Blackberries

nightshade

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I have boughten ones as well as wild ones in red and black.

Mulch around them in the fall with sawdust to improve your acidity and help protect them from poor weather during their hibernation. They need water must not drowned, it they get to moist they will rot, and would rather be a little dry most of the time then over wet. You should cut off the shoots that had this years berries on at end of the harvest season, these stalks will not produce fruit next year and will only suck up nutrients that should be going to produce new stalks and fruit. They do not mind bad soil but will not do extremely well in tight clay which should be amended with a little compost to keep it from being hard as a rock. Gravely or other types of poor soil is not a big deal.

Raised beds for them can be more of a convince because they help keep them contained. Any where a blackberry touches the ground it will re-root and make a new plant, sometimes this is great, more plants more fruit. Not so great if you want a neat well maintained looking patch. In a raised bed it makes it easy, if it out of the bed you can either dig it up and move it or simply mow it off.

Hope this helps.
 

Texan

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nightshade said:
I have boughten ones as well as wild ones in red and black.

Mulch around them in the fall with sawdust to improve your acidity and help protect them from poor weather during their hibernation. They need water must not drowned, it they get to moist they will rot, and would rather be a little dry most of the time then over wet. You should cut off the shoots that had this years berries on at end of the harvest season, these stalks will not produce fruit next year and will only suck up nutrients that should be going to produce new stalks and fruit. They do not mind bad soil but will not do extremely well in tight clay which should be amended with a little compost to keep it from being hard as a rock. Gravely or other types of poor soil is not a big deal.

Raised beds for them can be more of a convince because they help keep them contained. Any where a blackberry touches the ground it will re-root and make a new plant, sometimes this is great, more plants more fruit. Not so great if you want a neat well maintained looking patch. In a raised bed it makes it easy, if it out of the bed you can either dig it up and move it or simply mow it off.

Hope this helps.
It does. Thank you very much I am needing about 20 pounds of berries each year for wine.
 

conradpdx

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I don't think you'll have drainage issues. They're an uncontrollable weed here in the Pacific Northwest. I spend at least one full work day in my yard pulling the roots and offshoots out from between and under my fence each year, And my yard is a 5,000 square foot city lot. And typically a lack of rain isn't an issue round here.

They even seem to prefer areas that are kind of wet to begin with like the drainage ditches next to roads. Of course perhaps they don't, but that's only as far as I've ever had to wander to find them, when not picking from the brambles that escaped my spring slaughter.
 

kellygirrl

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Mine do fine in alkaline soil. I have Doyle thornless, which I find tricky to pick exactly ripe, but I'm sure I'll get the knack. They are famous for making some crazy number of gallons per vine (mine fall a bit short of the hype, but I've got them on an overly crowded fence I swear I'm going fix this year :rolleyes:). I came across a comparison online with Triple Crown, and the tester found Doyles to be more prolific, but a tad sour and thinks that they would make good wine.
 

Iceblink

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I haven't make wine, but I have made balckberry mead and cordial. Both were really strong. I dilute it with club soda. I have also found that the berries are easier to juice if I freeze and then thaw them before mashing and draining.

Good Luck.
 

Texan

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Iceblink said:
I haven't make wine, but I have made balckberry mead and cordial. Both were really strong. I dilute it with club soda. I have also found that the berries are easier to juice if I freeze and then thaw them before mashing and draining.

Good Luck.
I hadnt even thought of blackberry mead. That could work.
 
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