Transplanting blackberries?

[Old Syko]

Can I transplant blackberries and raspberries in the winter with any success.  I'm in southern Indiana and today we are looking at single digit temps but expecting the 50s in a couple days.

Also, when can I plant blueberries here?  I understand they can be a handful in my climate but success is possible with proper care.  We have a large blueberry farm close to me but the guy that runs it thinks he is special and certainly won't help.

[jvs]

Blackberrys and Raspberrys can be transplanted anytime the earth can be worked and they are not in bloom or setting fruit.  If you can do that when the ground is frozen, do so.  I think I would wait  until it gets consistantly above freezing at night or if you can put them in a mulch pile.  Either way, a few more weeks won't matter much.  I would shoot for mid to late March.

I certainly would transplant them where the ground doesn't freeze solid at this time of year.  Pruning them back in preperation for transplanting now may be your best bet in Indiana.   If you can see earthworms after a rain, then it is ok to transplant.

Blueberrys are different.  Your neighbor sounds a little snobby.   But there is quite a difference between blueberrys and what you ask.  Your local plant nursery can help you.  I am positive they are getting ready for spring.

Spinach and Peas can soon be planted in late Feb/early March in the north.  Much sooner down south.

[Graybeard]

We run a blueberry farm here so I have some experience with them. We plant rabbiteye bushes down here but you want high bush up your way. So the first thing to do is make sure you buy high bush blueberry bushes. Most all the large national outlets for bushes sell only high bush. The rabbiteye is strictly a southern blueberry.

Here are the instructions I print out and give to the customers who buy blueberry bushes from me. It should work well for you as well so long as you make sure you buy high bush blueberry plants only. Just make adjustments as needed since you are not local to my area and bush types are NOT what you want. Otherwise the instructions should be pretty much the same.



Planting Instructions for Blueberry Bushes



Buy adequate peat moss to put two shovels full in each hole plus some additional to mix with the soil you remove from hole. You must have the peat moss before you begin planting. Wal-Mart seems to have the best prices on peat moss. A 1.1 cu ft bag will plant two or maybe three bushes easily. A 2.2 cu ft bag will plant 6-8 bushes.

Dig your hole a minimum of twice the diameter of the top of the pot your bush comes in. YES more is better. The hole should be at least as deep as the pot is tall and again a little more is better.

Use your shovel or a spade fork to loosen some soil in the bottom of the planting hole. Mix two shovels full of peat moss with this lose soil. Now set the pot into the hole to be sure you have the correct depth. The top of the pot should be about even with the ground at top of the hole. If the top of pot is above the ground make the hole deeper, if the pot is more than an inch or so below the ground add more peat moss until top of pot sets even with ground level.

Make sure your peat moss is thoroughly wetted before you plant. I do this by filling the hole with water and mixing the water and peat moss together so it absorbs the water and is completely wetted. Let the water soak into the ground and peat moss and then take your plant from pot. Try to be careful and not disturb the roots any more than necessary while removing it from the pot. Some times the dirt will fall away from the roots in spite of your efforts. This is OK but get it planted and watered quickly when it does.

Miracle Grow potting mix and garden soil both contain mostly peat moss and have a wetting agent applied so it is much easier to wet the peat moss in it than regular bagged peat. It costs a bit more but is much easier to work with if that’s important to you. Just make sure you get plenty of peat moss in the hole regardless of the source and type. Blueberry bushes need a highly acid soil and peat moss is the way you start them off right in life with that highly acid soil they need.

Set your bush with soil that was in the pot with it in the middle of your planting hole. Finish filling the hole to the top of the soil that was in pot with the bush using a mixture of soil you removed from the hole and peat moss. Make sure the top 2” or so of the fill is your native soil you removed. Tamp it down good and water thoroughly.

If you have done the job correctly you should have a depression in the soil surrounding your newly planted bush that is from 1” to not more than 3” deep. This is a water well for use in watering the bush and it will let you know when you’ve watered it correctly. Fill the well with water and let it soak in. As long as the water is soaking in quickly you need to keep adding water. When the water stands for a few minutes without soaking in it’s time to stop watering.

WARNING: Failure to keep the bushes properly watered during their first two summers in the ground will ABSOLUTELY result in the death of your bushes. This is a absolute MUST if you want them to live and grow. Keep them watered not less often that every other day if it’s not raining during the hot dry times of the year until they are two years old and you’ll have vigorous and healthy plants.

It is advisable to remove the blooms or failing that the berries from your bushes the first two years. This will allow the bushes to put all of their energy into plant growth and you will have large mature plants at least two years sooner than if you allow them to bear during those first two years. The choice is yours but keeping the berries off will aid in keeping the bushes healthy and add reduce the time needed for them to mature.

If you have questions at any time regarding the bushes you have purchased from us feel free to call us at 256-435-1125 and ask for help. We’ll be happy to assist you with problems you have with the bushes you buy from us. We cannot however guarantee they will live as that depends completely on the way you tend to them. They were healthy and growing well in pots at our house for at least six months before we delivered them to you. IF you take care of them as stated above they should continue to live and grow. But failure to follow these instructions is an almost certain death sentence for your bushes.


You will need at least two different varieties of bushes for proper pollination. We raise and sell a total of five varieties which are: Tifblue, Garden Blue, Brightwell, Climax and Premier.

If you buy only a few bushes just make sure you have them relatively near each other and they should pollinate fine. If you are planting larger numbers of them they should be planted in rows. You may alternate varieties within the rows or plant one variety per row and make sure the row next to it is a different variety. Plant rows 12’ to 14’ apart and plant the bushes 6’ to 7’ apart in the rows. I have found that when bushes are mature that spacing of  6’ and 12’ is barely adequate to allow for easy mowing of grass and care of bushes. That’s the spacing I have. Were I to do it again I’d use 7’ and 14’ and that’s what I suggest you use if you are planting for commercial production.

The very best mulch you can use around your bushes is pine straw. You can usually find it for sale at the Calhoun County Co-Op or Wal-Mart in bales. If you apply it liberally around your bushes to a depth of several inches and for at least a diameter of 24” to 36” you will keep down weeds and when it rots into the soil it helps keep the soil around your bushes acidic.

Do not fertilize the first year you plant. After that a soil test to determine the best choice of fertilizer is recommended but you can just add a small amount (not more than four ounces) of a good balanced fertilizer (8-8-8 or 13-13-13 for example) in lieu of the soil test recommendation and it should do fine most of the time. Using a natural manure is even better, you can use cow, horse or goat manure if you have access to it.

[jvs]

Bill,

I have been toying with the idea of putting Blueberrys in for a few years now.  I have a few questions for you, since you are a real pro at this type of berry.

What ph is ideal for Blueberrys?  I understand they require acid soil.  More sour than most other plants.

Do you adjust your ph with sulphates along with the peat moss when planting or do you just use peat?

Would 10-10-10 fertilizer be ok?

How many times a year do you fertilize?

We have 'Swampers' that grow wild up here in the Pocono Mts of Pa., what you correctly called 'High Bush', and not many Blueberry Farms.  But there is quite a few Back Yard Blueberry Plants planted by people who struggle to succeed at it.  I have been using a 50/50 mixture of Hardwood chips and soil salted with Acid Fertilizer, which seemed to work.

Your post will help me alot not only with Blueberrys, but Red Currants, Gooseberrys and Elderberrys too.  They like it sour also.

Thanks.       

[Graybeard]

Blueberries do best with a soil in the range of (pH 5.0 to 5.5).

To date I have not adjusted my soil pH with sulfates but I think it's getting close to time I need to do so. Our soil here is very acidic naturally tho so as long as I do nothing to raise the pH the berries do pretty well with it as is.

Yes triple ten fertilizer is OK as any triple number but one made for azaleas would be better still IF you have only a few bushes. If you plant very many that fertilizer is just too expensive to be economical and using a more common and cheaper fertilizer is better. Best yet is manure however.

Fertilize once a year in February using no more than 4 oz per bush but NOT the first year they are in the ground. If you can get enough pine straw to mulch around your bushes then you'll never need to add sulfur to adjust your pH as the rotting pine straw will take care of it for you.

[Elijah Gunn]

I just transplanted some wild blackberries from one place on my property to another where I intend to cultivate them. I've never done much gardening so I would like to know how to get them growing. The canes on the plants are all different sizes. Some are already greening up, while others look dead. Should I just prune everything down low, or leave the live looking canes alone and prune away the dead looking ones? If possible I'd like to get some production off of them this year.
I have  some raspberry plants , and strawberries as well. Is there a basic fertilizer that will work for all 3?
Thanks,  Mark

[Graybeard]

With your blackberries leave the green and growning alone and trim the dead. Blackberries really don't need much human intervention. I've replanted a bunch of them this year along the outside of my fence down at my pond. They are there to serve as a deterrent to anyone who might think about trying to get over that fence to my pond and for our customers to pick in season as well as that will keep the customers away from the pond while they pick as I have a 5' non climbable fence surrounding it.

[Elijah Gunn]

Will do,and thanks.

[jvs]

I believe there is a regular rotation when pruning Blackberrys, Gooseberrys and Raspberrys.

If my memory serves me correctly, you should be pruning out the oldest Canes, probably the  5th yr or older Canes.  Fertilizing in the early Spring and early Fall, not over Winter in my area.  Up to a Half Pound 5-10-5, spread around the entire root system of the Mature Plant.

First year Canes normally do not produce fruit with the rest of the plant, only 2nd, 3rd and 4th yr canes, older Canes also run out of Gas or Die off. 

Cuttings taken from either 2nd or 3rd yr Canes usually have no problem rooting.  And the tip of any Cane that bends over and touches the ground will root into a new plant.

WARNING !  You can easily get over run with Blackberrys, Gooseberrys or Raspberrys if the tips of the Canes touch the ground.

[Elijah Gunn]

My raspberries seem to be doing well,but the wild blackberries are not starting off so good. When I was digging them up to transplant them I noticed that they seemed to share a common root system that went from plant to plant. I tried to dig them out as deep and as wide around them as I could. About 60% of them have some leaves on them now ,but the rest  only have buds. I live in south central Michigan (thats zone 5 I believe)and I have sandy soil. Other wild blackberries on my place are fully leafed out now. Other than the shock of the transplanting , and that they were moved from a  slightly shaded place into a place with full sun I cant think of a reason why they aren't doing better.

[Graybeard]

They don't have their full root system in place and established at the new location. It takes awhile after moving them for them to take hold and start to grown normally. I have the same situation with the stuff I move like that as well. In fact some of the ones I moved that had little root didn't make it and I replaced two of those today with others I dug out while weeding today. I have no shortage of blackberries to move in fact I think I could plant a couple acres and have it covered in them in a year or so from the bushes growing around my place.

[Elijah Gunn]

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep them weeded, watered and wait a while more.
Regards,  Mark

[Graybeard]

In their natural environment practically all new plants begin as the tip of a root of a much larger and more healthy plant with a root system that might stretch for many feet in all directions. Generally when digging them up you get only a small area of root directly under the bush you dig out and maybe a few inches of runner as well. That's not a whole lotta root and so the initial growth of transplanted ones like that is slow until the new root system is fully established. The do grow fairly fast at least here in Bama and spread like you won't believe. Here if you have one healthy bush in a couple years they can cover an acre or two from that one initial bush.

I'm sure if I had the time and the inclination I could dig out thousands of them up near my barn and down in my blueberry orchard alone and for the most part I actually try to control them in both places.

[Elijah Gunn]

The area where my raspberries , and blackberries are is about a quarter acre and as long as they produce they are welcome to it. I just hope that it wont be too much work to keep them from getting overgrown.
Regards, Mark