Blackberry Question

[tombavar]

Back in the Spring I bought a “Triple Crown” blackberry. Its single stem had seven buds. Five buds have grown to about 18” and are bearing fruit. Each leaf has three segments.

About six weeks ago five shoots came from below ground. They are now 4’ long and growing vigorously. No sign of fruit on them. Each leaf has five segments.

I have no idea if this plant is a graft, but I suspect I may be hosting bramble root stock and should cut this new growth out. Or perhaps it’s new growth for next year’s fruit?

Any thoughts?

Thanks, Tom

[rustylady]

Hi Tom. Found this document for you http://www.greenwoodnursery.com/Docu...Blackberry.pdf The new shoots are indeed the ones that will produce fruit next year.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Tom I am in my second season with my blackberry, had the same thoughts as you last year but RL is spot on.

Train these runners by tying them in where you want them to go, horizontally if possible as this will give you more fruit next year. Including the vertical stem my runners were about 9ft long when I had to stop them off.

As interest I picked my first berries today.

Colin

[FB.]

Blackberries are not grafted. They are very easy to propagate from suckers or layers. Only difficult-to-root fruit varieties that will not breed fairly true from seed are grafted (such as tree fruits).

As already said: blackberries grow vigorous shoots from the ground in one year and these shoots bear fruit the next year, after which they should be removed to make way for newer shoots (older shoots get gradually less productive).
In other words: you should develop a two-year cycle - perhaps with old shoots trained on wires on one side and new shoots on the other, which makes it easy to keep old and young shoots apart.

[tombavar]

Grateful thanks to RL, Colin and FB for putting me right so quickly.

FWIW, here's a snap of my perhaps unorthodox blackberry growing method, showing red fruit, and those rampant new shoots running fast up their poles:

[rustylady]

Looking good Tom. By the way, whereabouts are you? If you add your location to your profile it will show up on your posts. Saves us keep asking you.

[tombavar]

Looking good Tom. By the way, whereabouts are you? If you add your location to your profile it will show up on your posts. Saves us keep asking you.

'tis done!

[rustylady]

'tis done!

Oh lucky you !!

[tombavar]

Well - almost two months later... Harvest over. Perhaps we had 30 luscious berries and the jays had three times that amount. Next year I'll be hanging aluminium foil strips, which has kept the birds off my raspberries!



I nipped out the growing tips when they'd reached the top of the canes, and am now busy tying the lateral shoots horizontally around the structure. I guess I'll nip them out too when they've done a full circuit.

The black bin, bottom right in the photo, awaits the arrival of a thornless "Buckingham" tayberry from the UK: £10 + £15 shipping to France! I'm gunna do the same thing with the tayberry...

FWIW, I have three melons from four plants, oodles of male flowers from seven courgettes but few actual courgettes, the jays had all my plums, wind and rain in the Spring meant no bees at my apricot so no apricots, but the cherries were magnificent!! And today it's 33 degrees.

Such are problems of the southern France gardener.

Tom