Blackberries (the bramble, not the gadget one)

Evening all.

Today I bought a couple of blackberry plants. I would normally call these brambles, but these are the cultivated, thornless kind, so I guess they are a bit different to the wild ones.

I have a couple of questions before I plant them.

If I put them in open ground, will they become invasive as wild brambles would?

If I weave them into the living willow dome house I've built in the garden, will the brambles and willow coexist happily together, or is it possible the brambles will pull the young, flexible willow structure down? Or perhaps the willow, with its insane rate of growth, will quickly block out the brambles.

I know the birds will nick some of the fruit, but is it likely to be enough of a problem that I need to be thinking about netting? I know its far too soon to be worried about that yet, but if I'm going to train it against the willow den, I don't think netting would be a practical option, so it might make sense for me to plant the blackberries somewhere else.

 

Anybody?

I haven't planted them yet. I've had a bit of a lazy day today. I don't think I've even opened the back door yet never mind done any work out there. That means the new blackberries are still in the back room waiting for me to plant them out.

 

I've had one for about 10 years and have kept it under control. I think it's a Merton Thornless but was bought unnamed.

Every year you need to cut out the old fruited stems and allow the fresh new ones (which grew last year) to replace them, a bit like rambler roses. So far, this has kept it perfectly manageable. It produces about 4/5 massive new stems each year - they can get up to 20 feet long. You might get more than this if you have moist, fertile soil. If the tips touch the ground, they root, giving you a new plant which you can dig out and give away. If you let the rooted tips remain, the plants would probably get out of hand.

I allow the new stems to extend over the garage to keep them out of the way during the growing season. In spring I drape them over a flimsy archway and tie them in. So your willow house will probably be strong enough to support them, especially if you spread them out. If the growths are too long for the archway, I just cut off the end to make it fit.

One of the many joys of this plant is seeing the froth of blossom over the arch followed by the growing and ripening of the abundant, jewel-like fruit. Throughout late summer they make a refreshing and easily accessible snack to feast on while gardening. I'm thinking that if you drape them over the willow you might not be able to see all this or harvest the fruit easily. Also, when you have to cut out the old growths it may be difficult to disentagle them from the willow.

There are so many fruit that it doesn't matter if the birds have a few - yet more seedling plants to give away! I can't eat all the fruit it produces so the birds are welcome to share. I've not noticed it being a problem, anyway.

 

Thanks for the tips Mahdahlia.

I didn't realise the canes would reach 20ft. That gives me a few more options.

I think for now, I'm going to train them into the willow structure. Longer term, I might put trellis in front of next door's ugly fence and grow them up there.

 

Sounds like a good plan. The nice thing is that you get sort of a fresh start each year as you cut out all the old canes.

20 feet is the absolute max, BTW. Maybe 12-15 feet would be more normal. If they are too long and I chop the tips off then they start sprouting side shoots, predictably.

 

Thanks again. Very useful info.