Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[Kyle_in_Tex]

 

[txdon]

Kyle, none of my bushes look that full in this poor sand.

Bird, Those look like the berry bushes my Mom had before the drought. They look like jumbo dewberries and were called boysenberries.

 

[Bird]

Don, I learned from Texas A&M that the stalks that grow this year produce berries next year, and the stalks that produce berries this year die. So the "best" thing to do is to cut out the producing stalks as soon as they're through producing, but of course the thorns make that a rather unpleasant job. The next best thing to do is to mow everything down and that's what I did. Each year I'd have some stalks 4 to 6 feet tall, but when the berries were gone, I'd mow everything down with the brush hog, then go over it again with the lawnmower to get it down very short and to pretty finely mulch the clippings. Then I'd apply fertilizer just one time and water it in. And we had more berries than we could use every year. A neighbor also started some berry vines at his place with clippings from mine.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Don, I learned from Texas A&M that the stalks that grow this year produce berries next year, and the stalks that produce berries this year die. So the "best" thing to do is to cut out the producing stalks as soon as they're through producing, but of course the thorns make that a rather unpleasant job. The next best thing to do is to mow everything down and that's what I did. Each year I'd have some stalks 4 to 6 feet tall, but when the berries were gone, I'd mow everything down with the brush hog, then go over it again with the lawnmower to get it down very short and to pretty finely mulch the clippings. Then I'd apply fertilizer just one time and water it in. And we had more berries than we could use every year. A neighbor also started some berry vines at his place with clippings from mine.

So if you cut down the branches that would make berries the next year, it would still produce annually after the total shredding down?

 

[Bird]

So if you cut down the branches that would make berries the next year, it would still produce annually after the total shredding down?

Yes, if you mow everything down immediately after they finish producing, stalks grow back this year to produce next year. In the picture I posted, those stalks are, for the most part, about 3' tall and grew to that size between the mowing and blooming. I just looked at some of my old records and I mowed everything down on June 8, 2001, so what you see grew back after that and had the blossoms on April 16, 2002, when that picture was made.

You might also find this article interesting: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/files/2010/10/blackberries.pdf

On page 4 you'll see a brief mention of mowing everything down.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Good info. Thanks Bird. Always impressed at your calendar memory.

 

[Bird]

Kyle, unfortunately, my memory isn't all that great, but my computer's memory is pretty good.:laughing:

 

[houstonscott]

Yes, if you mow everything down immediately after they finish producing, stalks grow back this year to produce next year. In the picture I posted, those stalks are, for the most part, about 3' tall and grew to that size between the mowing and blooming. I just looked at some of my old records and I mowed everything down on June 8, 2001, so what you see grew back after that and had the blossoms on April 16, 2002, when that picture was made. You might also find this article interesting: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/files/2010/10/blackberries.pdf On page 4 you'll see a brief mention of mowing everything down.

Bird, do you keep a property log? What do you track? I keep a brief property log, rain fall, purchases, feed, general observations and live stock tracked too. Guess it's the military in me, I've been institutionalized. HS

 

[Bird]

Bird, do you keep a property log? What do you track? I keep a brief property log, rain fall, purchases, feed, general observations and live stock tracked too. Guess it's the military in me, I've been institutionalized. HS

I keep a sort of a diary on the computer; separate file for each year. I keep all the financial stuff on Quicken. I keep spreadsheets on all my vehicle mileage and expense, electricity usage, lawnmower usage, rainfall we've gotten, our medical records, etc. When I was raising rabbits, I kept track of breeding, sales (very little sales), and I kept records on my garden from 1995 to 2002; what was planted in which rows on which date, etc. Now I also track expenses related to our little dog just for my own information (nine and a half years old and just a little more than $10k invested in the little mutt:laughing. I'm sorry to say that I've let my home inventory get badly out of date.

Institutionalized in the military? Part of my habits are probably because I was Commander of the Planning & Budget Division in the police department when I retired. It had been Planning & Research, but changed the name when they gave me the Fiscal Affairs Division, fleet management (which I'd had in the past), the quartermaster unit, etc. Part of it may be because I read a book about full time RVing when I retired and went full time RVing for 6 years. I thought about writing one myself, since the one I read, while having some good information, was also a bit out of date.

 

[txdon]

Bird, what variety of blackberries are those?

Interesting about the mowing. Since I'm taking down the fence where the dewberries are on I might mow a section in a few weeks and see if it works.