Why don't blackberries bear fruit even though they have good shoots? Why don't blackberries bear fruit? How to care for blackberries

Blackberries are a unique plant rich in nutrients and medicinal substances. However, not only the fruit is useful, but also the leaves and roots, from which teas, decoctions and infusions are brewed. Blackberry juice is also beneficial, having strengthening and soothing properties. Thanks to this, many people have a desire to grow berries in their own garden.

You should still figure out what is the reason that blackberries grow poorly.

Blackberries thrive in northern temperate climates. But people who grow berries often have questions about their fruitfulness. And its lovers have to hope every year that nature will be favorable. After all, its taste is unique and not similar to other berries and fruits.

At the moment, there are about 300 varieties, but not all of them are successful in terms of fertility. Depending on the growth of the stems, two types are distinguished: erect and creeping branches. There are also non-thorny blackberries and prickly ones.

As a rule, upright varieties are characterized big amount crops and do not grow so slowly. There are fruit-bearing varieties that have a number of advantages:

Agavam - up to 10 kg of fruits from one bush. Aug. Sept.
Doyle - juicy and large berries. July – September.
Apache - 7-8 kg per bush. June August.
Black Satin – large berries; 14-17 kg. June August.
Karaka Black – large; 8-10 kg. June August.
Ruben – purchased; 14-15 kg. Until the first frost.
Thornfree – 12 kg. August.
Loch Tay – large fruits; powerful shoots; July.
Arapaho is the best in terms of aroma and taste. July.
Polar - 7 kg. July – September.

Having chosen these varieties of blackberries when proper care The question that the berry will not bloom or bear fruit will not concern.

Why don't blackberries grow and bloom?

Fully creeping varieties of blackberries are known for poor yields, but they have an advantage in the size of the berries: they grow juicy and large.

Many varieties are developed by crossing blackberries and raspberries. They have excellent taste, but the lack of propagation of such varieties is manifested in yield.

Failure to comply with agricultural technology

The survival rate of the berries is guaranteed only if certain conditions are met.

Violation of blackberry cultivation techniques affects fruiting. Berries need proper care. Do not forget that during the cold season you need shelter for blackberries. If ignored, the shoots may freeze, which will affect fruitfulness next year: they may either not bloom for a long time or not produce a harvest at all. The same applies to flower buds, which are absolutely not prone to low temperatures.

Top most frost-resistant varieties:

Agawam -30˚
Apache -20˚
Ruben: tolerates cold well, you don’t need to cover it for the winter.
Arapaho -25˚, winters without shelter.
Osage -13˚

Some gardeners make a mistake when pruning vines. There is a certain period for performing this important procedure. You should not do this in the spring: there is a possibility of pruning new shoots, that is, the fruitful vine. Autumn - perfect time of the year. During this period, old vines from which the harvest has already been harvested and which will not be able to bear fruit in the future are pruned.

The exception is the Ruben variety, which was previously mentioned. It bears fruit until the first frost. Accordingly, the time for pruning the vine increases. This needs to be done in winter.

Care and watering

Maintaining water balance – an important part in caring for any plant. Blackberries are no exception. The seedling requires regular watering with sufficient water. Fruits may dry out and shrink in size, which can also affect yield.

In gardening, it is important to know that moisture should not get on the blackberries that are ripening, that is, on the berries themselves. In this case, the brushes do not touch the ground. If you ignore these conditions, there is a high probability that the berries will become damp and rot.

Remember, you cannot use well water for hydration. For these purposes, it is better to use either water supply or rainwater. But in any case, the water is poured into some container and left in the sun for several days.

At the age of one year, when the blackberry takes root and reaches a height of 130 centimeters, the top of the shoot should be cut off by 10-12 centimeters. This procedure promotes the growth of lateral buds and branches. It is recommended to shorten the side shoots by 45 centimeters.

It is necessary to take into account that two-year-old fruits first bear shoots, and then stop doing so; they need to be cut out.

Fertilizer for plants

In addition to providing the fruits with nutrients through watering, the plant also requires fertilizer. Before planting, it is recommended to add a little manure or humus and ash. At the beginning of the flowering season you can feed nitrogen fertilizer, and in the fall it is appropriate to replace this with potassium-phosphorus fertilizer that does not contain chlorine.

Soil maintenance is also required. It needs to not only be moistened, but also loosened. This is done 5-6 times per season to a depth of 5-7 centimeters. Around the bushes blooming blackberries loosen the ground in a slightly different way: with a pitchfork 5 centimeters 2-3 times.

Pests and diseases

Blackberries are a susceptible plant. It is susceptible to rust, powdery mildew, anthracnose, septoria or white spot, didimella or purple spot, botrytis or gray mold.

It also suffers from a lack or excess of microelements in the soil, as mentioned earlier. But this can be avoided through fertilization.

Diseases appear different ways: if sedge, cedar, pine trees grow nearby; rainy weather, In any case, prevention and treatment are necessary, although only already weakened blackberries are susceptible to disease. Plants need more space, bushes must be ventilated.

The main thing is not to forget about proper care, then problems with diseases will not arise.

In pest control, spraying with acteplic or karbofos is recommended. This will help prevent the appearance of insects such as: mites (spider mites and raspberry hairy mites), raspberry bud moths, raspberry-strawberry weevils, raspberry beetles, gallworms, as well as aphids, gall midges and caterpillars of fire butterflies, raspberry glass beetles.

Pests affect yields, so it is best to get into the habit of treating either in the fall after the flowering season or in the spring before this period.

List of varieties that are rarely affected by diseases and pests:

Doyle: rarely gets sick.
Karaka Black: resistant to diseases and pests.
Thornfree: practically free from disease.
Osage: Disease resistant.

RESULT

Having only favorable conditions growing blackberries, you may not achieve the desired result. The plant requires careful care and adherence to agricultural technology: shelter during the cold season, pruning the vine after the flowering season. Timely and abundant watering plays an important role; loosening the soil in and near bushes, which differ slightly in loosening techniques, which you also need to know. Watering is also not as simple as it seems: either tap water or rainwater, and blackberries should not be wetted during ripening and flowering. It is recommended to pay attention to fertilizing plants, as this promotes productivity.

The variety plays a big role. The gardener must take into account the qualities that he personally needs, and then select a variety based on these criteria. The article presents lists of both well-producing, with large fruit plants that are both frost-resistant and not susceptible to pests and diseases. The latter property does not exclude the appearance, however, it is resistant to this and responds much less frequently, however, spraying should still be used in care.

Depending on the properties of blackberries that are a priority for the gardener, you can easily select a variety.

Ruben is suitable for lovers of large and juicy fruits with high yields who do not intend to worry about the plant in winter. It also bears fruit until the first frost. An ideal variety for those whose favorite garden berry is blackberry and who have no desire to eat frozen berries most of the year. When all the varieties have already passed away, Ruben is still blooming and bearing fruit, and this huge advantage of this variety among others.

Reuben's replacement will be Arapahoe - best variety in terms of taste and size. Also suitable for those who do not want to worry about covering in winter, but enjoy the taste of the fruit.

If desired, everyone who grows ogina will find their own variety that will satisfy their desires in all respects. But Special attention We should pay attention specifically to the yield of the fruit, because having excellent blackberries in terms of taste, we will definitely be worried about collecting as much of it as possible, and if the blackberries do not bloom, this is a real problem.

There is another variety with excellent yield, and the blackberry is not prickly. Sometimes only the second fact pleases farmers who immediately purchase the variety. This is Thornless Evergreen - an evergreen plant.

If you follow all these rules for caring for blackberries and a number of other factors affecting the fruitfulness of the fruit, then the question of blackberries not growing in the garden will no longer bother gardeners.

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- Two years ago I purchased blackberry seedlings. As I was assured, this is an upright variety that grows as a bush. I planted the plant, it took root, but still does not bear fruit, although it even bloomed last year. Explain why blackberries don’t bear fruit?

Valentina Yavlenskikh.

Galina Ivanovna Salova, foreman of the nursery of the Altai Flowers agricultural company:

Blackberry shoots have a two-year development cycle: in the first year they grow, lay buds, and bear fruit in the second year. She is unpretentious - she grows on the most various soils. All blackberries are self-pollinating plants. Therefore, after flowering, berries should appear on your bush. Possible reason The reason why blackberries do not bear fruit is because they are oversaturated with bait. Since the main factor for the fruiting of self-pollinating plants is pollinators - bees, you should attract them to your bush. When the blackberries begin to bloom, mix water with honey and sprinkle on the bush. This will attract their attention, and according to all the laws of biology, your plant should bear fruit.

Wild blackberries grow in forests, along the edges of swamps, where there is not enough sun, where there is no drainage, and the soils can be acidic. And the residents of the surrounding settlements in the second half of July, when the blackberries ripen, they rush to pick the sour, sometimes small, but so healthy berries, without fear of getting hurt on the sharp thorns. Not so long ago we began cultivating this plant at our dachas, where it grows and bears fruit in completely different conditions. We feed it, water it, cover it for the winter, and it tries to ripen to our delight - the berries of garden varietal blackberries are larger, richer in taste, the harvest is larger, and the fruiting period is longer.

Blackberries have been known to us for a long time, but summer residents began growing them en masse on their plots a couple of decades ago. Moreover, in our country it is distributed mainly among private farms, and is very rarely grown on small farms. In Europe (especially in Poland and the UK), farmers boldly began growing vitamin berries for commercial purposes, but they cannot keep up with the world leaders in production - Mexico, Canada and the USA. By the way, it is from Mexico that this delicate berry comes to Europe.

Blackberries are biennial crops - in the first year of life, their shoots grow, and fruit buds are just being laid; in the second year of life, flowers appear, then fruits.

After this, the fruit-bearing shoots die off, which is why they are cut out at the root in the fall. In parallel with the fruiting shoots, replacement shoots grow, on which fruit buds are laid. The bush is normalized from these new shoots, removing the excess ones, leaving the strongest ones, which will produce next year's harvest. Thus, the owner can plan the development of the bush and the harvest. But there is also a remontant blackberry, which is cultivated as annual crop . It forms fruits on the shoots of the first year, after which all shoots are cut off in the fall, and new ones grow, on which flowers will grow, and then fruits. You don’t have to cut the shoots after fruiting, then next year there is a reason to expect two harvests.

Berry crops are usually planted in the spring in an open, well-lit place with prepared (generously fertilized) soil. After planting, the seedling is pruned, leaving shoots no more than 30 cm from the ground. Then they take care of it all season - water it, weed it, loosen the ground around it, save it from pests, and in the fall the shoots are carefully rolled up and placed under cover, and in winter they are also covered with more snow. Next year, these shoots will bear the first fruits, which are usually allowed to ripen - they will no longer weaken the bush. In a couple of years root system will develop, the bush will mature, fruiting will reach its maximum.

When to pick blackberries

The wild ancestor of our garden blackberries usually ripens in the second half of summer. But today scientists tell the crop when it is best for it to ripen. The varieties and hybrids created by breeders can be independently selected according to the time of fruit ripening. Just like a thorny bush, which causes many unpleasant moments for the gardener when caring for it, can be replaced with a thornless one, because a garden thornless blackberry has already been created.

There are early, mid-season and late varieties blackberries.

The fruits of early varieties ripen in June. There is an opinion that these are not the most delicious, usually sour and small berries, but this is not entirely true. For example, from the beginning of June you can pick large cone-shaped berries of the Columbia Star variety. Its thornless creeping shoots are grown on trellises. This variety is undemanding to growing conditions and care, and produces a rich harvest of aromatic, sweet and sour berries. The very famous Natchez variety produces its first ripe berries in June, and its last in August. This thornless bush produces powerful, upright shoots, and its large berries are distinguished by their sweetness.

“Thornfree”, “Karaka Black”, “Loch Tay” - all this early varieties crops resistant to traditional diseases. The only thing you can be afraid of when growing early blackberries is spring frosts; if they occur at the beginning of flowering, the harvest will be spoiled.

Most varieties of blackberries have extended fruiting: flowers bloom at the same time, ovaries form, and berries ripen. All this can last from 4 to 6 weeks, for some even longer. Harvest should be done after 2-3 days; it is not advisable to leave the berries on the branches after they are fully ripe.

This feature is considered as an advantage if you want to constantly receive fresh berries, or as a disadvantage if you want to quickly harvest the crop in order to process it.

July – ripening time mid-season varieties blackberries. Among them there are prickly and thornless, large-fruited and not so large. Large-fruited “Black Satin” and “Loch Ness” are deservedly popular. “Laughton” is an old variety, its berries are not very large, but aromatic, with a dessert sweet-sour taste; they tolerate transportation well and are stored for several days without losing their qualities. "Laughton" usually gives an excellent harvest, blooms even when there is no threat of late frosts, and ripens under the bright warm sun.

The late blackberry harvest ripens in July–August, sometimes in September, like Blackberry. The most famous varieties are: “Chester Thornless”, “Navajo”, “Texas”, “Apache”. It’s good to get a harvest of delicious vitamin berries at the end of summer, when all the others have long been ripe, eaten and forgotten. But with late ripening, there is always a danger of losing part of the harvest with the arrival of cold weather. The fact is that even those blackberries, which the creators declared frost-resistant, will freeze in our winters without shelter. This means that in the fall, before the cold weather arrives, you need to have time to trim and cover the shoots for the winter, even if not all the berries are ripe.

There is also a remontant blackberry, which is capable of producing a harvest not only on the shoots of the first year, but can produce two harvests: one on the shoots of the second year (if they are not pruned), and the other on new shoots. Then the first harvest will occur at the beginning of summer, like raspberries, and the second can go into autumn (it may become a problem for it to ripen before frost). There are hybrids of raspberries and blackberries (so-called raspberry varieties) that are so not afraid of cold weather that they can ripen almost in frost. Remontant varieties are not like that. In protected soil conditions they produce two excellent harvests: in May–June and in September. But in open ground Not all climatic conditions may allow this.

There are so many varieties and hybrids of blackberries that every gardener can choose them not only by the size and taste of the berries, but even by the timing of fruiting.

Video “How to get a record blackberry harvest”

From this video you will learn what kind of blackberries you need to plant on your plot and how to care for them in order to get record harvests of berries from June to September.

Blackberries are a fairly rare inhabitant of local gardens; it is much more common to find bushes with traditional berries: raspberries, currants and other analogues. This is primarily due to the fact that blackberries have a reputation as a plant that is very demanding to care for, is not resistant to severe frosts and, moreover, has thorns. It is difficult to argue about the last statement, because There really are thorns. But they do not create as many problems during harvesting as those listed by those who have never grown blackberries; moreover, completely thornless varieties have recently been bred, which are called remontant. This article will talk about how to grow blackberries.

In terms of demandingness, this statement is an absolute myth. Blackberries are no different from their closest relative, raspberries. Before wintering, it, of course, requires some care, but this can be said about any garden plant.

But the fact that blackberries not only please the taste buds, bring a bountiful harvest and with it significant benefits to the body, but also look very attractive both during the flowering period and during the ripening period of the berries is undeniable.

Blackberry photo

Therefore, both beginners and experienced gardeners should definitely get to know blackberries better.

Garden blackberry

Blackberry is perennial shrub, more precisely a subshrub, from half a meter to 3 meters high. Its shoots can be arched, erect or creeping. The vast majority of shoots are covered with thorns, but at the same time they bloom very beautifully. It can be white, lilac and purple flowers, collected in inflorescences.
Almost all varieties are self-fertile, i.e. The bush feels great as a single variety. Although with cross-pollination, the quality of the berries not only does not deteriorate, but, on the contrary, new interesting facets are revealed, and the number of berries even increases.
Blackberry fruits look very attractive, especially large ones. They are a complex drupe of black, black-red and black and bluish shades.

To please the fruits, blackberries must go through a fairly long growing season (for example, compared to raspberries). Most varieties bloom by mid-July and bear fruit by late summer.

Origin of the garden blackberry

Blackberries, as already mentioned, are a direct relative of raspberries; more precisely, they are a subgenus of raspberries, which, in turn, belongs to the Rosaceae family.
IN wildlife it can be found in Europe, Asia and North America. It began to take root as a cultivated garden plant in the USA in the 19th century, and since the 30s of the last century it has gained unprecedented popularity. Everyone suddenly wanted to see truly pristine blackberry thickets in their garden and feel the taste and aroma of its fruits. By the way, a ripe blackberry weighs on average as much as 7 grams.
It was in the first half of the 20th century that the active breeding of new varieties of this berry began. Most of them were bred by the Americans and British, including the aforementioned remontant varieties (without thorns) that appeared in the early 2000s.

But there are also those bred in our region, for example, the very popular Izobilnaya variety, which owes its birth to the famous Michurin.

All types of blackberries and their hybrids can be combined into three groups:

erect(erect) - the most unpretentious and most frost-resistant;
curly- can create real thickets on the site;
semi-creeping- like snakes crawling along the ground or any proposed support.

Which variety of garden blackberry to choose?

Among so many species and varieties (only 300 of them were bred in Europe), it is very difficult to make a final choice, especially if blackberries have not grown in the garden before. It is most logical to pay attention to several of the most popular, and therefore easy to care for and well-fruiting varieties.

Variety Agawam. One of the oldest, bred more than a century ago. It is a tall, powerful bush with erect shoots with many thorns (they are even on the leaves). It will delight you with beautiful white inflorescences on annual shoots, which at the end of August will turn into fairly large black berries with a pleasant sweetish (but not cloying) taste. The main advantage of Agavam is its good frost resistance. Most often, the bush tolerates winter normally even without shelter. May be slightly damaged at -25 degrees, but generally withstands temperatures up to -42.
Variety Darrow can also boast of resistance to frost. The bush is slightly smaller than that of Agavam, but quite powerful and erect. The fruits are medium in size, appear quite early, but take a long time to ripen.
Variety Abundant grows on a strong, large bush with creeping shoots. Therefore, it grows only on trellises. The bright green shoots, at first glance thin and delicate, have thin, slightly curved thorns. In general, Izobilnaya looks very attractive, thanks to its good branching and purple-white flowers. Large berries appear on the bush in large quantities in August, have an oblong shape and a pleasant sweet and sour taste. This variety of blackberry requires mandatory shelter for the winter.
Just like Izobilnaya, the variety is afraid of frost Black Beauty. Distinctive feature this three-meter bush with flexible shoots - early fruiting is enough. The berries appear on it very beautiful and large (from 12 to 20 grams).
Variety Thorne fries can grow on a bush with long semi-creeping dark green shoots, the main advantage of which is the absence of thorns. The flowers on such a bush can be white or lilac; large conical berries appear in large quantities at the end of August. Like any remontant variety, Thornfree is afraid of frost and requires proper shelter.

Amara- This is perhaps the most popular of the thornless varieties. Maybe because he was the first. Of course, this bush needs to be prepared for winter, but what an amazing and abundant harvest it produces (berries weighing 15 grams, with a bright taste) is worth all the trouble.

Blackberry planting and care

Place for planting blackberries

The key to a good harvest of garden blackberries is not only right choice varieties, but also competent preparation to planting.

Garden blackberries are planted in spring (April-May). This is its main difference from the vast majority berry bushes. Although many gardeners claim that frost-resistant varieties are better established during autumn planting.
What should the blackberry habitat be like? First of all, as little windy as possible, otherwise it threatens not only injury to flowers and berries, but also poor pollination, after which there is a low probability of a good harvest.
Considering the poor winter hardiness of most varieties, a planting site should be chosen where it would be easy to cover the blackberries. It requires a lot of light, so the space along the fence will be the most optimal for planting this shrub. It is quite quiet, warm here, there are no disturbances in the form of other plants, and if necessary, the fence can be used as a trellis by tying a plant either directly to it or to a mesh stretched over it.

Soil for planting blackberries

Blackberries are quite unpretentious to the soil, the main thing is that it is not too heavy. Although, certain conditions for it correct landing There is.
If we're talking about about autumn landing, then before planting blackberries, the place of its future habitat must be covered with a layer organic fertilizer(at least 15 cm).

When planting in spring, it is recommended to thoroughly loosen the soil by 50 cm, because Blackberry roots lie quite deep. Add compost or manure (5 kg), 50 grams of potassium fertilizers and 100-150 grams of phosphate fertilizers to the pit.

How to plant blackberries

The distance between the holes depends on the type of garden blackberry. In any case, it should be sufficient if the variety has thorns, otherwise harvesting will create additional difficulties.
For upright varieties, the distance between pits should be 80-100 cm, and between rows - 180-200 cm.
The planting of creeping blackberries is influenced by the characteristics of the variety. It is better to learn about them from professionals working in the nursery, where it is recommended to purchase sprouts. The average distance for creeping varieties is 250 cm both between pits and between rows.
Before planting seedlings, you need to carefully inspect for damaged pagons and remove them as necessary. It is best to let the plant stand in water for 12 hours before planting. If you do this, you should not water the blackberries immediately after planting, because... it tolerates drought much better than waterlogging. During flowering and fruiting, watering is necessary, but within reasonable limits. It is very important to ensure that water does not stagnate at the roots.

And after planting a young plant, it is enough to simply compact the soil around it well.

Blackberry care

Blackberry fertilizer

After the first flowering begins, blackberries need to be fed, for example, with phosphates, but the main thing here is not to overdo it, otherwise the plant may get sick. It is much more important to constantly remove weeds, weed and loosen the soil, moistening it moderately.
For all subsequent years of the bush’s life, it needs to be fed once a year, preferably with manure, peat or ash. Several times over summer season The blackberry bush should be fed with bird droppings.

Blackberry pruning

In the first year after planting, blackberries are unlikely to produce a harvest. But this fact does not exclude the implementation of necessary measures. For example, in the summer, it is better to tie a shoot of any variety, even an upright one, to a horizontal trellis, and this should be done with all the shoots in the same direction. Next year, the direction of gartering new shoots should be the opposite. This will contribute correct formation bush.

Blackberry pruning consists of:

removing diseased, frozen, pest-affected or simply unsuccessfully growing stems in autumn or early spring;

formation of young stems in early summer;

pinching shoots in June-August;

the formation of stems that bear fruit in the fall, after harvesting.

When the shoot height reaches at least 60 cm, you can significantly increase the fruiting area by cutting off 3 to 5 cm from the top in early June. When the side shoots reach a height of 60 cm, they need to be shortened to 40 cm. This procedure, called pinching (pinching), promotes branching very well; a real mini-tree can form on the plant, from which flowers will appear the next year. Next year in the summer the procedure should be repeated, leaving 10-12 buds on the branches. For upright blackberry bushes, pinning is simply necessary.
Every year in the spring, young bushes of any blackberry variety should be subjected to formative pruning, i.e. those shoots that were pruned in the summer must be shortened, leaving 2-3 buds.
For better fruiting of already well-established, tall bushes and their formation, in the spring I do the pruning as follows: 5-7 of the strongest shoots are cut at a height of 2-2.5 meters and tied in one direction. Young shoots that appear during the summer are directed in the other direction.

Many knowledgeable gardeners It is recommended to proceed according to the following scheme. In the spring, one-year and two-year shoots need to be cut to one level, everything else should be removed almost completely. Harvest from two-year-old trees and also prune them thoroughly.
For good fruiting and preservation in the cold remontant varieties, in the fall they are cut off almost at the root.

Growing blackberries video

Blackberry shelter for the winter

Many people cover blackberry bushes with something like greenhouses already with the onset of the first cold weather, thereby extending the fruiting period. But the fertility of garden blackberries is one of the highest; from one bush you can get an average of 10 kg of berries.
But, as has been said more than once, blackberries are plants that do not tolerate winter very well, with the exception of a few varieties. Therefore, its shelter must be approached carefully.

The shoots should be removed from the trellises, carefully laid on the ground and covered with mulching material, this can be dry leaves, straw, or earth. And, of course, the first snow does this role perfectly.

How to propagate blackberries

Blackberries can be propagated in many ways: by seeds, cuttings, root suckers, shoot tips, and division.

The seeds, of course, are most likely used to breed new varieties.
Upright varieties reproduce well by root suckers.
Creeping - at the tips of the shoots. The method is quite simple and effective. After fruiting, the ends of the shoots must be bent in an arched manner to the ground into pre-dug holes 20 cm deep. They must be pinned to the bottom and covered with well-moistened soil mixed with peat. In this case, the ends of the shoots are brought out 10 cm. Before wintering, these ends must be covered, and in April they must be dug up, carefully separated from the main shoots, and planted in the standard way.

Benefits of blackberries

Blackberries are worth adding to the garden, if only because they are one of the healthiest berries. And although it contains quite a bit of the well-known vitamin C, it has a lot of iron and organic acids, so it is indispensable in the treatment of low hemoglobin.
Blackberry decoctions have a very positive effect on gastrointestinal diseases, ulcers, and inflammation. Bladder, menopause, kidney problems, neurasthenic conditions.
Its regular use helps to maintain good shape, because... this berry can help normalize metabolism, restore hormonal and water-salt balances (and these are the factors that often influence the appearance of excess weight).
Blackberries are used as food in absolutely all possible types. It makes literally everything - from juice to marmalade. Tea lovers claim that a drink made from blackberry leaves will give odds to the most exquisite Chinese tea.

6 pros in favor of blackberries

Garden blackberry It is second only to grapes in yield. Its direct relative, the raspberry, so beloved by all gardeners, loses out to it in this matter quite significantly.
She has very good natural immunity to all sorts of diseases, temperature fluctuations, and fungi. Amazingly, all kinds of pests are absolutely not interested in blackberries.
Blackberries are not afraid of drought, so they do not require regular abundant watering, which so “ties” the owners to the plots in the summer.
The plant is not picky about the composition of the soil.
Blackberries are not afraid of spring and autumn frosts. The first - because it blooms late, the second - because it still continues to bear fruit.
Blackberries are very healthy, large, easy to transport and store, and are endowed with a real bouquet of taste sensations.

Against the backdrop of all of the above certain subtleties caring for garden blackberries seems insignificant, because this plant belongs to the category of those that fully compensate for the effort spent on them. With proper care, a blackberry bush can live in one place for at least 15 years.

Blackberries are considered one of the most unpretentious berry crops, capable of producing a harvest in any conditions. There is nothing surprising in this: until quite recently it was a wild shrub, and its natural habitat (and this is most countries in the northern hemisphere) taught it to survive and bear fruit in any conditions. However, with the transformation of blackberries into garden plant some owners of household plots involved in its cultivation sometimes complain about its low yield, or even lack of fruitfulness.

What is the reason for this behavior of an unpretentious and hardy culture and is it possible to do something about it?

Reasons and details

The most common reasons for blackberry crop failure (or poor fruiting) are:

Varietal features. The fact that the yield of a particular crop directly depends on its variety is a well-known fact. In the case of blackberries, it manifests itself as follows: all its varieties available today (and there are about three hundred of them, or even more) are divided into erect, semi-erect and creeping. The first two can form clusters with many medium-sized berries, the total number of which will amount to kilograms. Creeping species are initially characterized as slightly fruit-bearing, but their berries themselves are larger than those of other species. It should be said separately about hybrids: their yield is also insignificant, but their taste is superior to other varieties.
Violation of the rules of agricultural technology - primarily covering for the winter and pruning. Blackberries are afraid of frost, and if they are not protected from the winter cold, the shoots will freeze, and in the most severe cases, tissue necrosis may occur around a bud that does not have frost resistance. Naturally, there can be no talk of any harvest in this state of affairs. As for pruning, you should remember its main rule: you need to cut only old, fruit-bearing branches. If you shorten new shoots or do spring pruning, the plant will not be able to produce a harvest - at least this year. For the same reason, it is recommended to prune old branches only in the fall.
Irregular or insufficient watering during ripening of berries, due to which they can become small and dry, and the yield can decrease. The worst case scenario is also possible, in which the berries may not ripen at all.
Absence of flower buds on a green vine. The reason for this could be any - for example, the lack of shelter for the winter, which we already talked about a little higher - and the result will be that the empty vine will interfere with the fruiting of other shoots.
Disembarkation at inappropriate place and, most importantly, on unsuitable soils. The first refers to an insufficiently lit area of land, and the second refers to carbonate soils. If blackberries grow on them, sooner or later their roots will reach the lime, and eventually the crop will begin to dry out. It can be determined that the cause of crop failure was the soil, and not infectious chlorosis, by the following signs: yellowing of the leaf blade while maintaining the natural color of the veins, absence of damage and necrosis of tissues and veins, mummification of berries directly on the branches.
Unsuitable or unstable climate. Even in my own natural environment habitat, which is not particularly soft, the blackberries may not have time to ripen. The fact is that it itself requires not only a warm, but also a long growing season and usually begins to bloom a month later than its long-cultivated relative, the garden raspberry. In conditions middle zone it is the beginning of July. It takes at least two months for the berries to ripen, and thus, in the best case scenario, blackberries begin to bear fruit in early September. And although it is still warm at this time and “Indian summer” is ahead, unstable weather is quite possible, due to which the blackberries simply will not have time to bear the harvest. It is also possible that the variety you chose was not originally zoned for your area.

How to deal with crop failure

For your blackberries to bear fruit, you need little: just follow the rules for growing them and all the nuances inherent in this process, and avoid what we talked about above. For example:

When watering the plant, you should remember that moisture should not get on the berries, and the fruiting clusters should not touch the ground. If this happens, the berries will become infected with gray rot, and then the harvest can be forgotten for a long time.
When caring for blackberries, you must definitely add different kinds fertilizers that have a beneficial effect on the yield and taste of the crop. The type of fertilizing is individual in each case and depends not only on the variety, but also on the season, the soil on which the crop grows, etc.
When deciding to grow blackberries in your garden, you should carefully choose the variety. It should not only produce a harvest that suits you, but also be suitable for your area. Unfortunately, experts have not yet developed varieties that would be both large-berry and abundantly fruit-bearing, so when choosing you need to rely not only on recommendations experienced gardeners, but also to your own preferences.
When planting bushes, you should follow simple recommendations: plant the plant in a well-lit area (slight shading is acceptable); bushes should be arranged in rows, and the distance between them should be chosen depending on the variety; Fruiting branches must be tied to supports approximately two meters high.
If the blackberry is unlucky and it turns out to be planted on carbonate soil, the situation can be corrected foliar feeding iron chelate and adding a weak solution of iron sulfate to the root. It is also recommended to apply more manure in the fall or compost in the spring on such soils.

If you follow all these tips, then long years you can provide yourself with a stable harvest of excellent and very healthy berries– and, as you know, in one place blackberries can bear fruit for 12 to 15 years, depending on the variety.