Wild raspberries/black berries
08-01-2015, 06:46 AM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 77
Wild raspberries/black berries
About a week ago I took a very detailed survey of some of my property and found, after I started clearing out brush and high weeds, that I am almost over run with wild raspberries and black berries. I would be ecstatic as I am trying to improve small game conditions on my land; but very few of the plants had any berries.
Looking for suggestions on how to increase the yield.
Thanks in advance
Looking for suggestions on how to increase the yield.
Thanks in advance
08-02-2015, 02:35 AM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: MICHIGAN
Posts: 2,568
Wild berries of any kind don't last on the bushes here in Michigan very long. When I see the elder berries are so close to being ripe I collect them because the birds will clean them up in one day.
Around here the raspberries and black berries are ripe by the end of June the birds and other critters will have them gone by July. You have to watch the bushes from spring when they are in bloom till the berries are ripe to know for sure.
Al
Around here the raspberries and black berries are ripe by the end of June the birds and other critters will have them gone by July. You have to watch the bushes from spring when they are in bloom till the berries are ripe to know for sure.
Al
08-02-2015, 06:08 AM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Germany/Calif.
Posts: 2,664
My Raspberries and Blackberries are mostly pollinated by Bee's. The years with a harsh winter and few Bee's are the years with a low yield. Second year canes seem to produce better than first year canes on my Raspberries, so cutting them back like many books recommend, may be the wrong way to do it, no matter what the experts say. My Blackberries seem to do best with at least half a days sun, the Raspberries tolerate the shade better.
One thing you can do is plant some stuff to help support the Bee's all year, berries often bloom for a short period, while the Bee's need flowers all summer.
I plant plots of Vetches, which bloom for months and the Bee's like. Or if you have wet places you can plant Impatiens glandulifera, which is a (invasive) weed the Bee's love. Neither are food plot plants, but the Bee's like them.
Vetchses can be a little hard to get started, but are perennials and tolerate drought well once they get going. Once they get going they tolerate any weather well, no matter what.
Summer and winter varieties of Canola or Rape can be good Bee plants and are food for most any herbivore.
What I try to do is have something for the Bee's all summer and help support them and keep them fed and hanging around.
Something else you can do is to find plots that produce better than your plots and transplant some of the better/different stock into your plots. I've had the best luck transplanting smaller freshly sprouted Raspberries with small root balls. And finding the cane ends on Blackberries where they are trying to root into the ground and transplant these. I've got my Raspberries and Blackberries blooming longer, by finding varieties that bloom a little later or earlier than mine do. The majority of my Raspberries bloom earlier in the year (shortly after the last frost well into June)) and some of my Blackberries later in the year from June clear into the fall and the first frost.
The real upside to Blackberries is they grow into thickets and have thorns. Which help provide cover for the ground birds, Rabbits and other small game year round. I plant small game food plots near my Blackberry thickets and have spots with a lot of Rabbits and Pheasant. A side note is rock piles mixed with soil are a good spot, makes it harder for the predators to dig the Rabbits out.
If you have years, plant some Goose berries. They usually do well on slopes or someplace with good drainage (wet/dry cycles). Gooseberries are another thorn plant that is good cover for small game, the Bee's like and is often overlooked. Gooseberries are easy to help spread out, you just scratch a little bark off (don't completely ting it, just one side) of a low hanging branch and stick a portion of it in the ground still connected to the mother plant (in the spring) with a stone on top, next year you have another bush. Three to five years later you have a low thicket with thorns.
I'm sure the "masterdebator" or "the I know everything better because I read it on the internet types", will be along soon to tell me I'm doing it all wrong.
Just some tips from a guy that has been doing it for decades. And some things that have worked out well for me.
One thing you can do is plant some stuff to help support the Bee's all year, berries often bloom for a short period, while the Bee's need flowers all summer.
I plant plots of Vetches, which bloom for months and the Bee's like. Or if you have wet places you can plant Impatiens glandulifera, which is a (invasive) weed the Bee's love. Neither are food plot plants, but the Bee's like them.
Vetchses can be a little hard to get started, but are perennials and tolerate drought well once they get going. Once they get going they tolerate any weather well, no matter what.
Summer and winter varieties of Canola or Rape can be good Bee plants and are food for most any herbivore.
What I try to do is have something for the Bee's all summer and help support them and keep them fed and hanging around.
Something else you can do is to find plots that produce better than your plots and transplant some of the better/different stock into your plots. I've had the best luck transplanting smaller freshly sprouted Raspberries with small root balls. And finding the cane ends on Blackberries where they are trying to root into the ground and transplant these. I've got my Raspberries and Blackberries blooming longer, by finding varieties that bloom a little later or earlier than mine do. The majority of my Raspberries bloom earlier in the year (shortly after the last frost well into June)) and some of my Blackberries later in the year from June clear into the fall and the first frost.
The real upside to Blackberries is they grow into thickets and have thorns. Which help provide cover for the ground birds, Rabbits and other small game year round. I plant small game food plots near my Blackberry thickets and have spots with a lot of Rabbits and Pheasant. A side note is rock piles mixed with soil are a good spot, makes it harder for the predators to dig the Rabbits out.
If you have years, plant some Goose berries. They usually do well on slopes or someplace with good drainage (wet/dry cycles). Gooseberries are another thorn plant that is good cover for small game, the Bee's like and is often overlooked. Gooseberries are easy to help spread out, you just scratch a little bark off (don't completely ting it, just one side) of a low hanging branch and stick a portion of it in the ground still connected to the mother plant (in the spring) with a stone on top, next year you have another bush. Three to five years later you have a low thicket with thorns.
I'm sure the "masterdebator" or "the I know everything better because I read it on the internet types", will be along soon to tell me I'm doing it all wrong.
Just some tips from a guy that has been doing it for decades. And some things that have worked out well for me.
08-02-2015, 06:37 AM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Germany/Calif.
Posts: 2,664
Something I forgot to mention and may be worth a mention is, I read a study that said low hanging berries are a likely vector for many types of parasites. I don't really know if it is fact or fiction, but the reasoning is, many of the ground animals that feed on the berries rub parasite eggs onto the bushes as they feed. Just in case, I only eat the stuff myself from higher on the bush and wash the Berries well. 
08-03-2015, 07:28 AM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Germany/Calif.
Posts: 2,664
I had another thought, if you want to try something. I planted Grapes and Beans in/on/near my Blackberry thickets.
I don't really know how the plants detect the competition, but it seems kind of obvious they do some way. Growth seems to almost double when Blackberries have competition. Something that grows on them or intermingled with them seems noticably supercharge growth.
I don't really know how the plants detect the competition, but it seems kind of obvious they do some way. Growth seems to almost double when Blackberries have competition. Something that grows on them or intermingled with them seems noticably supercharge growth.
08-04-2015, 08:53 AM
#7
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: MICHIGAN
Posts: 2,568
If you want honey bees around then you need early spring blooming stuff around like danolions sugar maples and those Pu$$y willows, Mid summer the milk weeds help the honey bees as well as monarch butterflies.
In the fall make sure there is a lot of Golden Rod and Asters.
Added benefit is the honey to sweeten life and bees wax for all kinds of stuff.
Helps if they have A nice winter home.
Al
In the fall make sure there is a lot of Golden Rod and Asters.
Added benefit is the honey to sweeten life and bees wax for all kinds of stuff.
Helps if they have A nice winter home.
Al
08-05-2015, 04:33 AM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: MICHIGAN
Posts: 2,568
Well we sell the honey, wax and proplis. Have 100 colonies in two counties. More than most back yard bee keepers but way less than commercial bee keepers I know.
Lucky to break even on expenses so I guess one could say we are a business.
Al
Lucky to break even on expenses so I guess one could say we are a business.
Al
08-05-2015, 06:42 PM
#10
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 77
Thanks for the suggestions. My berries are just ripening. I can see where there were some berries by the "buds" that they grew on. Most plants are just the canes. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact they are first year canes and have not matured. Also, most were surrounded/covered by head high weeds which I am fixing that situation as the summer winds down. Next spring the conditions should be a lot better.
I also have a bee keeper across the street so I will be doing what ever I can to assist her in creating honey and bees wax with flowering plants on my property (have lots of clover growing)
Will inform everyone of results. Anymore suggestions will be welcome!
I also have a bee keeper across the street so I will be doing what ever I can to assist her in creating honey and bees wax with flowering plants on my property (have lots of clover growing)
Will inform everyone of results. Anymore suggestions will be welcome!