In recent years, the studless blackberry has been successfully grown in home gardens. This useful berry, which is a close relative of raspberry, requires certain growing conditions.
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Characteristics of Blackberry Blessing
The shrub with slightly oblong berries mainly has straight, upward-reaching shoots. Sometimes sprouts are spread on the ground. The fruits are mostly dark in color, but there are varieties with red or yellow berries. Blackberry blooms from the second month of summer.This late flowering does not allow inflorescences to freeze during spring frosts.
Blackberries are notable for their abundance of harvest. The combination of vitamins and minerals that are part of the berries gives it healing properties. Besshipnaya blackberry is rich in carotene and contains potassium, calcium and sodium. The berry is also endowed with magnesium, iron, phosphorus, nickel, copper and barium and chrome.
Such berries have medicinal qualities:
- have antipyretic features;
- improve metabolism;
- strengthen the immune system;
- restore the gastrointestinal tract.
The juice of these healing fruits heals wounds and many skin diseases. And the leaves of the shrub are used as an astringent diuretic and anti-inflammatory agent.
Sometimes people eating blackberries can get vomiting and indigestion. Such symptoms cause allergic effects and intolerance of the berries in some cases.
Features of planting and growing
For planting a blackberry bushless need lighted and well-heated in the sun seats. Such bushes are best grown in areas protected from the winds. For a favorable cultivation of berries requires soil fertile varieties and soil moisture.
It should be ensured that the roots of the plant are not frozen. Excess moisture adversely affects the development of shrubs, and reduces the quality and volume of the crop. The content of limestone in the soil leads to leaf disease.
Before planting, the root system of seedlings is shortened slightly. The rather long root processes are pruned and the damaged and damaged parts are removed. The landing recess usually reaches fifty centimeters in depth. A mixture of humus and compost is added to the hole. Wood ash is sprinkled on top, and lime is mixed into the soil with high acidity.
A growing straight plant is placed in a row through one meter with an interrow distance of up to two meters,and the varieties spreading on the ground are separated in a row between themselves with an interval of up to four meters and a row spacing of about three meters. Carefully placed and well sprinkled in the pits seedlings watered. For convenient moistening of the soil around each bush a hole is created. On top of the soil sprinkled with straw or sawdust.
Regular feeding of bushes leads to a rich harvest. Every year in the spring, the ground around the plant is fertilized with humus and ammonium nitrate. In the summer it is good to put in soil, diluted bird droppings or manure. In autumn the soil is enriched with superphosphate and wood ash.
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Growing a studless blackberry is not difficult. You must properly care for the bushes and monitor the condition of the plant. In the creation of suitable conditions for the growth of shrubs it is necessary:
- regular saturation of the soil with moisture;
- removal of young processes;
- thinning overgrown bushes;
- establishment of a support for garter shoots;
- shrub formation;
- loosening the soil and removing weeds.
Preparation and care of bushes in winter
Before the cold shoots that have borne fruit for two years, are removed. Extra new branches are removed. To avoid excessive stretching of bushes in height, pinch the upper parts of the stems. This action will allow the processes on the sides to develop and gain strength. Old stalks are cut at the root, so that pests will settle on them.
To avoid the spread of parasites, cut branches should be burned with garbage. After processing, sawdust or peat is poured under the bushes, which provides the plant with moisture and protects the root system from freezing. All kinds of blackberries, including cold-resistant ones, need shelter for the winter. Sometimes the soil near the bushes is covered with roofing felt, corn leaves or hay.
Blackberry breeding methods
Dilution of black-headed blackberry is done in several ways:
- Seed growing - a simple way of sowing seeds in the ground. This process requires irrigation and fertilization. Cultivation through seeds does not save varietal characteristics of the culture.
- Reproduction by rooted tops or green cuttings - procedure for plucking processes with seals at the ends. This method is performed by sprinkling with earth shoots until they are fully rooted. Subsequently, the sprout ready for independent life is separated from the adult bush.
- Breeding green summer or autumn shoots, which are already stiff. This method can also be performed by cuttings with formed roots in greenhouses. To do this, you need to place the roots in the ground horizontally by not returning for at least a year. Landing is performed at a depth of about ten centimeters.
- Blackberry removal with the help of shoots begins in July. To do this, you need to expand the long branches around the shrub, without separating them from the parent plant. With a sharp blade on the shoots made several cuts. All sprouts sprinkled with soil at a depth of ten centimeters, leaving the top with leaves. Roots grow under the buds in the grooves, and young shoots form from above.In the fall, the sprouts are separated and transplanted to a specific place.
- Reproduction by air layering produced by winding cellophane grafted areas. The earth is poured into the entwined material, and the whole structure in the form of a sleeve is tied across. Moisture is pumped through a syringe. Through the film, you can see the stages of development of root processes. In a month, cuttings with roots can be separated and transplanted.
Blackberry Bearing Varieties
Recently, some varieties of blackberry beshipnoy enjoyed considerable popularity.
Loch Ness
Loch Ness - a common variety that is famous for its rich yield. Berries reach weight up to five grams and have excellent taste properties. Fruit picking is carried out from mid-August until the first frost. The crop is well preserved and does not deteriorate during transportation.
Thorn Free
Thorn Free - high-yielding variety, which has a strong massive bush. Shoots spread out and form large dark berries weighing about five grams. The fruits begin to sing in July. The last harvest is collected at the end of the summer. The plant is resistant to diseases.
Black satin
Black satin - shrub with very high yield.Belongs to varieties with upright sprouts. The fruits are black and tasty. Harvesting falls at the end of summer.
Navajo
Navajo - bushes of high fructification. The fruits are large, shiny, dark shade. Berries ripen in August. Fruiting lasts about a month. The variety has good frost resistance.
Smuttststem
Smuttststem - large-fruited variety. The fruits ripen in the summer. Shrub requires protective shelters for the winter.
Blackberry fruits are harvested from the second month of summer to the end of September. The maturation of the crop depends on the variety of the crop and the growing weather conditions. Berries ripen at the same time. Usually ripeness occurs at an interval of three days.
For the prevention of diseases, shrubs treated with sulfuric solutions. This tool protects the culture from fungal infections and the invasion of ticks.
Bilberry-less blackberry is a picky perennial shrub that, with proper care, yields a high yield with non-sour fruits, endowed not only with good taste, but also with beneficial properties.