Hi All,
I can't get my blackberry seeds to grow anywhere, except this
one little sprouting pot.
https://ibb.co/b13zuT
Question: are these sprouts really blackberries, or has I
been nurturing a bunch of WEEDS?
If they are black berries, how soon do I transplant them? They
still look pretty fragile.
Many thanks,
-T
Those ain't blackberries ... ours here (wild , but should hold true)
have squared stems and the leaves are more heart-shaped with sawtooth
edges . You'd probably be better off buying a plant from a local nursery
, they do spread readily . A fruit farm near here grows them , they hold
them between a pair of wires , trim the new growth each year to just
above the wires , and relentlessly clip suckers and dead canes . If
those weren't a patented variety I'd have brought some shoots home from
the pruning class we had there ... berries bigger than your thumb and no
thorns .
T wrote:
...
i only know them here as woodland edge plants
that like to be in clearings made from fires or
whatever.
i've not ever heard of anyone growing them in
arid climate. not that it is impossible, but
just seems like you may be forcing square peg
into too small a round hole.
just my guess, perhaps others will have a
better take on it...
songbird
On Saturday, July 28, 2018 at 12:56:52 PM UTC-4, songbird wrote:
About ten years ago, I found several red raspberry patches while kayaking along the Susquehanna River. I dug up a few plants and transplanted them next to my garden. They didn't do well in captivity.
I also tried planting some of the seeds, which sprouted but then died out.
Paul
they may if transplanted into a pot first and
then grown out before replanting.
note that black raspberry and red raspberry are quite
different plants than blackberry...
we can find red and black raspberries growing in almost
any sandy field that's been left to get overgrown a bit.
the birds move seeds all over. we have wild red raspberries
all around us. probably brought in from the neighbor's
patch that they grew for many years.
blackberries i love but won't likely ever grow them.
blueberries are much further up my list of someday plants.
songbird
https://www.google.com/search?q=bilberry+plant+for+sale
in looking at the places that had them i noticed that they
all said what i suspected, these are wet/moisture loving
plants that grow naturally near bogs and probably also need
sandy acidic soil. i kinda doubt that you'll have very
good luck growing them in an arid climate with alkaline
soil.
songbird
Hi Songbird,
The search came up with only overseas sellers of plants.
I see the same thing you ar seeing:
Bilberries are found in acidic, nutrient-poor soils
throughout the temperate and subarctic regions of the world.
(Wikipedia)
Well, I have cold weather and I can fix the acidity of the
soil. And I picked out the wettest part of my garden.
So far my Goji's are going great guns and three of my four
Chokeberries (not cherries) are growing well. And, I finally
found a source of those blackberries with the small seeds
that sells plants.
And I am getting really suspicious of those zero germination
seeds I have been getting: bilberries, blackberries, Bit Time
radish (1 in 10 germinate), Bora King radish (1 in 10 germinate),
and Imai Early Yellow Onion (zero germination).
Me thinks they are getting irradiated through customs.
-T
...
try these, in CA, so they won't go across any
border:
http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/vaccinium-myrtillus-bilberry-seeds
also note that some cold weather plants may need
some stratification of seeds for them to sprout and
grow.
you may also have to give the plants shade in the hot
summer to prevent them from frying.
*shrug* i can't say what happens as i rarely order
things from anyplace let alone overseas...
songbird
in a container in a bag to keep the moisture in, with a
slight gap to allow some air to get in and out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratification_(seeds)
i'm not actually sure if bilberries need this or not
but i'm thinking it may just help because the seeds
are are so small.
check it out, study, learn, try things, etc. ;)
songbird
That was the description the seller gave and I have seen
elsewhere. From the wikipedia article:
In the wild, seed dormancy is usually overcome by
the seed spending time in the ground through a winter
period and having its hard seed coat softened up by
frost and weathering action. By doing so the seed is
undergoing a natural form of "cold stratification"
or pretreatment. This cold moist period triggers
My winter perfectly matched what they described on the package.
Me thinks they were just dead. I do realize I have a black
thumb, but thanks to you guys help, it is pretty much a gray
thumb now-a-days. I will order from the source you gave
me next time.
-T
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