Blackberry Thornless Evergreen: variety description

Description of the blackberry variety

The European prickly blackberry "Evergreen" has been known for a long time, then its clone in America gave a thornless mutation that could not fail to attract attention, and already 1926 was marked by the emergence of a new variety "Thornless Evergreen".

This is an amazingly powerful shrub with creeping shoots that have a pentahedral shape at the base. At the beginning of the growing season, they are green, and towards the end they turn slightly red. Thornless shoots grow up to 6 meters and look very decorative - green leathery leaves have an elegant carved shape, many white or slightly pinkish flowers in the middle of summer, and then ripening fruits, changing their color from red to black, cannot go unnoticed. Some amateurs have already organized a hedge from such bushes. The bushes of this variety are also distinguished by the fact that they have more berries than green mass.

The bush does not give root shoots, but if the root is damaged by careless loosening, thorny shoots can grow, they must be cut out mercilessly so as not to lose such a convenient dignity as thornlessness.

Fruiting begins in the second decade of August and lasts until half of September, berries are picked 2-3 times a week.

Due to the fact that this blackberry is not afraid of frost (and the characteristics of the variety indicate that the shoots can survive frost -30 degrees), the bushes do not lose leaves even for the winter, which is reflected in the name of the variety "Evergreen". This allows you not to rush to cover the shoots, but first to collect a fully ripe crop. Our climate can be uncomfortable even for evergreen berry crops, so shoots right with leaves need to be rolled up and hidden under a covering material, as is usually done with blackberries or grapes in our area. And in the spring, when the ground has just thawed, and the whole garden will still gape with blackness, and the blackberry bush will already delight you with its green, albeit last year's, leaves.

The berries are distinguished by their abundance and fresh sweet and sour taste. They are small, comparable more with raspberries than with fruits of thornless varieties of blackberries, weighing from 3 to 5 grams. But from one bush they are harvested at least 10 kg, and sometimes more. The clusters are large, branched; one cluster can contain from 25 to 70 berries. They are sourish at the stage of technical maturity, then, with the onset of full ripening, the sourness practically disappears, the taste becomes almost unexpressed sweet. Chilled berries can be stored for several days, they perfectly tolerate transportation.

Video "Thornless Evergreen Blackberry Saplings"

This video will introduce you to the variety description that accompanies the packaging of the purchased blackberry seedlings.

Advantages and disadvantages

Blackberries of this variety have undoubted advantages, for the sake of which they are grown not only in the country, in order to provide their family with delicious vitamin berries, but also on farm fields for commercial purposes. Planting and leaving is somewhat easier due to the lack of thorns.It is also convenient that the bush does not give root growth, the fight against which in raspberries, for example, takes a lot of the gardener's time and energy.

The blackberry bush is very decorative due to its beautiful carved leaves and powerful shoots in the spring, and the rest of the time - due to the number of flowers and fruits that clearly exceed the green mass of the plant. Its amazing productivity is due to the large number of medium-sized berries.

It is easy to pick the fruits - they are compact, there are many berries on one bunch, there are no thorns, so it does not take too much time. The berries are easily removed from the stalk, after cooling, they are transported without loss, stored for several days, and do not flow, do not even deform. They are suitable for fresh consumption and for processing, are part of desserts and fermented milk dishes.

The Thornless Evergreen variety is not afraid of frost, fully ripens in early autumn, when there are no such berries anymore, extended fruiting is very convenient for long-term (4 or even 5 weeks) consumption of fresh berries. Frost resistance, immunity to fungal and viral diseases facilitate plant care.

But late and extended ripening, some are inclined to consider a disadvantage. Those who want to plant Thornless Evergreen on their land for the sake of a large harvest need to know that the maximum falls on approximately the fifth year of growth. The first couple of years there are few berries. Care and attention must be taken to get a good harvest a few years after planting.

Care basics

Thornless Evergreen is not a new hybrid that can survive drought and grow in any soil. He needs a lot of moisture and fertilizers, he will grow quickly, bear fruit well on neutral soil rich in humus. The soil should be light enough so that air can flow to the roots and the water does not stagnate. You also need an open, unshaded place so that the berries ripening at the beginning of autumn receive the right amount of solar energy.

Seedlings must be chosen strong, not overdried, the roots must also be alive, moist. It is better to plant on the site in spring. In the fall, seedlings usually root well, but the next year they try to bloom, and this does more harm than fruit.

A hole is dug with a diameter and depth of at least 50 cm, compost or humus, complex mineral fertilizers (with an emphasis on nitrogen), and wood ash are placed in it. If the soil is more acidic than necessary, be sure to add lime or dolomite flour. All this is mixed with the earth, laid out in a slide on the bottom of the pit, covered with a small layer of earth on top, and only then the roots are placed, straightened and covered with earth. There must be a layer of earth between the roots and fertilizers, otherwise a burn is possible, which will delay growth for a long time.

The land around the bush must be tamped, watered abundantly. The root collar should be slightly above ground level. Then the ground around is mulched with peat, compost or straw, the shoots are cut to 30 cm.

Since the creeping shoots will grow very long, it is worth considering a trellis. Usually two supports are installed, a wire is pulled between them at a height of 0.5 m, 1 m, 1.5 m (1.7 m). Between the two upper ones, they braid or wrap long shoots on each of the wires. They grow long and beautiful, so you can think of some other shape. The main thing is that the shoots do not touch the ground and do not shade each other, they must be easily permeable to air and light.

You can create the most incredible decorative figures from the shoots, but you should remember about the fruits, they will have to be collected two or three times a week, and this should be convenient.

Pruning is carried out, as with all traditional blackberry varieties, in the fall and spring. In the fall, you need to completely cut out those shoots that have borne fruit, shorten the young ones a little (by a quarter). And in the spring, they carry out sanitary pruning if necessary - they remove those shoots that have suffered in winter.If too many replacement shoots grow (this can be discussed at 5 years and later), then normalizing pruning is carried out, leaving as many as they see fit, and the weaker ones are removed. Some gardeners shorten the whips in the summer in order to get more fruit twigs, which means more fruit. But with this variety, there will be no shortage of berries.

With the onset of flowering, as well as during the formation of ovaries, you can add top dressing. Usually complex mineral fertilizers are bred, but now with an emphasis on potassium, and the bushes are watered. Some people prefer to water the plants with a solution of slurry (it needs to be diluted 10 times) or bird droppings (it is diluted 20 times).

Watering should be done regularly with an eye on the weather, dry summers may require weekly watering, but water stagnation at root level should not be allowed. Although this variety is resistant to fungal diseases, spores fly everywhere, if appropriate conditions are created for them, the disease will not keep itself waiting. It is necessary to loosen the ground around the bushes, but if the roots are damaged, thorny offspring will grow, which then must be cut out. It is imperative to dig up the aisles, plant residues should not lie there, all weeds, fallen leaves, cut shoots must be removed in time.

Thornless Evergreen propagates, like any representative of the dewdrop (varieties with creeping shoots), by rooting cuttings and young shoots. Cuttings are taken in the fall, when young shoots are shortened, the branches are cut so that there are a couple of buds on them, and they are rooted. In the summer, they choose a young shoot, drop it to a depth of 20 cm, pin it with something, or then press it down on top of the ground. The end of the shoot should be on the surface. The dug-in part is watered all summer, and by autumn there will already be several roots. You can cut the twig into rooted cuttings, or you can leave everything as it is until spring, and then transplant it to a permanent place of growth. To speed up the sprouting of the roots, you can slightly scratch the bark under the buds in the part that will be underground.

Caring for the Thornless Evergreen variety is similar to caring for a regular blackberry, but it is somewhat easier and the result is more pleasant - a lot of berries and no thorns.

Video "Pruning thornless blackberries in summer and autumn"

This video shows the correct summer pruning of a garden thornless blackberry. You will find out why to conduct it and how best to do it.