Detailed Explanation of Key Points for High-Efficiency Blackberry Cultivation

Blackberry is native to North America and belongs to the Rosaceae family as a perennial vine plant. Its fruit is juicy and tender, crystal clear and translucent, and purplish-black in color. Its nutritional value far exceeds that of apples, oranges, and grapes. It is the third-generation emerging fruit that has developed most rapidly worldwide in recent years, and has high development value. Its high-efficiency cultivation techniques are as follows:

Orchard establishment: Blackberry does not have strict soil requirements. Generally, soil with good drainage and fertile texture is selected for orchard establishment. Strip planting can be adopted, with plant spacing of 1.0-1.2 m × 1.8-2.0 m, and row orientation preferably north-south, planting 300-330 plants per mu. The planting time is generally after the plants shed their leaves in autumn and before the land freezes, or after the ground thaws in early spring and before the plants sprout. Before planting, dig planting trenches 50 cm wide and 50 cm deep according to the plant and row spacing. The bottom of the trench is backfilled with raw soil and chopped grass, and the upper part of the trench is backfilled with a mixture of mature soil and barnyard manure. Apply 2500 kg-3500 kg of high-quality barnyard manure and 40 kg of compound fertilizer per mu. Before planting, dip the root system in mud slurry containing 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate.

Fertilizer and water management: In winter, apply organic fertilizer in combination with plowing, generally 0.5 kg-1.0 kg of cake fertilizer per plant and 10 kg-15 kg of high-quality farmyard manure per plant. Topdressing is carried out twice, before flowering (mid-May) and during the fruit expansion stage (mid-June), generally using 50 g-75 g of compound fertilizer per plant. Blackberry is a shallow-rooted plant with high water requirements and is not drought-tolerant. However, it is also afraid of waterlogging, so if there is continuous rainy weather, drainage should be carried out promptly.

Intertillage and weeding: In the first year after planting blackberry, the plants are relatively small. To ensure good growth of the seedlings, intertillage and weeding need to be carried out 3-4 times. In the second year, the number of intertillage operations should depend on the occurrence of weeds. In winter, a comprehensive plowing should be carried out once.

Trellising: Blackberry is a semi-erect variety and requires trellis cultivation. Along the planting row, set up a concrete post or wooden post every 5 m-6 m, bury the post 0.5 m-0.7 m into the soil, leave 1.0 m-1.8 m above ground, stretch 2-3 wires on the posts, and drive ground anchors at both ends to tighten and fix the wires.

Training and pruning: After planting, when the seedlings sprout, keep two vigorous new shoots and tie them upward, and remove the other new shoots from the base. The new shoots will form two main trunk branches. In the following year, similarly keep two new growing shoots to form two secondary trunk branches. When the main and secondary trunk branches grow to 60 cm, begin to keep secondary shoots to form side branches. When the main and secondary trunks grow to 1.0 m-1.5 m, top them. Secondary shoots are generally topped after keeping 4-7 leaves. In winter, before freezing begins, cut off from the base the main trunk branches that have aged after fruiting, and also prune diseased, pest-damaged, weak, and overly dense branches. In the following year, keep secondary trunk branches again. Generally, each main trunk branch per plant keeps 5-8 side branches, and each plant keeps about 400 buds.

Pest and disease control: Blackberry has relatively strong stress resistance. Pests include star longhorn beetle, white grubs, scarab beetles, etc. For diseases, only root rot has been found, and the affected plant rate is less than 5%. Newly established 2-3 year old blackberry orchards generally do not need pesticide control.

Harvesting and yield: In early July, the fruit changes from red to purple and its texture changes from firm to soft. This indicates that it has matured and can be harvested. The fruit matures successively, with the maturation period lasting about 20 days, so it should be harvested in batches.

This variety can bear fruit in the same year of planting. In the second year, the yield can reach 5500 kg/hectare. In 1998, yield measurement on 3-year-old plants reached 21352.5 kg/hectare, showing good productivity. During the full bearing period, the income per mu can reach more than 15,000 yuan.