Modern varieties of garden blackberries are completely unlike those found in forests and fields.Not only are they thornless (at least some), they are also larger and produce more delicious fruit.Worth breeding them? Of course!
The aromatic variety of 'Theodor Reimers' has shoots several meters high that must be supported. In this respect, the thornless 'Navaho' is much more favorable, as it not only has shorter shoots, but also grows vertically. This variety bears fruit on two-year-old shoots.After harvesting the fruits, cut them close to the ground, leaving only 5-6 this year's shoots. Grooming and harvesting can be facilitated by separating the shoots. In principle, all garden varieties are cultivated in this way.
Blackberries are best planted in early spring.The 'Navaho' variety can also be planted in the fall, but then it should be mounded to protect it from frost (like a rose). Samong other recommendable thornless varieties include 'Black Satin', 'Black Butte' (fertile, large and tasty fruit), 'Arapaho' (large and sweet fruit).
Easier than you think: reproduction by layering
1. Prepare the well for planting the layering.
2. Bend the stem from the mother plant, 70-150 cm long, to the level and remove all the leaves from the part below the top.Then, 10-15 cm from the bottom, cut the skin with a sharp knife.
3. Cover this fragment of the shoot with soil, first press it to the bottom of the hole with a staple. The momentum is rooting at the lowest point. One plant is one new plant.
4. The top of the shoot remains uncovered. We bend it vertically and tie it to a stake.After planting, we maintain a constant humidity of the substrate.Deposits usually take root during one growing season (i.e. until the fall of the next year). Then they can be cut off from the mother plant and planted in a new position.
In the same way we can multiply the American blueberry, gooseberry, currant. Blackberries can also be propagated by root suckers (autumn), woody cuttings (autumn) and herbaceous cuttings (summer).Reproduction by layering is undoubtedly the simplest technique for obtaining new specimens.
