More and more gardeners are decided to grow on their plot of a berry crop, like blackberries . Its excellent sweet and sour taste is enjoyed by both children and adults, and the beneficial properties of berries are truly invaluable. But that the bush survived frosts without losses, it is necessary to know how to properly cover the blackberry for the winter, and cover it at all.
All the long-familiar blackberry with spikes, which grows both in the wild and in the country, well tolerates any frosts without any shelter. But the vine, which gives a large sweet berry and has no thorns, is very gentle and frosts of 15-20 ° C are capable of completely ruining the planting. For a long time gardeners did not dare to grow an unpronounced blackberry on their site, because for the winter, if it is not covered up or done inadequately, it will freeze. But through annual experiments it was proved that a good shelter can protect the plant from any frost.
Does blackberry need pruning in autumn?
As is known, in order for most plants to better tolerate the winter period, they spend pruning for the winter. The same applies to blackberries. She is sanitized, releasing from the broken, spoiled vines and weak shoots, which will not survive the cold and weaken the plant. Only after these works have been carried out can one begin to build a shelter.
When should I shelter the blackberry for the winter?
To prevent the vines from becoming overgrown due to the return of warm days, it should be sheltered just before the present frosts, when the temperature drops below zero. In different regions this does not happen in one day. But on the average, one should focus on the end of October - early November, when stable low temperatures are set.
But it is necessary to plan the work in the garden in such a way that the snow cover is not yet established, because it is better to bundle the blackberry vine until the cover is established, after which the shelter will cover the snow layer and until the spring the blacks will not be afraid of any frosts.
Methods of sheltering blackberry bushes
Depending on how the blackberry vine grows and there is a shelter. Basically, it is bent to the ground, after which it is sheltered. This applies to the bushes tied to the support. And if so to do with erect plants they will not incline to 90 ° and simply break down.
To prevent this from happening, it will be necessary in advance, immediately after the fruiting, to attach a rope with a small load to the tops, which will gradually bend the branch to the ground, just by the time you need to prepare a winter shelter. For the manufacture of insulation, most often use such materials:
- lutrasil;
- spunbond;
- agropan / agrotex / agrofiber;
- spruce lapnics;
- cardboard container;
- reparted manure and land;
- PET film of high density.
But all the favorite sawdust for shelter is better not to use, because when wet they form a solid ice floe, in which the vine dies in the winter. The best options will be those materials that let in the air, not allowing the blackberry to back up with little warming. Let's start:
- So, having removed the vine from the support, it is placed on the ground or just below its level, having dug for this a shallow trench.
- From above, the whip is covered with earth or humus, but not fresh, but overbred.
- Over the ground vine covered with non-woven material.
- On the contour, the shelter should be pressed with pipes or bricks, so that the wind does not blow it away. Instead of land, you can use lapnik or cardboard.
Multi-layer shelter guarantees a good winter for the blackberry. After the snow falls and the construction of the tin and spunbond will be covered, you can not worry about the blackberry plantings until spring.
But if polyethylene is used in the construction of the shelter, you should be on guard at the first March warm days, when the sun begins to warm up. That the plants under the film are not spoiled, it is removed, leaving only lapnik and non-woven material until the snow completely dries.