Raspberries and Blackberries?

swripley on Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:50 am

Newbie here in the inital planning stage. My husband has his heart set on raspberries and blackberries but I don't see any reference to them in the book or on the forum. Anyone out there try this and willing to offer advice?

jerzyjen on Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:54 am

The only advice I have is that I tried to grow them last year and the vines grew up, but never saw a berry. I left them in the pot and will try again this year.

I think on the old boards people were saying they grow like weeds in the pacific north west. Here in NJ, not so much - at least not in my yard. I think they like alot of water.

chocolatepop on Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:03 am

The is information from the main page, off FAQs

"Blackberries and Raspberries
To answer your question about blackberries and raspberries, we usually keep them away from a Square Foot Garden where other crops are planted. Remember that things like blackberries and raspberries spread underground through their root system and keep coming up where you don't want them. However, you could go ahead and plant raspberries in the same Mel's Mix and we would recommend that you build a long, narrow box (2' wide by however long) and plant only blackberries - 1 per square foot. That would help keep them under control and they wouldn't be coming up in other parts of a box where you had other crops planted. You would want to add more compost to the soil each year to replenish the nutrients. Blackberries would need some sort of support to hold them up as they grow since they tend to spread out along the ground.
Mel suggests not mixing blackberries and raspberries in the same SFG box either. Both plants will send out suckers and try to take over. Blackberries and raspberries will ripen at different times also, making harvesting more difficult. Mel says to think of Blackberries and raspberries more like a hedge, plant your 2x? box with just one kind of plant. Adding a tomato tower will give this hedge more structural support and keep going up, not out as much. Plants take the path of least resistance so if you train them to go up and snip the runners that go out, you can control the shape a bit more."

dixie on Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:16 am

Modern Victory Garden is a blog I follow. She does a mixture of SFG/intensive/raised bed planting. The link above shows her berry set-up.

Lavender Debs on Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:27 am

jerzyjen wrote:snip.... last year and the vines grew up, but never saw a berry. I left them in the pot and will try again this year.

I think on the old boards people were saying they grow like weeds in the pacific north west. Here in NJ, not so much - at least not in my yard. I think they like alot of water.

Deborah from the Pacific Northwest.

Don't give up Jen! Water is not the problem. Cane berries grow and fruit on a two year cycle. Both Raspberries and the many different blackberries (marrions, logans etc) put out a vine or cane one year and make fruit on that cane the next year. We cut three year old canes-vines to ground level. YOU DON'T HAVE ANY THREE YEAR OLDS YET....NO CUTTING TO THE GROUND!!!

Last year’s canes and vines should be tip pruned this spring (don't wait too long). It is not as important on vines (blackberries) as it is for canes (raspberries). However tip pruning will cause vines and canes to stop putting effort into length of the vine/cane and start putting it into more fruit. When I tip prune raspberries I cut them down to a height that can be easily managed on my berry trellis. Force the top to bend down around the trellis to keep fruit from going up toward the sky. It is sort of the same with vines but I want my vines to run the length of the wire I am training them on, but not beyond that wire. Both get quite heavy when they are in full leaf and have ripe fruit. I do not want to be reaching over my head for fruit or have it lying on the ground.

This spring you should start seeing new leafy growth come up from your root stock. Let it grow. You can pluck a few leaves for tea (caution: it will encourage menstruation if it is getting close to that time and laborà unless your pregnancy is running late, do not drink raspberry leaf tea when pregnant) Next years fruit will come from these sprouts. This year’s fruit will be on thick, unbranched canes or vines (some vines do branch, but it will be different then vines that have already fruited, usually I trim to one main vine or just eliminate forked vines)

The blues are very similar.

Even though I said that water was probably not the problem, they are thirsty little things. I always planted my berry garden over my drain field (not strawberries, they do not like wet feet but rasp and black are almost bog plants). They do not have drain fields on city lots. Ooze or drip irrigation might be wise. When planning where they will live, give them about five times as much room as you at first thought. A skinny little cane or vine fresh from the nursery will hog more room then you might think.... and they have thorns to guard their space.

Deborah ....strangely in the mood for a smoothie

Raspberries and Blackberries?

Raspberries and Blackberries?

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