Blackberries and Grapes

[dooleysm]

Cattle panels and hog panels around here are heavy gauge welded wire sections of fencing, generally 10-12 feet long, 4ish feet wide, with different sized openings. Normally the openings are closer together at the bottom and widen out to maybe 4"x4" at the top.

I'm sure you know what they are but probably have a different name for them, or maybe never even thought they had a name.

 

[dooleysm]

I was hoping to put in an orchard this spring, but I'm not going to have time. Baby #3 is due on May 19. I'm going to be doing good just to get my garden out.

Hopefully next year...

 

[hunterridgefarm]

What about grapes? My FIL has them too, can I take cuttings from them in the same manner as with blackberries?

Any other considerations?

One way we do grapes for transplants the following year is lift up a shovel full of dirt, place a section on vine under it, put a rock or something over top to keep it in the ground and by the next year we have a great root system started. Cut the part of the vine going into the ground, remove the rock and transplant.

 

[survriggs]

Flatheadyoungin - It's like a heavy guage woven wire. The wire is about 1/8" diameter and welded in 8" x 8" grids. It comes in different heights 4 or 5 ft. and different lengths, 12 & 16 feet. I've attached a pic that I found on a google image search. The pic is basically how I put mine together. I left the bottom of the panel about 12" off of the ground so the top of the panel is at 6 ft. I tied the panels to the post with baling wire. I used plastic wire ties to tie the blackberry canes to the panels.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

i was searching around on the net but didn't find anything that looks like that pic......i like that....easy to trim around, can control what soil is in there, raised bed drains well.........

a person could make 2 of those for each type of berry/plant/etc....then when one becomes over-grown you could tear one out the first year and replace (still harvest from the other) then tear out the other the next year then replace.....

i'm going to fence off an area for my orchard and berries.......so each thing has to have it's place....

thanks for sharing

man, i'd love to get those in this year......i don't eat a whole lot of fruits or veggies but if i raise my own, i know i'll eat them......

Flatheadyoungin - It's like a heavy guage woven wire. The wire is about 1/8" diameter and welded in 8" x 8" grids. It comes in different heights 4 or 5 ft. and different lengths, 12 & 16 feet. I've attached a pic that I found on a google image search. The pic is basically how I put mine together. I left the bottom of the panel about 12" off of the ground so the top of the panel is at 6 ft. I tied the panels to the post with baling wire. I used plastic wire ties to tie the blackberry canes to the panels.

 

[survriggs]

Flatheadyoungin - Sounds like you have a plan! I don't have any pics but at the end of one of the blackberry rows I planted two tame gooseberry plants. We harvested enough to make two or three pies. You haven't lived until you've had a slice of gooseberry pie and a cup of hot coffee! Pucker! Pucker!

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Shawn:
this is a pic of our blackberry patch. We bought cuttings in pots and this is what they did one year later. Whenever one of the canes touch the ground it puts down roots and starts another plant. I let about 15 of the canes touch the ground and gave them to a friend. I used cattle panels wired to steel "t" posts and was constantly rethreading the canes to keep them off of the ground. We harvested about 20 gallons. Good luck!

We are also looking at planting several rows of blackberries. What variety did you plant? Do they have a good flavor...sweet or tart?

Your 20 gallons was harvested off of how long a row...10'...20'...?

Thanks!

David

 

[MarkV]

I don't know what they do to landscape timbers. If they're pressure treated I would expect them to last my lifetime in this application. Even if they aren't treated in any way I would expect them to last many years. I'm not holding up a pole barn, just some grapes and berries.

Landscape timbers are pressure treated but not to the same level as the 4x4's or 6x6's that you buy. They will not last in the ground near as long.

Congratulations on the new baby.

MarkV

 

[boatyard]

I have not grown grapes, no help there. Blackberrys and Raspberrys are referered to as brambles and are grown in a similar fashion. A couple of tips that I can share having grown lots of raspberrys. The canes will slowly loss their vigor over the years, you may be better purchasing new canes and starting fresh. Use a trellis. Standard t-trellis, or a four wire trellis will hold the canes up, allow easy picking and will make cutting the old canes out, a lousy job at best, a bit simpler. Nourse farms sells the canes and has a planting guide on their web site. Nourse Farms - Strawberry Plants, Blueberry Plants, Raspberry Plants for Home Gardeners and Commercial Growers - South Deerfield, MA Checkout the planting guide, for the pictures of the trellis's. Enjoy the fresh fruit. We have strawberry's, a few blackberry's, lots of rapsberry's, blueberry's, peaches, pears and watermelons.

 

[Bird]

When I was a kid, we picked the blackberries and never did anything else to them at all.

But when I bought the 10 acres the end of 1994, there was a row of blackberries in the back yard. So I got some literature from my county extension agent on caring for blackberries. The canes that grow this year will produce next year and then die. New canes will be growing next year for the following year's crop. The old dead canes, if left in place, can theoretically, at least, be more susceptible to disease and insects. Therefore, the recommendation is to get rid of the old canes when they quit producing for the year. In my part of the country that was sometime in June. Ideally, you'd cut out the old canes and leave those 6' canes that had already grown this year, but since mine were not thornless, that could be a slow and unpleasant task. The alternative recommendation is to just mow everything down when they quit producing. Then apply fertilizer and water to grow new canes for the next year.

Now that was a recommendation more to my liking. The first year, I cut them off just above ground level with the metal circle saw blade on the string trimmer while my brother pulled them out of the way with a rake. Too much work, and then I had all the old bushes to burn. So from then on, when they quit producing, I mowed them down with the brush hog, then followed that with the finish mower. That cut them, mulched, and scattered the clippings.

Now the canes that came back and produced the next year never got as tall as what I cut down in June, so maybe I'd have had more berries is I'd only cut the old canes out, but we still had all we needed every year for cobblers and making blackberry jelly. My little blackberry patch was approximately 4' wide and 50' long. They would try to spread more, but I just kept anything more mowed. The below picture was taken on April 16, 2002.