Hardwood cuttings and root sucker propagation are both methods of cutting propagation

Blackberry can refer either to the blackberry plant or to the blackberry fruit. The blackberry plant belongs to the raspberry group (Rosaceae, Rubus genus), is a widely distributed and well-known shrub; it can grow up to 3 m tall and produces soft fruit, namely blackberries, commonly used in desserts, jam, seedless jelly, and sometimes also to make fruit wine. There are now over ten thousand hybrid varieties and variants of blackberry, with a planting area of 4,000 hectares (60,000 mu) in the United States, 405 hectares (6,075 mu) in the United Kingdom, and 2,667 hectares (40,000 mu) in China. Blackberries are rich in nutrition, abundant in various amino acids and trace elements essential to the human body, and have functions such as promoting blood coagulation, delaying aging, improving immunity, promoting brain metabolism, lowering blood pressure and blood lipids, and fighting arrhythmia. At the same time, blackberry flowers are also a very good nectar source plant.

Blackberries can be propagated by cuttings, layering, root sucker division, tissue culture, and other methods. At present, hardwood cuttings and root sucker propagation are mainly used, and where conditions permit, softwood cuttings can also be used.

1. Hardwood cuttings: during winter pruning (after leaf fall in December), cut vigorous, plump, pest-free branches into cuttings 8-12 cm long with 2-3 buds, and store them in sand. Insert the cuttings before early spring sprouting (around mid-February). Bury the cuttings 3-5 cm into the soil, inserting 40-50 cuttings per sq m. After insertion, water thoroughly and cover with rice straw, then keep the soil moist regularly. With good management, the survival rate can reach 40%-50%, and at best over 60%, and they can leave the nursery in the same winter. After the cutting seedlings leave the nursery, quite a few root segments remain in the soil and can be used to continue propagating seedlings. The specific method is to apply a small amount of organic fertilizer to the nursery bed in winter, shallow-plow once, press the fertilizer into the soil, prepare the land and make beds in early spring, water once in dry weather, and by April a large number of root sucker seedlings will sprout; leave about 20 seedlings per sq m, and thereafter manage as in a general nursery.

2. Softwood cuttings: from mid-July to early August, carry out cuttings under a shade shed with fully automatic misting. Use peat and sand mixed at 1:1 for the cutting bed soil. Roots form 7-10 days after insertion, and the survival rate can be as high as 80%-90%. After one month, move them to the open field, strengthen management, and they can leave the nursery the following spring.