Propagate thornless blackberries

8 years ago

I have thornless blackberries currently in fruit, but am losing the garden/orchard pronto. I want to make new plants to place in another garden. How should I do it right now in full summer in the midwest ?

It seems like divisions at the root would be good any time of year, but these are in really hard soil with bermuda grass, so I'd rather not dig if I can find another way. If I try to make stem cuttings, should I cut off the berries and stick the canes in soil? Should I try to find blind canes to take cuttings from? Should I use still green wood or more mature wood? I have rooting hormone if you think that would help.

My plan, unless advised otherwise, is to root greenish stems in a mix that is roughly 80% pearlite, 10% garden soil, 10% peat moss. Good drainage and airy

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Comments (5)

iandyaz
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
It's gonna be a little tough at this time of the year if you are in the midwest in any type of desert or area that gets above 100. I propagated 3 of my blackberries with cuttings last fall and it was really easy at that time of the year.

If your air gets real dry like here in Arizona, I wouldn't use an 80% perlite mix to do it unless you have misters. It would need to retain moisture for more than a few hours which 80% perlite would not do (outdoors at least).

Maybe the best way would be what you describe, but bring them indoors and put lights over them that gets turned on for a few hours a day.
matthias_lang thanked iandyaz
matthias_lang
Original Author
8 years ago
No, our air is so wet is feels as though I have to swim through it! Mississippi river valley. Anyway, I think I'm going to dig a small clump and hope for the best.
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User
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Blackberries root at the cane tips. Using the new season (non fruiting) canes, bend them over at the tip to the soil level (tip layering). Do this in late summer when the fresh canes are still green and flexible. Bury the last few inches of the cane in the soil - hold in place with either a brick or stone or bent wire. It will root over winter and can be severed from the mother plant in summer and potted up separately or transplanted. This has been my most reliable way of propagating rubus sp.
matthias_lang thanked User
matthias_lang
Original Author
8 years ago
Campanula, my fruit garden is about to be bulldozed, so I have to take with me whatever I can salvage. I've been leasing city property and now the city is selling it for housing to be built. They would not sell it to me for gardening, even if I could find the purchase money.
Emma Shiley
8 years ago
1. Choose the branches to use in the autumn after all the fruit has been picked. ...
2. Push each branch down toward the ground to find the spot where it naturally touches the soil. ...
3. Push down on each branch tip until it reaches the bottom of its hole.
4. Water the buried branch tips thoroughly, but don't soak them with standing water.
5. Clip the branches about 12 inches above the ground in the spring after all chance of frost has passed; the branch tips will have rooted throughout the fall. Transplant the new thornless blackberry bushes to a prepared bed in a sunny location.