Growing Healthy Blackberries
Question from Jill:
My Oregon days have me indignant that I can grow blackberries here. I have Boysenberry’s canes beginning (posts and wire already in place), and these acid lovers need a PH of 5.5, which my soil test says it is not. These are in the ground in amended ground with garden soil. My leaves are a bit yellowy and I know that is a sign of a deficiency. There are too many suggestions of how to lower it (soil sulfur, cottonsead meal, ironite, pine needles), and I would like to know what I should do now, to the soil, or as a foliar spray. And then when to repeat and why (if the ph is still not low enough perhaps when tested or if the leaves will not green up?). You seem to have a plan for those of us that want to grow parts of our histories!
Answer from Pat:
Blackberries need deep, well-drained, organic soil and plenty of water. In the wild they often grow on banks and in roadside gullies, where they thrive on leaf mold from overhanging trees and moisture flowing down from above. In hot interior climate zones, provide afternoon shade.
Blackberries are subject to many pests and diseases, but healthy organic soil and no spraying with pesticides will help beneficial organisms take over and control the baddies. (Try Serenade, an organic spray if you already have disease problems. Yellow drooping leaves would be a sign.) The best thing is to start by planting healthy, disease-free plants in the first place.
Before planting blackberries, amend the soil really well with organics, such as well-aged compost. But if I had the plants you describe and they looked yellow already, I would mulch the bed with aged horse manure, water thoroughly, and see if that doesn’t produce wonders. There must be a horse farm or horse owner near you. Make sure you have a tetanus shot up to date but then go get some trash cans full of horse manure and use as a mulch on top of the ground around the berries and fruit trees. If one does this in fall the rains will wash the goodness into the ground and the manure can age right there on top of the ground. You should get the most magnificent soil, earthworms, and berries—raspberries, particularly love this treatment.
Another idea for a quick green-up of your blackberry plants, try spraying the plants with a foliar spray of a weak organic liquid fertilizer, such as a mixture of fish emulsion and Epsom salts (for magnesium). It should green the plants up. Epsom salts: Mix 1 teaspoon to a quart of water, spray on foliage. Then water really well and deeply, unless the ground is soggy already from the winter rains. (If the soil is soggy that too might be a problem since blackberries need good drainage.) Topping with horse manure once or twice a year will even solve a drainage problem eventually and make heavy clay soil highly productive. Earthworm casting tea and alfalfa tea are other organic foliar sprays you could try. These are good to pour on the ground too. (See my book for details.) Humic acid comes to mind. Humic acid mixed with kelp is a major tonic for plants releasing the goodness already in the ground and should produce incredible results. There is a product called John and Bobs Soil Optimizer that does an amazing job of greening things up. It’s expensive but is an easy way to go and great way to start, with not much work involved. So now you have all kinds of ideas. Try this or that and see what works for you and let me know results.
Your knowledge and creativity are as rich as organic soil! I am so glad I found you!
Wow! All doable! Excellent, I will report in, and they do get afternoon shade! There is much manure to be found in Jamul which is close to me. Walter Anderson’s near the airport says that they have humic acid, I will let you know if that is true. And I am recently tetanused, which I think was just great that you re-mentioned and that is in your book.
I also do have redworms, I now use the Worm Factory system (I have two of the largest ones) and just love that system. I have tried a variety of homemade things but this works great for me. I have them raised on cinderblocks to reduce bending and so a bucket fits under the spicket easily. Scraps and shreds of paper/browns in, black gold out. Tea making and casting distribution is this weekends project. Triple thank you, Jill
Proud of you on the worm farming. It takes a bit of know-how and a good set-up in shade. I had trouble with raccoons and worms getting too warm.
Have a quick question. It’s an easy one but for some reason I can’t find the answer online that’s appropriate to our area. When growing marionberries I think you tie the new canes up when the old ones are done fruiting. However, since I don’t think they go dormant here, when the heck do you cut down the old canes and tie up the new ones? Also, do you thin and take only the heftiest new canes to tie? Thanks.
I live in Santa Barbara. Can’t find info about this for SB area. Thanks.
Randy
Nice to hear from you. How are you doing?
Re: Marion berries, these are the trailing kind of blackberry, not upright canes. it is important to know that the canes of blackberries are biennial though the roots are perennial. This means the canes grow one year and bear flowers and fruit the second year. You need to know which are which so you can cut down the canes that have born fruit.
Here is the way to go: Let the new canes sprawl on the ground for their first year, but meanwhile build some kind of support over the row, like wires held up by posts. Then in autumn of the first year pick up these trailing canes that are on the ground and do not cut them off but instead tie them up to your trellis. In spring they will begin bearing and you will be picking fruit from them as new sprawling canes are growing and lying on the ground. In fall when the canes you tied up are done fruiting cut them all down to the ground. When you are done with this job, tie up all the new canes that grew that year and so forth infinitum. In this way, you will never need to worry which canes to cut off or when and you will never mistakenly cut down a new cane.
All best to you!