Blackberry Question and help needed

I was woundering how easy it is to grow a blackberry bush from a cuttings or what the best way to do this? my friend wants some blackberrys for his garden and said I should dig p some wild ones or find a way to see if , can grow some for him in three pots etc Right now the dirt soil is rock hard and very hard to dig...more like cement hehe but lots to get cuttings from to grow

suggestions or help? Thanks

Brock R Bailey snipped-for-privacy@shaw.ca

Reply to
Brock Bailey
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It's almost impossible to keep black berries from rooting, provide plenty of moisture and bend the tip of a cane to the ground, it will root.

John

Reply to
John Watson

Don't mess with the wild ones. They are among the most intractable weeds on the Pacific coast.

If you have a well-behaved variety, you could layer some for him: as another poster mentioned, they will root wherever a cane touches the ground.

If you have to acquire some, stick with nursery-grown stock and stay away from 'Himalaya', which is an escape artist.

Reply to
Christopher Green

root,plant them giving them some fertilizer. My in-laws started their this way and now they have a huge plants, but you will need to train them as the grow. Put them on a fence or go stone wire. Vistor

Reply to
vistor

People in Australia are choking as they read this! Over here, Blackberries in any form are on the Declared Weeds list, and some of the hugest eradication programs have been underway for years to try to stem the tide of blackberries swarming over our native flora! I'd be really careful of those 'Wild ones' if I were you! They may take off a little TOO well.

Horticulturist, West. Aust.

Reply to
REBECCA WINCKLES
*cough* You know, IMHO, it's not really up to anybody to tell you what not to grow. From what I read, you asked how to do it, not if you should. HOW- Try taking 6in cuttings, root em in potting soil w/ a mild fertilizer, rooting hormone if you want to spend a little more, then transplant if it works. OR- Try gathering some berries (over ripe) this year, and seed them into pots both this fall and next spring. (Dry the ones for spring use on a paper towel, crushed a little and spread out so the don't mold.) If that doesn't work, check our either Burpee.com, or Gurneys.com. Either place can sell you plants, and if you e-mail or call them up, & they can recommend what's best for your area.

Ok, I'm done now. The useless non-advice may commence. Murri

Reply to
Lady Blacksword

Hrm. I didn't read the response as "don't grow this", but as "be careful, it's invasive and grows like crazy in some places".

If I recall correctly, the OP's in Canada somewhere - and blackberries have naturalized in many parts of Canada.

Stepping on my hobbyhorse, I'm firmly of the opinion that some things shouldn't be grown in some locations. I suspect that most people on this newsgroup are familiar with the effects of purple loosestrife or kudzu, for example. If somebody outside of a lab has good reasons to grow noxious weeds [and that definition does change by location, obviously], I'd be curious to hear it.

cheers!

Reply to
Cat

obviously], I'd

No kidding.

I'm in Portland, OR area, and the wild blackberries are pretty invasive. Clip-off part of a can, toss it on the ground, and come back in a year to find a bramble of epic proportions! Common chemicals available retail don't kill them. They just seem to make the angry. You can't really cut them down by hand. There aren't gloves thick enough to protect your hands. The only way to effectively get rid of them is with a backhoe.

But I'm sure there must be some other versi>> my friend wants some blackberries for his

That does sound a bit like playing with fire. I hope that the OP is looking into not just *how* to grow blackberries, but what varieties would be best, given the invasive nature of some wild varieties.

Reply to
Warren

This reminds me ;> The wild blackberries often don't produce nearly as well as commercially available varieties.

Raintree lists a pile of varietals - but they also note that many of them cannot be shipped to various states, which is usually a hint that they're invasive or otherwise problematic.

I suppose this might also be the time to mention that "found growing in the 'wild'" doesn't mean "native" ;>

cheers!

Reply to
Cat

Well 'scuse me. I sincerely apologize for giving advice. Here in N.C. however, not only is it a southern custom to give advice when it's asked for, it's also known that the sweetest, tastiest blackberries grow wild............And ours produce just fine. Fine enough that you wear a white shirt or a black one to go pickin' as the black one doesn't show the stains, and the white one just comes out kinda tie dyed if you wring the sweat out when you're done. Course, I guess it might not be that way out west...... Murri

PS. Ya'll could learn 'bout politeness from us dumb southerners...........

Reply to
Lady Blacksword

Here in the UK there are some varieties of "Thornless" blackberries, they could be worth thinking about otherwise a Named variety..I have Himalayan Giant and the fruit are more than twice the size of the "Wild" blackberries.

Reply to
David Hill

Advice has been given by multiple parties, all of which include things that the OP should think about. When I lived in the south, it certainly wasn't the custom to give folks directions on how to do things, without warning them about what to look out for. That'd be unkind at best.

... but perhaps you're from a different corner of the south, where it's considered 'fun' to watch what happens after you answer some poor folks question exactly.

OP: "Can you tell me the quickest way to the highway" LB: "Sure thing - just take that road there." OP: "Great, thanks!"

Me: "Sir! Wait! The bridge is out down that road!" LB: "I answered the question he asked, shut up!"

Much more to the point - the original poster looks to be from British Columbia, probably in the lower part of the province, given the newsgroups that he's cross-posted to.

A small amount of research shows that wild blackberries are considered to be a highly invasive noxious weed in British Columbia [as in other places]. Planting them in your garden is not only a bad idea - but in some areas, illegal. You'll also get more fruit with better disease resistance by buying a commercial variety.

Murri -

You might find the following information about growing blackberries in North Carolina interesting, though:

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PS. Ya'll could learn 'bout politeness from us dumb southerners........... Ma'am. You are forgetting your manners.

cheers!

Reply to
Cat

One of the greatest joys of my childhood was going blackberrying. I they grow wild within a mile or two of your home why waste space o them? Pick the wild ones and grow something that doesn't grow locally

- Peltiger

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Reply to
Peltigera

I don't, actually. Some guy was asking how to do it though.

*shrug* *looks at above statement*

Hey, maybe -I- should run for president.

You think they'd elect an 18yr old pagan artist (jewelry designer)/gardener who's engaged to a 34yr old also pagan artist (metalsmith/jewelry designer)/Former Army Airborne Paratrooper?

Sounds almost as good as Kerry........... Better really. I can actually think for myself.

Nevermind. I'm just having a "ranting sort of day"

Please.....Don't respond to this.......Honestly. Just.....Don't.

Murri

Reply to
Lady Blacksword

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