Garden blackberry is a wonderful shrub that gives up to 6 kg of delicious healthy berries per season. It has several varieties, including erect, creeping bushes and shrub vines. Culture has a tendency to grow rapidly, so every gardener, sooner or later, is faced with the question of its transplantation, and why it is desirable to do it in the spring - we will consider in more detail below.
Features of spring blackberry transplant
Spring transplantation of blackberries has its own advantages, giving gardeners the opportunity to observe how well the culture takes root in a new place. Getting started it is important to take into account many agricultural issues, the observance of which will be the key to a successful outcome of the event.
Transplant Dates
In spring, it is advisable to transplant the plant as early as possible, so that it takes root well before the start of the growing season. In this case, the air should be sufficiently warmed up (+ 15 ... + 18 ° С) and there was no threat of spring return frosts. In temperate regions, transplants begin in late March - early April. Later, active sap flow begins in the stems of the blackberry. If you start to extract a bush from the soil during this period, you can cause serious harm to it. Often transplanted bushes at this time simply die.
The optimal plant choice for transplantation
The blackberry grows well and bears fruit in one place for about 12 years, after which the bush grows old, ceases to give young shoots, and productivity decreases significantly. With the onset of this period, it is better to transplant an adult shrub to a new place, then it will renew its strength and will delight with good crops for the same number of years. Sometimes adult bushes are transplanted, which have not reached 10-12 years of age, but have grown quite strongly, and began to occupy a large area, interfering with the growth of other neighboring crops.
Important! You can’t share the old blackberry bush - there is a risk that the material obtained will no longer take root. Such plants are transplanted only in their entirety.
This is done by dividing the adult bush into separate fragments. Often, gardeners transplant a young basal shoot, which grows quite quickly around shrubs. In this way, you can grow a whole plantation of blackberries.
Spring and Autumn Transplant: Comparison
The process of blackberry transplantation in early spring and autumn is not much different, except that when replanting a plant in October, it needs to be covered for the winter, providing protection for a rather weak root system.
If we compare the seasonal benefits, then the spring transplant has more of them, namely:
- the opportunity to carry out proper care for the blackberry shrub - to water, weed, remove inferior shoots in a timely manner, treat them with remedies for diseases and pests;
- the ability to select green cuttings for propagation from the tops of rapidly growing shoots;
- there is no need to worry that the plant does not have time to take root before the onset of frost.
The advantage of autumn planting is the absence of hot, dry weather, when you need to be careful about regular watering.
Training
In the process of blackberry transplantation, several main stages are distinguished: the selection and preparation of a new place, the extraction and processing of planting material, and, finally, the main one - transplantation. At each stage, agrotechnical requirements must be observed.
Choosing a place for a transplant taking into account humidity and lighting
When choosing a new site for a blackberry, some conditions should be taken into account - the plant develops well in well-lit areas. So it warms up well and evenly, gives juicy fruits and is less sick. For a blackberry you need to choose a sunny area, but still. It is good if it is a small hill along a fence, a small structure on the south or south-west side.
Important! If you are transplanting a blackberry into a young garden, pay attention to what cultures will be its “neighbors” — it should not be trees that with age will completely cover the bush with a crown, leaving it in the shade.
Due to the fact that the root system of the blackberry goes deep into the soil, the plant “tolerates” drought, and it is extremely negative for waterlogging. A new landing site should not be located in wetlands or in areas of high groundwater occurrence. Determine the increased soil moisture in a particular area by the bright color of greenery, which contrasts sharply with plants in adjacent territories.
Pit preparation with fertilizer and drainage
The new site, first of all, must be cleaned of biological debris and weed, removing weeds with roots. Soil treatment with a 1% solution of copper sulfate as a preventive disinfection of fungal diseases and larvae will not hinder.
For a blackberry, they dig a landing pit with a depth of 50 cm, a diameter of about 40 cm (depending on the size of the rhizome). If the bush is erect, the distance to other plantings should be about 1.5 m, and if climbing, it should be 2–2.5 m. A drainage layer of crushed stone, pebbles or chipped bricks is laid at the bottom.
Did you know? The arrangement of the drainage layer has its own characteristics. In order for excess moisture to leave well, and landing while not sagging, you need to lay the material in a sequence from larger to shallow: first 10–15 cm of chipped bricks (crushed stone), then 5 cm of expanded clay and on top — 5 cm of sand.
In order for the plant to take root well and develop safely, fertilizers are introduced into the planting pit: 6-7 kg of rotted manure (compost), 40 g of potash fertilizers and 100 g of superphosphate. Fertilizing should be pre-mixed with part of the soil and only then put in the hole.
Preparing a plant for transplant
Material for transplantation can be obtained in several ways. Upright bushes have very strong stems, which are often difficult to tilt to the ground in order to reproduce by horizontal shoots. Such shrubs are most often transplanted whole or divided, if the plant has grown greatly, it has become too large. You can also propagate the bush by digging up young root shoots.
Before planting, you need to carefully examine the shrub, prune all dry, damaged shoots under the root. You can not leave hemp - after transplanting, they can begin to rot, which, in the end, will destroy the whole plant.
In old bushes, the whole aerial part is cut off, thus rejuvenating the culture.
Young shoots
Young shoots from the root - material that is taken from bushes older than 3 years of age. By this time, the root system of the blackberry is growing quite strongly and literally "sprawls" in the garden, interfering with the development of other crops. In this case, the young shoots need to be carefully dug up from all sides and carefully removed by cutting the rhizome that connects it to the mother bush. The resulting material is immediately transplanted to a new place with a lump of land.
Adult bushes
Dig the bush very carefully so as not to damage the root system. First, the earth around it is deeply loosened, then the plant is dug up from all sides and removed together with a radical earthen lump. It is impossible to shake off the soil, since the roots of the blackberry are very brittle and can suffer.
In old bushes, the main rhizome can go so deep into the ground that it is not possible to completely extract it. In this case, you can make a stump with a shovel.
Plants are transplanted immediately, as the blackberry quickly withers in the sun. If there is a need to divide the overgrown shrub, they dig it out with a rhizome, carefully shake the ground. Using a sharp knife, fragments are separated, on each of which 1 kidney should remain on the root and 2-3 overhead shoots. The separated material is immediately seated in pre-prepared pits.
Transplantation and care after it
The prepared planting material is placed in a pit, the roots are straightened, making sure that they are evenly located in a horizontal position. Place the bush so that the root neck is at the same height. Now planting is sprinkled with soil, lightly tamped and watered, spending about 8-10 liters of water per 1 bush. To keep moisture better, the trunk section is covered with mulching material (peat, sawdust).
After planting, the blackberry needs proper care. First of all, this applies to watering. The first month the bushes are watered 3 times a week, spending for every 5-8 liters of water. Further, you can reduce the frequency, since the blackberry does not like waterlogging. A single portion of water can be increased in the dry period, it is also recommended to use evening spraying of plants.
The first spring, the blackberry does not need top dressing if you have fertilized the planting pits when transplanting according to all the rules. In the future, fertilizers are periodically applied in the autumn and spring for feeding with nutrients and as protection against pests and diseases.In the spring Nitrogen fertilizers are added to the soil, at this time it is good to feed the bush with solutions of nitrate (20 g per 10 l) and urea (10 g per 10 l of water), sprinkle the soil with manure, a layer of up to 10 cm. Fall make mineral complex fertilizers with a high content of phosphorus and potassium. In addition to watering and top dressing, bushes must be thinned periodically, removing diseased, damaged or dry shoots.
The soil is loosened simultaneously with watering, so that the root system receives a sufficient amount of oxygen.
Late spring transplant
It is extremely undesirable to transplant blackberries in late spring - the plant has already actively grown, starts up new shoots with leaves, and it may not have enough strength to take root well. But sometimes situations arise when a transplant is urgently needed, for example, if the construction of a new facility has begun and the site is being redeveloped.
In order to transplant the greened bush of blackberry to a new place at the end of May, it is advisable to choose a cloudy day or to carry out work at a time when there is no “direct” sun (at sunrise or after sunset). The rhizome of the dug bush will wither very quickly, reducing the chances of a successful outcome of the event, so removing the bush and placing it in a new place should occur as quickly as possible.
The first week the plant will need abundant watering - during this period, you can water the bush every other day, adding 8-10 liters of settled water. In all other respects, the process of late transplantation does not differ from early spring.
At the stage of preparing a new landing pit, one should block the future landing, create an artificial shadow, for example, pull an awning.
Autumn transplant
If there is a need to transplant a blackberry in the autumn, it is better to carry out work in late September or early October. The main thing is that the plant has at least a month in reserve, so that it has time to take root before the onset of frost. Autumn transplantation is practiced in the southern regions, where autumn is long and warm, and the first frosts do not differ by a sharp decrease in temperature.
Did you know? The best modern material for covering plants is spanbond. — agrotextiles with high indicators of wear resistance and durability. The main advantages of covering for wintering plants are good air permeability and excellent thermal insulation properties of the material.
In autumn, climbing varieties can be propagated by lateral shoots - for this, in August, several strong, annual shoots are selected, tilted to the ground, fixed tips and dug. The soil is constantly moistened. Two months later (in early October), the tip of the tilted shoot will take root and become young material for transplantation.
Transplanted in the autumn season, the bush must be covered for the winter - the branches are bent to the ground and fixed. This must be done in such a way that the upper arcs are at a height of no more than 40 cm - so the snow layer can cover the plants as much as possible, protecting them from extreme cold. If the plant is climbing, the shoots are removed from the supports, twisted and laid on the ground. Such manipulations are carried out with all varieties of blackberries transplanted in the fall, regardless of their level of frost resistance. The laid stems are covered with fir branches, sawdust, black polyethylene.
The main mistakes in the spring blackberry transplant
Sometimes it happens that a gardener transplanted a blackberry bush, according to all the rules, but something “went wrong” and the plant did not take root in a new place or fell ill. If you have a similar nuisance, you need to establish what kind of mistake was made in the process, so as not to repeat it in the future.
Among the reasons that led to an unfavorable outcome, there may be such as:
- long stay of a seedling with an open root system "without transplantation" to a new place. Some gardeners first dig a bush, and then begin to think about where to plant it, prepare pits. During this time, the root system of the shrub begins to fade, losing vitality. Such bushes take root extremely rarely;
- overdose of fertilizing. Fertilizing the landing pit, you should follow the recommendations on the number of fertilizers applied. The principle "better - more" is unacceptable here, otherwise an overabundance of nutrients will lead to the death of the culture;
- shrub planting in a swampy, shady area. Should be responsible for the choice of site. An excess of moisture will provoke the appearance of fungal infections, diseases of the root system of the plant and, ultimately, can lead to death;
- failure to comply with the permissible transplant dates. If you deal with transplants too early, for example, in early March, there is a threat that return frosts will destroy the bush, which has not yet managed to take root in a new place. In later periods (May or June), the extraction of bushes from the ground can disrupt the process of sap flow in the bush and destroy it.
Blackberry transplantation is a necessary process that every caring gardener faces. It doesn’t matter whether you are replanting an old bush, overgrown "youth" or young root shoots, the main thing is to follow the basic rules: choose the right site and take care of the plant, then it will "thank" you with a rich harvest of ripe berries.
