There are a lot of different possibilities for blackberry trellises, but I decided to try the one designed by Dr. Arlie Powell. His system is called "Trellised Production Using Primocane Suppression" or "T-PUPS" for short. With this method, the blackberry plants are essentially espaliered along a two wire trellis.
I did a lot of research into his method after randomly seeing a couple of videos on youtube from him:
Video #1: How to Trellis Blackberries
Video #2: Blackberries Part 2
After watching these videos, the following is what I have done along my side fence:
1) I had 4 bare root Kiowa blackberry plants on order from Ison's Nursery so I decided to buy 6 6ft metal posts (1 for each of the plants and one for each end support).
2) I placed the posts evenly spaced and where I wanted to put the berry plants.
3) I bought green coated wire from the garden section at Lowes and strung one wire 3 ft. from the ground and the second wire 5 ft. from the ground.
During the first year, the plants will be allowed to grow as they will so that they can establish good root systems without me continuously pruning the crap out of them (which is what is required by this system). Next spring, I may get a few berries on the canes that grew haphazardly this year, but after they fruit, they will die. So, I will cut those out and start training the new canes that grow next spring.
Apparently the benefit of doing it this way is that 1) the plants are very productive, and 2) the berries are much easier to pick without getting stuck by all the thorns, and 3) since there aren't any messy canes close to the ground, the do not attract the mice that then attract the snakes. Good enough for me!
Stay tuned for Project #6: Bean Tepees and Trellises!
No comments:
Post a Comment