What did you do in the garden today?

[lazy gardener]

Arielle, why don't you get a start from your SIL's blackberry canes??? It wouldn't take much to get you going.

 

[jerryse]

FYI thorny blackberries can be started from root cuttings . No need to dig the whole plant . A piece of root about 4-6 inches long . Thornless blackberries tip root the canes .

 

[lazy gardener]

FYI thorny blackberries can be started from root cuttings . No need to dig the whole plant . A piece of root about 4-6 inches long . Thornless blackberries tip root the canes .

Good to know. Wouldn't all blackberries/raspberries tip root as well???

 

[jerryse]

Good to know. Wouldn't all blackberries/raspberries tip root as well???

I don't think so . The red / yellow raspberry family and thorny blackberries spread by root suckers . Black raspberry and trailing blackberries / dewberries spread by tip rooting .

 

[Arielle]

@Bee. I see your point. Will consider that as I'm too busy to pull the canes and the wild birds eat them . I'm happy to support the wildlife. Hopefully my chickens will discover them someday, too.

Arielle, why don't you get a start from your SIL's blackberry canes???  It wouldn't take much to get you going.

Didn't know I could do that. Will ask her.

FYI thorny blackberries can be started from root cuttings . No need to dig the whole plant .  A piece of root about 4-6 inches long . Thornless blackberries tip root the canes .

Please explain the last sentence. Sounds like taking a cutting and rooting it.... first year or older tips?

 

[jerryse]

@Bee. I see your point. Will consider that as I'm too busy to pull the canes and the wild birds eat them . I'm happy to support the wildlife. Hopefully my chickens will discover them someday, too.
Didn't know I could do that. Will ask her.
Please explain the last sentence. Sounds like taking a cutting and rooting it.... first year or older tips?

They tip root like black raspberries . The tip of the vine/cane will root when it touches the ground on first year canes . Not sure if it will work but i have a few yellow bow cane cuttings in a pot now . These are yellow sports of the wild black raspberries . I was going to dig up tip starts but the rabbits ate them before they reached the ground . So I took some cuttings from the end of the canes and further back than what normally roots . Time will tell .

 

[Arielle]

What is tip rooting? Bending tips to get stem under the soil?

 

[jerryse]

What is tip rooting? Bending tips to get stem under the soil?

Black raspberries , trailing blackberries and dewberries do this naturally . Yes the canes bow as they grow and touch the ground and the tips root .

 

[appps]

Black raspberries , trailing blackberries and dewberries do this naturally . Yes the canes bow as they grow and touch the ground and the  tips root .

I've been trying to do this with my thornless blackberry because we got such a great crop from it I want to plant another one. I thought I would be clever

And bend it till it touched into a pot so I didn't even have to dig it up to move it. So far that hasn't worked great as it keeps popping back out. Been about a month of trial and error and think if it hasn't taken next time I check I'll give up and just bury the darn thing in the ground lol

Well I put a front on my compost bed so it no longer falls out onto my new gravel path I'm building and now need to put together the timber I bought to build up my raised bed some more. I have a bad time with wet soil when winter hits. You sink if you walk down near my vege garden over winter so trying something I hope works. I've put a layer of gravel in the bottom of the bed, then stapled a layer of that fabric you put round your drainage lines over that (geo fabric). Then I'm making the sides higher and filling with soil. I'm crossing my fingers any ground water will keep travelling through the gravel and the soil above will then be able to drain down and away too. Fingers crossed

It's been a pretty big job because I've hauled most of the dirt and gravel and done the building myself but the vege garden is the best I've had in years. Only part way there but feel like I'm getting somewhere at last so am not dreading winter quite as much as normal . I've had grass and half the year it's too wet to mow it so it goes to seed and weed and is a mess. We have had termites in the house twice so not game to use wood chips that close so thus the cheap blue metal.

Along the fence in the distance I'm going to try making a orchard of sorts all in pots so they are up enough not to get wet feet over winter and to screen our neighbours. So far I've got an Avacado and an olive which are both loving their home made air root trimming pots. ($20 each blue empty iodine barrels from the feed store cut in half with holes drilled around them.)

I seem to be beating the fruit fly by picking the tomatoes the second they show any sign of going red and letting them ripen on my kitchen windowsill. I'm still getting the odd one is maggots when I cut it when ripe but the chooks don't seem to mind . I've never had much luck growing things like stone fruit because of them but this is the first year they have got into my tomatoes.

 

[jerryse]

What is tip rooting? Bending tips to get stem under the soil?

Tip rooting on black raspberry . This is on a Niwot / sweet repeat I planted this spring . It has tip rooted 5 new plants from side branches . Something damaged the central leader causing side branches .

These are my wild yellow bow cane cuttings . This should work . Since they naturally tip root .

This is a Jewel black raspberry . Cane in the middle of picture is tip rooted . They often burrow right into the soil .



Thornless blackberries are sometimes hard to keep tips in the pots if you just lay them in there . I bury them head first into the pot . Works better .



I find working with the natural tendency of plants works best . The ones that clone from root suckers can be grown from root cuttings . I bought some red and yellow raspberries off eBay last spring . They were roots only . This is how commercial fields are started . This was a certified supplier in Oregon .