19 Mar 10 How To Plant And Maintaine Blackberries?
Summer care of raspberries and blackberries is mainly a matter of weed control, either by cultivation or with a mulch. Cultivation should be as shallow as possible and often enough to eliminate the weeds. After August 1, especially with a fruiting bed, cultivation should be discontinued and a cover crop sown, or the weeds allowed to grow. Rye, rye grass, oats and buckwheat are suitable.
During the fall the cover crop competes with the raspberries for the available plant food and moisture, thus checking their growth so that the canes will mature and be less inclined to winter kill. This is especially important in rich soils, or where stable or poultry manure has been used freely. Home gardeners are sometimes inclined to use too much manure, if -it is available, and lush growth of the raspberry canes is easily winter killed.
It is impossible to be very positive in recommending fertilizers for brambles as soils and their previous management vary greatly from garden to garden. In many soils of good fertility, where red raspberry canes are making six feet of growth, it is doubtful whether greater cane growth would he of much advantage.
In soils of low fertility though, manure is always useful and may be applied at the rate of three bushels to 100 square feet, or ten tons per acre. If manure is not available, a complete commercial fertilizer of a 10-10-10 formula may be applied at the rate of one pound to 100 square feet in the spring as growth starts. The fertilizer application may be increased or decreased according to cane growth. Generally, large dark green leaves indicate that a plant is making satisfactory growth.
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