest and disease control measures. So, all other things being equal, blackberry bushes are more durable in the temperate climate zone.​

​Blackberry plants are fed only in the third year after planting; for the first two years it is provided with the fertilizers that were added to landing hole. Subsequently, after a year or two in the fall, 4-6 kg of rotted manure (compost) are added, and in the spring, nitrogen fertilizers (30 g per bucket of water) or mullein solution (diluted 10: 1), and in the summer - complex fertilizers (30–50 g per bucket of water). 1 plant).​

Lighting

To obtain a bountiful harvest of berries, the plant needs feeding. Excellent result can be obtained by early spring mulching the soil with a layer of 5 centimeters. For mulch, use rotted manure or compost. You can also add urea or ammonium nitrate.​

Watering

Cuttings for propagation are taken 5-7 centimeters long and planted in spring or autumn in fertilized soil, deepened by two-thirds. If you decide to root the shoot, then sprinkle it with soil at the end of summer. In the spring, transplant to a permanent place.​

In summer, pinch off the tops and remove excess young shoots. In autumn, fruit-bearing shoots are pruned.

Trimming

​This will save space, the plant will receive enough sun and air, the berries will be able to ripen completely and can be easily picked (blackberries do not bear fruit all at once, but over the course of a month and a half), and young shoots will be able to spread unhindered along the ground. They are often attached to a fan-shaped trellis. If desired, you can tie the bush to a pole or pipe.​

​Everyone knows this beautiful wild berry, distinguished by its original taste and health benefits. And also because it is not very pleasant and convenient to collect, since blackberry thickets are usually difficult to pass through and very prickly. But modern breeding science doesn’t care. And now we can pamper ourselves with garden blackberries, which are distinguished by the absence of thorns on the shoots, and its berries are large and sweet.​

​So that strawberries bear fruit already at next year after planting, plant it in early August. Then she will have time to lay flower buds before autumn.​

Wintering

​This phenomenon occurs on old strawberries, as well as on bad varieties. So buy planting material from trusted sellers. Choose the variety that suits your climatic zone, otherwise the strawberries will not bear fruit.​

It happens that 2-3 year old strawberries do not bear fruit. This may happen due to poor care last year when the buds were forming. Therefore, be sure to feed the plantings from August to September. This is exactly the period when strawberries are preparing for the new season and forming buds. Another 2-3 year old garden strawberries may not bear fruit if there was a harsh winter and some or all of the buds froze. To prevent this from happening again, cover the beds with pine needles, straw or other material, and also cover them with snow.​

The strawberries are blooming, but the long-awaited berries are still missing. What could have happened?​

Reproduction

​The strip method of growing blackberries almost doubles its productive life compared to the bush method. This big difference is explained by the following. When blackberries are grown in the form of individual bushes, the latter are formed mainly due to replacement shoots developing from the buds of the upper part of the rhizome (at the base of the fruiting shoots), and only individual shoots that are part of the bush develop from the buds located on the younger parts of the root system .​

• When growing upright blackberries, young replacement shoots are pinched. Pruning fruit-bearing blackberries has its own peculiarities: the growing shoot is cut off when it reaches 60–90 cm (removing the top 5 cm long), and in the south the side branches that appear after this are also shortened so that they branch well.
• But keep in mind that blackberries are not fertilized for 2-3 years after planting.

Landing

It is advisable to plant blackberries in a place that is lighted and protected from the winds. It is better to plant in the spring to prevent freezing.​

​Many gardeners are frightened by the low frost resistance of this garden crop, but if you know how to care for blackberries in autumn-winter period, then she will delight you with a bountiful harvest.​

The plant loves illuminated areas. It also feels good in partial shade, but in this case the ripening period of the berries is extended by 5-7 days, they become smaller and lose their taste.​

​All varieties of blackberries (over 300) are divided into 3 groups:​
​We create strawberry plantation for a rich harvest

Top dressing

​6.Pests​

​3.Strawberries have black flowers​

Pests and diseases

​There are several reasons why strawberries do not bear fruit.​

Harvesting

The passage of nutrients (absorbed from the soil solution) through the rhizome is complicated by the presence of numerous stumps - from biennial shoots that die annually. This, in turn, leads to the fact that over the years the nutritional regime of replacement shoots deteriorates, their length and productivity decrease. The bush, which consists mainly of replacement shoots, becomes very old by the age of 10–12 years and the area loses its fruitfulness.

In the spring, the lateral branches of the blackberry bush are shortened to 20-40 cm (leaving 8-12 buds on each branch) - depending on the variety, the length of the growing season, and the ripening period of the berries. Fruiting stems are tied to the upper trellis wire, and newly growing stems are tied to the lower one. An erect blackberry bush is often formed in a fan fashion, when the fruiting branches are placed and secured on the opposite side of the growing young ones; in this case, the distance between seedlings when planting should be about 3 meters.​

OgorodSadovod.com

How to care for blackberries

Blackberries are resistant to pests and diseases. Sometimes it can be attacked by raspberry beetles. To prevent this from happening, try to pick ripe berries on time. With a lack of iron and magnesium, chlorosis develops.

Feeding

The plant prefers slightly acidic or neutral soil. Limestone soil should not be used for planting.​

Shaping and trimming

​It should be taken into account that dewberry does not tolerate winter well, while bramble can withstand twenty-degree frosts. But it’s still better to cover any blackberries for the winter.

Blackberries are drought-resistant because their roots are located at a considerable depth.

Bramble - straight-growing (the most common);

Autumn care after fruiting

​Growing sweet fragrant strawberries​

​Pests, such as the strawberry weevil, can reduce the yield. It lays its eggs directly into the bud. Fight strawberry pests, as well as others garden plants, needed from early spring. To do this, use insecticides.​

​In the spring there are return frosts, and the strawberries have already begun to produce shoots with buds. And if they freeze, then almost every blossoming bud has a black center. Such a flower will not produce berries. Therefore, cover the strawberries in the spring during freezing with a covering material, for example, acrylic.​

Strip method of growing blackberries

​Instructions​

​The advantage of the blackberry strip culture is that in this case the planting is created with the inclusion of a significant number of the strongest and most well-placed (i.e. at a distance of 10-15 cm from one another) root shoots that arise within the strip on the younger part root system. In addition, this method allows you to use the most powerfully developed replacement shoots and root suckers and through more complete use biological features plants have fruitful blackberry plantations up to 20 years of age. This period of existence of a normally fruit-bearing plantation is sharply reduced by the spread of numerous pests and diseases of the bushes, especially viral ones.​

Most often, an erect blackberry bush has 4-5 fruit-bearing branches. In May - June, pruning is carried out, leaving 6-8 shoots up to half a meter high near the main bush, and cutting off all weak ones just below the soil surface.

The berries ripen at the end of summer. They are collected in several stages.

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Why don't blackberries bear fruit?

Marina Nikolaeva

First, dig holes to a depth of 45-50 centimeters. Fertilizers mixed with soil are placed at the bottom: rotted manure or compost (5-6 kilograms), potash fertilizers (45-50 grams) and superphosphate (130-150 grams). Then the blackberry bush is planted so that the root collar is 2-3 centimeters below the soil level. Plants are watered, mulched and trimmed, leaving 20-30 centimeters.​

PoFIGISTK@

​Most varieties bend to the ground, and if you have a straight-growing blackberry, then they bend it gradually during the growth process, as if accustoming it. For particularly sensitive varieties, covering is used. Most often with plastic wrap, but you can use leaves or spruce branches. It is advisable to cover it with snow on top. If the plant is not prepared for winter, the adult bush will not die, but the above-ground part may freeze, which will undoubtedly affect fruiting.​

Why don't strawberries bear fruit?

During flowering and ripening of berries, it requires watering. But do not overdo it: overly moist soil can cause the death of the bush.​

​semi-creeping (rare);​

​Laying plantations with healthy planting material, high level agricultural techniques in combination with the strip crop method will contribute to obtaining high and sustainable yields.​

​In the fall, remove old blackberry stems (without leaving “stumps”). It is recommended to remove them immediately after harvesting, since new shoots better conditions lighting more successfully complete development and preparation for winter. At the same time as the fruit-bearing stems, all weak, broken, heavily diseased and pest-damaged young shoots are removed, leaving well-developed and healthy ones.

​If you take care of blackberries and care for them properly, they will certainly delight you with a bountiful, tasty harvest.​

Plants are planted in rows. Erect bushes are placed at a distance of 0.9-1 meter, row spacing is up to 2 meters. Leave 2.5 meters of distance between creeping plants.​

The plant propagates by seeds, green and root cuttings, rooted shoots and by dividing the bush.

In the spring, before the buds swell, it is necessary to do formative pruning: remove frozen, dried, diseased, underdeveloped shoots and shorten too long ones.

​dewberry - creeping along the ground.​

​for you Galimax​

​Strawberries and garden strawberries are the same thing, it’s just more common to call these berries strawberries.​

​The most big harvest Strawberries give up until they are five years old, and then they need to be replaced with new, young plants. Therefore, if your garden bed is many years old, do not expect many strawberries from it. Without sparing, dig up old bushes and plant rosettes from the most productive varieties. It is better not to take planting material from your old strawberries, but to buy seedlings or grow them yourself from seeds. Fortunately, store shelves are full of fruitful seeds and promising varieties garden strawberries

​Creeping and semi-cresting young annual shoots are covered for the winter, bending them to the ground and covered with film and other materials, and in the spring they are lifted and placed on a trellis. For erect blackberry shoots, installing a trellis and bending down the bushes for the winter is not carried out, since rigid shoots almost do not lie down. In the fall, water-recharging irrigation should be carried out.

​The next year after planting, in the spring, the plants are watered abundantly (up to 5 buckets per bush). The soil around the plants is kept loose and free from weeds. The loosening is shallow. In dry summers, water once a week during the growth of shoots and ovaries, otherwise you may lose the harvest.​

​In one place, blackberries can bear fruit for 12-15 years.​

Wild blackberries grow in forests, along the edges of swamps, where there is not enough sun, where there is no drainage, and the soils can be acidic. And the residents of the surrounding settlements in the second half of July, when blackberries ripen, they rush to pick sour, sometimes small, but such healthy berries without fear of getting hurt on sharp thorns. Not so long ago we began cultivating this plant at our dachas, where it grows and bears fruit in completely different conditions. We feed it, water it, cover it for the winter, and it tries to ripen to our delight - the berries of garden varietal blackberries are larger, richer in taste, the harvest is larger, and the fruiting period is longer.

Blackberries have been known to us for a long time, but summer residents began growing them en masse on their plots a couple of decades ago. Moreover, in our country it is distributed mainly among private farms, and is very rarely grown on small farms. In Europe (especially in Poland and the UK), farmers boldly began growing vitamin berries for commercial purposes, but they cannot keep up with the world leaders in production - Mexico, Canada and the USA. By the way, it is from Mexico that this delicate berry comes to Europe.

Blackberries are biennial crops - in the first year of life, their shoots grow, and fruit buds are just being laid; in the second year of life, flowers appear, then fruits.

After this, the fruit-bearing shoots die off, which is why they are cut out at the root in the fall. In parallel with the fruiting shoots, replacement shoots grow, on which fruit buds are laid. The bush is normalized from these new shoots, removing the excess ones, leaving the strongest ones, which will produce next year's harvest. Thus, the owner can plan the development of the bush and the harvest.

But there is also remontant blackberry, which is cultivated as an annual crop. It forms fruits on the shoots of the first year, after which in the fall all the shoots are cut off, and the next year new ones grow, on which flowers will grow, and then fruits. You don’t have to cut the shoots after fruiting, then next year there is a reason to expect two harvests. They're imprisoning berry crop usually in the spring in an open, well-lit place with prepared (generously fertilized) soil. After planting, the seedling is pruned, leaving shoots no more than 30 cm from the ground. Then they take care of it all season - water it, weed it, loosen the ground around it, save it from pests, and in the fall the shoots are carefully rolled up and placed under cover, and in winter they are also covered with more snow. Next year, these shoots will bear the first fruits, which are usually allowed to ripen - they will no longer weaken the bush. In a couple of years root system

will develop, the bush will mature, fruiting will reach its maximum.

When to pick blackberries The wild ancestor of our garden blackberries usually ripens in the second half of summer. But today scientists tell the crop when it is best for it to ripen. The varieties and hybrids created by breeders can be independently selected according to the time of fruit ripening.

Just like a thorny bush, which causes many unpleasant moments for the gardener when caring for it, can be replaced with a thornless one, because a garden thornless blackberry has already been created. There are early, mid-season and late varieties

The fruits of early varieties ripen in June. There is an opinion that these are not the most delicious, usually sour and small berries, but this is not entirely true. For example, from the beginning of June you can pick large cone-shaped berries of the Columbia Star variety. Its thornless creeping shoots are grown on trellises. This variety is undemanding to growing conditions and care, and produces a rich harvest of aromatic, sweet and sour berries. The very famous Natchez variety produces its first ripe berries in June, and its last in August. This thornless bush produces powerful, upright shoots, and its large berries are distinguished by their sweetness.

“Thornfree”, “Karaka Black”, “Loch Tay” - all these are early varieties that are resistant to traditional crop diseases. The only thing you can be afraid of when growing early blackberries is spring frosts, if they occur at the beginning of flowering, the harvest will be spoiled.

Most varieties of blackberries have extended fruiting: flowers bloom at the same time, ovaries form, and berries ripen. All this can last from 4 to 6 weeks, for some even longer. Harvest should be done after 2-3 days; it is not advisable to leave the berries on the branches after they are fully ripe.

This feature is considered as an advantage if you want to constantly receive fresh berries, or as a disadvantage if you want to quickly harvest the crop in order to process it.

July is the time of ripening for mid-season blackberry varieties. Among them there are prickly and thornless, large-fruited and not so large. Large-fruited “Black Satin” and “Loch Ness” are deservedly popular. “Laughton” is an old variety, its berries are not very large, but aromatic, with a dessert sweet-sour taste; they tolerate transportation well and are stored for several days without losing their qualities. "Laughton" usually gives an excellent harvest, blooms even when there is no threat of late frosts, and ripens under the bright warm sun.

The late blackberry harvest ripens in July–August, sometimes in September, like “Chokeberry.” The most famous varieties, these are: “Chester Thornless”, “Navajo”, “Texas”, “Apache”. It’s good to get a harvest of delicious vitamin berries at the end of summer, when all the others have long been ripe, eaten and forgotten. But when late maturation There is always a danger of losing part of the harvest with the arrival of cold weather. The fact is that even those blackberries, which the creators declared frost-resistant, will freeze in our winters without shelter. This means that in the fall, before the cold weather arrives, you need to have time to trim and cover the shoots for the winter, even if not all the berries are ripe.

There is also a remontant blackberry, which is capable of producing a harvest not only on the shoots of the first year, but can produce two harvests: one on the shoots of the second year (if they are not pruned), and the other on new shoots. Then the first harvest will occur at the beginning of summer, like raspberries, and the second can go into autumn (it may become a problem for it to ripen before frost). There are hybrids of raspberries and blackberries (so-called raspberry varieties) that are so not afraid of cold weather that they can ripen almost in frost. Remontant varieties not like that. In protected soil conditions they produce two excellent harvests: in May–June and in September. But in open ground Not all climatic conditions may allow this.

There are so many varieties and hybrids of blackberries that every gardener can choose them not only by the size and taste of the berries, but even by the timing of fruiting.

Video “How to get a record blackberry harvest”

From this video you will learn what kind of blackberries you need to plant on your plot and how to care for them in order to get record harvests of berries from June to September.

- Two years ago I purchased blackberry seedlings. As I was assured, this is an upright variety that grows as a bush. I planted the plant, it took root, but still does not bear fruit, although it even bloomed last year. Explain why blackberries don’t bear fruit?

Valentina Yavlenskikh.

Galina Ivanovna Salova, foreman of the nursery of the agricultural company "Flowers of Altai":

Blackberry shoots have a two-year development cycle: in the first year they grow, lay buds, and bear fruit in the second year. It is unpretentious and grows on a wide variety of soils. All blackberries are self-pollinating plants. Therefore, after flowering, berries should appear on your bush. Possible reason The reason why blackberries do not bear fruit is because they are oversaturated with bait. Since the main factor for the fruiting of self-pollinating plants is pollinators - bees, you should attract them to your bush. When the blackberries begin to bloom, mix water with honey and sprinkle on the bush. This will attract their attention, and according to all the laws of biology, your plant should bear fruit.