|
|
Post by Alan on Oct 11, 2009 19:25:12 GMT -5
Got ahold of some of those infamous white fruited blackberries I've been talking about, problem is the plants are very young and green, probably either suckers from a mother plant, or from root cuttings, they do have good root systems it seems like and I currently have them planted in five gallon nursery pots, so my issue is, how should I care for them this fall/winter? Will they do ok in the greenhouse? Should they be planted outside? Bring them in the house?
-Alan
|
|
|
|
Post by mnjrutherford on Oct 11, 2009 21:42:55 GMT -5
Alan, I think you are doing just fine with them in pots and either outside OR in the greenhouse.
I'm playing by instinct here but I say you should put them outside with a topping of either pine needles or leaf mould from the forest margin. Why? Well, blackberries are very hardy in general and widespread nationally. I'm guessing you are a TAD bit colder that we are. In the case of our Arapaho and 2 raspberries, they remained in buckets for 2 full years before going in ground and thriving. The blackberry doing MUCH better than the raspberry.
Early spring 2008 I dug 3 yearling canes from our forest margin and put them in full sun along our driveway. This year the primocanes (sp?) are at least an 1" thick, they produced fruit normal to the type (very small and poor quality, but typically the wilds produce nothing around here), and there are suckers EVERYWHERE! I'm in trouble with those one I think, but that's another story all together.
I think you won't have any problems especially with a decent root system already going.
|
|
|
|
Post by flowerpower on Oct 12, 2009 6:25:43 GMT -5
I would say plant them outside. The only thing I would worry about is rabbits. They will eat the canes from them if their is not much food around. Treat them like you would roses, same family. I have one wild rose growing in the middle of blackberries. You can't tell the difference until the rose forms hips. Someone gave me the rose. It was supposed to be orange. lol
|
|
|
|
Post by mnjrutherford on Oct 12, 2009 7:54:42 GMT -5
I never recognized they were related to roses but with you pointing it out, it's pretty obvious. Way cool! I don't understand about the orange though, did you expect orange color and got white or pink? The blossom period is lovely and I look forward to it each year!
Speaking of which Alan, don't expect any blossoms the first year, maybe a dozen the second year, and a decent crop the third.
|
|
|
|
Post by plantsnobin on Oct 12, 2009 7:59:33 GMT -5
Since these are so hard to come by I would keep them inside for this winter. Too many things can go wrong outside, especially bunnies, deer. Is the growth hard enough to take cuttings from yet? If so I would go ahead and propagate a few. I would keep them in the pots in an unheated but protected area. I don't remember now, you converted your old worm house to poultry housing didn't you? That would have been a good area to keep them in. I wouldn't keep them in your greenhouse though, as it gets too hot in there. You want to keep them dormant but protect the roots from extreme cold. 'They' are saying it might be a colder winter than usual.
|
|
|
|
Post by mnjrutherford on Oct 12, 2009 9:25:52 GMT -5
Karen, you are making some excellent points. I suggest you take her advice Alan. You do indeed want them to become and remain cold, to a point. The cold being more valuable than the warm for reasons of being tolerant of the environment. There is some other point I wanted to make but the train pulled out of the station and I was in the bathroom.  |
|
|
|
Post by grungy on Oct 12, 2009 14:57:15 GMT -5
If you plant them outside, once it get cool so the ground is cold but not frozen stiff, mulch them well, Oh yes, almost forgot toss a handful of mothball around on the soil surface before adding mulch. It helps discourage mice from nibbling the tender shoots.
|
|
|
|
Post by mnjrutherford on Oct 12, 2009 16:53:24 GMT -5
Well I'll be darned! I like that notion Val. Think it would repel voles as well? We have something that is nibbling our hazelnut babies off at the soil line. We had the possibilities whittled down to either voles or mole crickets. If the moth balls won't damage the plants, we might ought to give it a shot.
|
|
|
|
Post by grungy on Oct 12, 2009 23:41:20 GMT -5
Probably Jo as the mice just don't like the odor. You might have to replace the moth balls once a month or so and also put them in containers with small holes punched in them to let the odor out, if you have dogs. Some dumb dogs seem to like the smell. As for plant damage, we haven't noticed any damage in the past 25 years with any plants.
|
|
|
|
Post by mnjrutherford on Oct 13, 2009 19:25:03 GMT -5
EWW Leave it to a dog to like the smell of moth balls! We'll have to give that a shot.
|
|
