Fruit And Berries

General Resources

• The Berry Diagnostic Tool
• Diseases/Pests:
  • Cornell Berry Diagnostic Tool

Raspberries

• Growing raspberries in Your Home Garden
• Growing Raspberries in North Carolina
• Blackberry & Raspberry Information - NCSU
• Diseases/Pests:
  • Scouting and Thresholds for Raspberry Pests and Diseases
• Pruning Rasberries:
  • Want 4-6 healthy canes per linear foot of bed.
  • June barers -
  • Ever barers - Can cut to ground and then will get fall crop only.
• How To Prune Raspberries For A Bumper Harvest Year After Year

Blueberries

• General prunning notes:
  • Most of the videos showed pruning when fruit buds are forming so you can see which canes are most productive. Probably around mid-to-late March.
  • Ideal mix of canes: 15-20% young canes (< 1") and no more than 20% > 2". Mix of canes 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 year old.
  • On medium age canes, identify the more vigorous laterals and remove the scraggly and lower-hanging ones.
  • General sequence of pruning:
    1. Cut damaged and dead limbs. Can just break off smaller dead ones.
    2. Remove old and non-productive "scraggly" older limbs.
    3. Remove lower, smaller laterals to direct energy to more vigorous ones.
• Hands-On Blueberry Pruning Workshop, North Carolina - Very good explanation of principles for prunning. Most other videos just tell you what to cut but not why.
  • Look for the older stalks with weak berry production to thin out to make room for younger, more vigorous shoots.
  • Remove up to 20% of older stalks each year. Look ahead for what newer shoots will replace them.
  • Around base, select the stronger new stalks to keep and thin out others.
  • If a shoot from ground is fairly far outside rest of clump, it could be considered for rooting for new plant. Preserve some of the root and out in shavings or planting mix to develop root system. When planting, cut off most of top.
  • Trim out dead wood and branches that cut accross plant.
  • Remember the 3 year cycle of berry production on branches:
    • On a new, strong shoot, there will be fat fruit buds on the tip. Lower of the branch are small leaf buds that will form lateral branches.
    • After the fruiting on the tip, in the next year, the fruit buds will be on the tips of the lateral shoots.
    • In third year, both the tip and laterals will have weaker and fewer and irregular fruit buds. These branches are then candidates for pruning out.
• Pruning Young, Middle Aged, and Old Bluberry Plants
• How to prune a blueberry bush
  • Target is to have 10-15 main canes total.
  • Look for 3 new canes each year and clear out smaller new canes. Preferrably separated around plant.
  • Remove older, non-productive canes. You can tell oldest by how "twiggy" they are, not necessarily the biggest.
  • Make sure the new canes have room to group. Can be done by cutting off limbs of older canes.
  • Remove limbs that cross back over plant.
  • Open up middle of plant.
  • 4-5 year old canes are most productive. 1-1.5" diameter.
• Backyard Berry Plants FAQ
  • Blueberry and Bramble planing guides:
    • For blueberries:

Spacing: Highbush blueberry plants should be a minimum of 5'-6' between the centers of each plant, and lowbush should be a minimum of 3'-4'. Site can be in full sun to partial sun (less than 6 hours of full sun may see a drop in potential yields).

Most of a blueberry plants roots are in the top 8 inches of soil (forming a mat or skirt around the shrub), so your planting area need not be so deep as it should be wide. I like to dig a 3'x3' wide hole, about 12" deep. Remember, check drainage. You can plant on poor draining soil, you just need to mound the shrub so that it sits 6"-8" above grade (shallow roots help you deal with wetness, but remember in droughty weather that anything "raised" dries out faster). To refill the hole, use peat moss, shredded pine bark (not large nuggets, but mulch or mini-nuggets, and it does need to be pine), and the native soil (unless it is totally clay, in which case you also have poor drainage, so plan on mounding and using the "Soil-less" mix described below).

Refill back into the hole the above ingredients in a 1:1:1 ratio (1 part peat moss, 1 part pine mulch, 1 part native soil if not heavy clay). If you can't find shredded pine mulch or mini-nuggets, spruce or fir bark mulch should work as well, and possibly even pine-needles. I like the pine mulch for two reasons: it stretches your peat moss, which is more expensive; and it gives a nice texture to the mix, helping to add air, channel water (percolation), and stabilize the peat. For two shrubs, you'll need one 3.8 cu.ft. bale of sphagnum peat moss (this is compressed, and expands to about 9 cu.ft. when you fluff it up); and 3, 3 cu.ft. bags of pine mulch (or 4-5, 2 cu.ft. bags, as some retailers sell the mulch as mini-nuggets). Once you get all this mixed into the hole, it's time for amendments.

For one shrub, add 1.5# of alfalfa meal and a half cup of soft rock phosphate (optional), or 3 cups (~1#) of a balanced organic fertilizer such as Ohio Earth Food's Re-Vita Pro (see our supplies page, as we are now selling this fertilizer in a 10# quantity; FOX FARM also sells an organic, acid-loving fertilizer especially for blueberries). Stir it all into the top 8 inches. If you are planting your bushes after the end of August, you can use the alfalfa meal and SRP, but do not use a granular fertilizer (manure or chemical based), as the nitrogen in it could cause some problems with the plant hardening off for winter. Instead, wait until early spring to top dress your plant under the mulch (with the granular fertilizer).

The Soil-less planting method:
As mentioned above, if you have poor soil, you can use a 50:50 mix of sphagnum peat moss (must be sphagnum!) and shredded PINE bark mulch or mini-nuggets (out in Western states spruce or fir bark mulch will work, too). Add the amendments as normal. This mix is useful for certain cultivars I've grown over the years. This soil-less method actually approximates a "best" blueberry soil type. This mix is also the one to use for potted culture.

Planting your shrub: Set the bush so that the top of its root ball is just covered by the mix in the hole. The planting area (which by now looks like a mini raised bed), after being amended with the peat moss and pine bark mulch, will likely have raised above the grade of your garden or yard slightly. This is fine, and will encourage rapid growth. DO NOT use compost or manure when planting your blueberry, as these amendments will raise soil pH above what the plant requires to thrive.

Aftercare: Mulch, mulch, mulch…pine needles (best!), shredded leaves (no walnut), and shredded pine bark mulch are all excellent mulches for blueberry plants. DO NOT use hardwood bark mulch, hay or straw (clean, non-chaffy and dirt free straw may be used), as they alter pH and encourage weeds. During the year you plant it, and the following year, it would be good to water the bush regularly during the growing season (one good soaking weekly during the growing season, equal to about 5 gallons of water). You can top-dress (apply fertilizer under the mulch) with alfalfa meal (2 c.) or granular organic fertilizer (1c.) in March, and again in late May. Do not fertilize with granular manure or chemical based fertilizers (alfalfa is OK, and see Plant Care pages for liquid feeding directions) after July in zone 3-5, or after the end of August in zones 6-8. Blueberry plants do not like cultivation (due to shallow roots), so keeping it weed free with a thick, yet porous, mulch is essential to an organic blueberry plants vitality.