Blackberries are one of the most delicious garden berries. Outwardly, it resembles raspberries, only black. The plant belongs to the large Rubus genus, which includes berries such as bones, raspberries, princes, cloudberries. Blackberries creeping and erect are popular with gardeners. In the people they are called, respectively, dewdrop and kumanik. The latter variety can reach more than three meters in height. Its stems are covered with thorns. There are repair forms of shrubs.
If you are interested in a blackberry, planting and caring for it require the following. Upright varieties are more unpretentious. Blackberries love well-lit, non-wind-blown places. It does not tolerate drought or waterlogging. The soil for the successful development of the plant must be drained, with a supply of moisture, nutritious and loose. The plant does not tolerate low temperatures, so the blackberry must be protected from the cold.
Blackberries are planted in the spring or autumn months. Moreover, in the spring, the bush should be planted before the dissolution of the buds, and in the fall - until the first frosts. In the latter case, the plant manages to take root by the next season, and begins to grow in the spring. For planting a shrub, the soil must be prepared in advance, to clear the site of weeds. The pits for the plant should be 30 to 30 centimeters. Between the rows you must leave a passage of one meter. In order for the blackberry to develop successfully, planting and caring for the shrub require the introduction of organic fertilizers into the pits for planting. It can be peat, dung, grass, leaves.
Between the rows you need to regularly remove excess offspring and weeds. In the autumn and summer season, you need to loosen the soil around the bushes, mulch with straw, sawdust or a dark film. Blackberry is a self-pollinating plant. The correct approach and care for it requires tying the stems of the shrub using wire along the fence, using special supports as a support.
In order for the blackberry to bear fruit well, planting and caring for it involve regular pruning, which is recommended in spring and autumn. At this time, stems infected with diseases, broken or damaged by pests are subject to pruning, and also those that are left for fruiting are shortened. Young shoots that are superfluous are cut in late spring - early summer. Already fruiting stems are removed after harvesting.
Since the blackberry does not tolerate the cold, planting and caring for it require preparing it for the onset of winter. To do this, in September-October, the stems of the bush are carefully bent to the ground and fixed with hooks. Then the roots are mulched with peat, humus or sawdust, the plants are covered. With the onset of winter, it is necessary to ensure that the blackberry is well covered with snow. This will protect her from freezing. Winter-hardy varieties were also developed, which include Eldorado, Agawam, Darrow, Ufa local.
Proper cultivation of blackberries requires feeding the plant, for which complex fertilizers are used . But it must be remembered that with an excess of nitrogen, the hardiness of a shrub decreases and there is a risk of gray rot. When cultivating a blackberry, one must take into account the selected varieties and properly organize the care of the plant.