Blackberry

General information

The homeland of blackberry is considered to be America, where it grows almost throughout the whole territory. Existing cultural varieties of blackberries can be divided into two groups - with upright and creeping shoots. The first is called kumanikoy. It is propagated by root offspring. The second - sundew, multiplies by rooting of the apical buds. The folding blackberry ripens earlier in the morning.

Requirements Under the erect blackberry varieties, warm, well-warmed, sheltered from northern and eastern winds are assigned. Good growth and fruiting are possible on wet, but not overmoistened, fertile and deep-drained soils of light and medium loamy texture. For the successful cultivation of blackberries on sandy loam, it is necessary to spread them from a depth of not more than 50 cm with moisture-absorbing and permeable loamy soils. The growing blackberry grows in warm places. Otherwise, it is undemanding and it can rightly be considered the most unpretentious fruit plant. Composition: fruits of blackberry garden contain sugars, organic acids( apple, citric, tartaric and salicylic are predominant), pectin substances;vitamin C, others are presented - A, B1, B2, B9, E, K, PP, although in small amounts, slightly more than P-active substances. Of the mineral elements in the fruit contains a lot of iron, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese and copper. Leaves and shoots contain tannic substances, seeds - fatty oil, used in cosmetics.

Sorts

Agavam is derived more than 130 years ago in the USA.Refers to a straightforward blackberry. Bushes are powerful, tall, shoots are thick. Berries are large, short-conical, black, dense, much sweeter than raspberries, ripen in August. Abundant and Texas deduced by IVMichurin. Refer to the crouched blackberry. The bush is strong, shoots are long, thin. Berries Abundant large, elongated, black, sweet and sour, ripen in August; Texas - in full maturity dark crimson, almost black, with a weak wax coating, fragrant, excellent taste with pleasant sourness. Thornfree - , a birch variety, bred in the USA, short-cone berries, black, shiny, sour taste, mature in August. All these varieties, unfortunately, are not resistant to winter and require shelter for the winter.

Planting of

Preplant soil cultivation is carried out in the autumn and 10-12 kg of manure or compost, 40-50 g of superphosphate and 20-30 g of potassium fertilizers per 1 m2 are applied for digging. Just as in the preparation of the soil for planting raspberries, it is possible to carry out not continuous preparation, but to excavate a trench with a width and depth of 40 cm, mix the extracted layer of soil with organic and mineral fertilizers and fill the mixture in a trench. Plant blackberry plants best in the early spring. Straight standing varieties planted at a distance of 50-70 cm, creeping - at a distance of 100-125 cm from each other in a row with a width of between 2-2.5 m. In the planting pits with a size of 40 x 40 cm, pour the humus, distribute seedlings in them withshortened to 25-25 cm aboveground, covered with soil, abundantly watered and mulched with peat or humus.

Planting blackberry plants

1. Stand-up varieties of blackberries need support, they are fastened with brackets or tied to a trellis consisting of several parallel rows of stretched wire or rope.

2. The emerging blackberry varieties are also tied to the support, while the fruiting and young stems are divided. Fruit-bearing branches are fixed and guided along the support, for example, to the right, and the young stalks to the left. This separation of stems provides better illumination of the bush, ripening of berries and facilitates harvesting

Care

The soil around the plants is kept in a loose and clean condition from weeds. Biennial breeding shoots are carved. Sweeping and semi-growing annual shoots are bent for winter to the ground and covered with potato or vegetable crops, film and other materials, and in the spring they raise and put on the trellis. For erect shoots of blackberry installation of trellis and bending of bushes for the winter does not hold, as hard shoots almost do not lie. Due attention should be paid to watering the plantations of blackberries. Next year after planting, in spring, the plants are watered abundantly( up to 5 buckets per bush).During the growing season, watering is required depending on the soil condition, especially during the period of filling and ripening of berries. In the section on pests and diseases of raspberries, a number of common pests and diseases of raspberries and blackberries are described. In addition, the blackberry is attacked by the blackberry gall mite, which damages the fruit. The pest is very small, 0.2 mm in size. He hibernates on a bush, in early spring moves to flowers, then to fruits. It is not difficult to fight with him: after picking berries, you must cut and destroy the shoots that have been fertilized. After trimming 3 times, sprinkle the bushes with infusions of garlic or pyrethrum with the addition of laundry soap. In the spring of next year, bushes are treated with the same solutions in order to prevent a new invasion of the tick.

Pruning

Trimming techniques are the same as when caring for raspberries.

Harvesting

Berries are not ripening at the same time. They, like raspberries, are collected in several receptions. Mature berries are easily separated from the calyx together with the fruit. Unlike raspberries, the blackberry fruit does not crumple during harvesting, they are distinguished by good transportability and are stored longer at zero temperature.

Using

You can prepare juice from berries, jam, jam, compotes, jelly, marmalade, pastille, jelly, all kinds of fillings and drinks. From the leaves you get excellent tea. In folk medicine, it is believed that it has a multi-faceted action - wound healing, anti-inflammatory, diaphoretic, diuretic, astringent and hemostatic. Prolonged use of it improves metabolism and blood composition. Fresh fruits and blackberry juice - a good multivitamin, fortifying agent, well quenching thirst at high temperature. They improve the activity of the gastrointestinal tract, increase digestion, appetite. Mature berries slightly relax the stomach, immature - have an astringent property. The fruits of blackberries are used for inflammation of the kidneys and bladder.