Protecting shrubs
- Thread starter jlane35
- Start date
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
For my blackberries at home in the yard, I make a circular fence with welded wire about 7 feet in diameter. Then set multiple plants inside the circle. The briers use the fence for support. I just used electric fence posts and made an entrance easy to open where the wire ends come together.
Berries come on second year canes. In the fall cut off the canes that had berries that year and throw them away. The new canes that came up this year will have berries the next year.
I don't use any mats, because that will keep your new canes from coming up. Hand weed as necessary.......
Berries come on second year canes. In the fall cut off the canes that had berries that year and throw them away. The new canes that came up this year will have berries the next year.
I don't use any mats, because that will keep your new canes from coming up. Hand weed as necessary.......
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
I leave the cage up all the time and just open it up where I make my entrance if I need to walk in. Use some hooks in the wire to keep it closed together at the entrance, and open as necessary to go in. In the fall when I take out the spent canes, I pull up any weeds that came up inside and clean out a little.
If the deer are eating your blackberry bushes, they will eat them anytime. Since the process with blackberries depends on new canes coming up in order to keep the fruit coming, you always have canes there that are important to you, regardless of the time of year.
So, never take the cage down, and do the required maintenance as needed - and enjoy your never ending supply of berries!
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
Are they tame blackberries or wild ones with thorns? I doubt that you would have that much trouble with wild blackberries once the roots get established, because they are extremely tough and no amount of browsing will stop them from spreading.
If you are talking wild blackberries, let them get roots established for a couple of years, and you can take the cage down and walk away. I didn't realize you were talking about starting them for deer habitat. My place is covered with wild blackberries to the point I couldn't kill them if I tried to. They spread better than Johnson Grass, and are one of the few plants that can actually choke out Johnson grass.
But the same advice I gave about new canes coming up goes for wild blackberries too. Mats would block the new canes, and you don't want that to happen. But with the wild ones, you just forget about the spent canes and don't remove them - mother nature will take care of that.
Good luck.
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Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
Bring your shovel and your medical trauma team by sometime and you can dig up some of mine for free. The are a hardy stock.
jlane35
Well-Known Member
They have thorns, I ordered them from MDC. Thats a relief I thought I screwed up. Although it's not like I've spent a worse 32 dollars before.
I have two fields loaded with wild blackberries already and the deer bed in them and the rabbits are plentiful. With this order I'm trying to get a jump on a 5 acre field the local farmer stopped haying. I'll plant a little each year and hopefully it turns out to be a great place for deer instead of an open hay field they would never frequent.
I have two fields loaded with wild blackberries already and the deer bed in them and the rabbits are plentiful. With this order I'm trying to get a jump on a 5 acre field the local farmer stopped haying. I'll plant a little each year and hopefully it turns out to be a great place for deer instead of an open hay field they would never frequent.
jlane35
Well-Known Member
Bring your shovel and your medical trauma team by sometime and you can dig up some of mine for free. The are a hardy stock.
How about I bring my beagles too and let them chase some bunnies!!!
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
Sounds like a plan - good luck.
