North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Jim Fruth <jfruth@uslink.net>]

   All of the recent debate about copper reminds me of a problem that I had
with my blackberries.  Some of the plants were growing crippled leaves and
the stems were contorted.  The leaves were so deformed that they resembled
crumpled balls of (green) paper.  I collected leaves and stems sending a
stuffed plastic bagful to my soils lab for a tissue analysis.
   The lab report came back indicating that the blackberries were copper
deficient.  That was a surprise to me since there was sufficient copper in
the soil for everything else that I grow; I was just getting started growing
blackberries.  Following the lab's recommendation, I added copper sulfate to
the drip irrigation water and, henceforth, all of the blackberry plants have
been growing normally.
-- 

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN
www.bberryfarm.com