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nafex - [NAFEX] Trellising Triple Crown

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  • From: Don Yellman <don.yellman@webformation.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Trellising Triple Crown
  • Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 01:55:22 -0500

Mark:

The solution to your cane crowding problems may be some fundamental changes
in your cultural practices with this cultivar, particularly with respect to
pruning. The fact that this very vigorous blackberry grows fast, with a lot
of long canes, does not mean you should leave them all. Plants should be
spaced at a minimum distance of 4 feet apart under the trellis, and 6 feet is
better. The trellis should be at least 6 feet tall, and preferably a little
taller. Only three horizontal wires stretched across the trellis, spaced at
roughly 18 inches apart are needed. You can get by with two. The top wire
should be very close to the top bar of the trellis. Individual primocanes
coming up from below should be tied to the horizontal wires in a rough fan
shape, and the main canes pinched back when they reach the top. This will
lead to formation of lateral canes which are also tied to the wires, and
allowed to grow up to a length of 2-4 feet, depending on the degree of
crowding
. The objective is to expose all the fruiting laterals to sunlight, which
they will need when the time comes to produce blackberries the following
season. Bundles of canes tied together will produce few berries of lower
quality than fewer canes properly spaced.

As you have observed, tying all the canes together, whether at the top of the
trellis or at any other point will result in a jumbled mess of canes and will
not favor the production of blackberries. If you can't spread them out on
your trellis so that each cane is exposed to light, cut some of them out
entirely. Next July, when you begin picking blackberries, new primocanes
will already be halfway up or more up the trellis. Floricanes may be removed
anytime after the last berry has been picked, which is not a difficult task
if the trellis is not overcrowded. Then you begin the pinching, pruning and
training cycle over again with the new primocanes.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA



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