Blackberry Thornfree: description and subtleties of growing
Content
Description of the variety
The blackberry of this variety is a crop with creeping or erect shoots, with a two-year-old aboveground part. In the first year of the life of the bush, he actively grows young shoots, on which the laying of the future harvest takes place. Next year, inflorescences will appear on these shoots, berries will begin to ripen. After fruiting ends in autumn, the shoots die off for the winter, making room for new ones. The root system gives development to new young shoots that replace dead ones. Thus, every year there are 2 types of branches on the blackberry bush: those that grow and those that bear fruit.
Blackberry bushes are covered with lush dark green foliage, which takes on a crimson hue for the winter. One of the characteristic features of this variety is its large, pale pink flowers.
Advantages and disadvantages
An adult blackberry bush of this variety can reach 3-4 m. One of the characteristic features, without which it is impossible to make a reliable description of the "Thornfrey" variety, is the absence of thorns on the branches. Thanks to this, pruning and caring for the bush is greatly simplified. There is another cultivar close to Thornfree - the Evergreen Thornless blackberry, which is also not equipped with thorns.
The growing popularity among domestic summer residents, which the Thornfrey variety boasts, as well as Evergreen Thornless, is due to the excellent taste of the berry and the unpretentiousness of the plant:
- The variety is drought-resistant - the bush is able to put up with a lack of moisture for a long time.
- Blackberries of the "Thornfree" variety have a high yield. If agricultural technology is not intensive enough, the bush simply bears fruit abundantly, but if the plant is fertilized regularly, then up to 30 kg of berries per season can be collected from one plant.
- Good winter hardiness - plants are able to survive even cold winters, with temperatures dropping to -20 degrees.
- Thornfree has a high threshold for disease resistance.
- The complete absence of thorns on the branches.
The only drawback of the variety is the poor stability of the berries for transportation and poor keeping quality during long-term storage (unlike the Thornfree variety, the Evergreen Thornless variety tolerates long journeys well, without being prone to loss of presentation).
Care and reproduction
Planting blackberry bushes is as follows: a hole is dug up to half a meter deep, a nutrient mixture of potassium, humus and superphosphate is placed inside. The soil in the hole is mixed to prevent the roots of the seedling from contacting with fertilizers. A young plant is placed in a hole, sprinkled with earth and watered. That's it, landing is complete!
Another mandatory point is that the seedling should be trimmed in such a way that the shoots are no longer than 30 cm.
The installation of trellises will greatly facilitate the care of the blackberry bush. To do this, in the place where the blackberry was planted, supports up to 2 m high are installed.A thread or wire is pulled between them, to which the growing side shoots are tied, of course, if last year's shoots have been trimmed.
With the arrival of spring, the bush requires feeding: organic fertilizers are applied, the bushes are mulched. Before the ovary is formed, you can fertilize the bushes with urea or a potassium complex. When the berries begin to ripen, the blackberries need watering (during the hot season, the blackberries are baked, not having time to ripen). It is noteworthy that the flowering of the Evergreen Thornless blackberry begins a week later, respectively, and the fruits will appear later.
Caring for blackberry bushes consists, in addition to fertilizing, in the regular loosening of the soil and the timely removal of weeds.
Another mandatory step associated with caring for a blackberry is pruning. The bush is formed in the usual bush way, tying the overgrown lashes to the supports, but fan molding can also be used - in this case, the lashes are laid by the weaving method evenly on two sides in order to facilitate the care of the soil around the roots. If short pruning is used, then the excess stem length is trimmed with pruning shears to stimulate lateral branch development. In the case where intensive lateral pruning is practiced, there is no need to pinch the tops.
In the fall, it is imperative to completely free the bush from all fertile branches and cover it for the winter, having previously tied new shoots to the trellises.
To shelter blackberries from frost, ordinary straw is often used. In this form, the bushes calmly survive the winter.
If the plants are provided with decent care, they are healthy and strong, pruning is carried out on time, then such bushes can be used for reproduction.
The Thornfree variety, like the Evergreen Thornless, is propagated by root cuttings. At the very beginning of spring, you need to dig out small pieces of roots and plant them to a depth of 7-10 cm in a permanent place.
For propagation of creeping varieties, the method of rooting the tops or cuttings is used. It is not difficult to root the tops: in early autumn, the end of the shoot is bent to the soil and placed in a small hole, digging in and fixing the branch on this segment. In this form, the plant wintering takes place, no additional care is required for it, and with the arrival of the next season, the sprout should gain a foothold. A bush with a rooted top should be covered in the same way as other blackberries.
Collection
The ripening period for the Thornfrey blackberry is in the second half of July - August (while the Evergreen Thornless bears fruit even in autumn).Fruits that need to be preserved for the winter are harvested in dry weather, preferably in the early morning. The best way of long-term storage is freezing: in this state, the berries will lie quietly all winter without losing their qualities.
Video "Thornfree Thornfree BlackBerry"
We invite you to watch a short video review of the "Thornfree" blackberry variety from the specialists of the Greensad garden center.