Growing Berries and Grapes in the Home Garden

Chuck Ingels

UC Cooperative Extension, Sacramento County

Master Gardener Training – San Andreas

Feb. 5, 2015

Cane Berries This is Not How They Have To Grow

Blackberries and Hybrids Plant Characteristics

•Most have long, trailing runners

• Thorny and thornless available (revert?)

•Shoot tips root in soil in fall

•Plant spacing: 3 ½-4 ft. apart

Blackberries and Hybrids Fruiting and Pruning

• Fruit produced on 1-yr.-old canes

(“floricanes”)

• Floricanes cut to ground after fruiting

• New canes (“primocanes”) allowed to

grow through season

• 5+ primocanes per plant cut to 6-8 ft.,

tied to or wrapped around wire

– These become floricanes

Primocanes in Feb. (boysenberry)

Bud

Shoot

grows

and forms

flowers

One-Year-Old Canes, early April

(boysenberry)

One-Year-Old Canes in March

(Ollalie)

New Canes in Early March

New Cane in April (boysenberry)

New Canes in May

Cut old canes to ground in July (after harvest), tie new

canes to wires

Canes Grow-ing to Ground

September 20

Will root in

ground

Blackberries and Hybrids Varieties

• ‘Ollalie’ – black x Logan x youngberry

• ‘Marion’ berry

•Boysenberries:

•Nectarberry

•Thornless youngberry (seedless)

• ‘Black Butte’, ‘Thornless Black Satin’

• Loganberry – wild black x raspberry

Boysenberry

Raspberries

•Semi-erect; shoots grow from roots!

•Prefer afternoon shade (?)

• ‘Oregon 1030’, ‘Bababerry’ OK full sun

•Spacing: 2½-3 ft. apart

• 3 types

•Summer bearing

•Everbearing

•Black

Summer-Bearing Raspberries

• Fruit produced on 1-yr.-old canes

(“floricanes”)

• Floricanes cut to ground after fruiting

• New canes (“primocanes”) allowed to

grow through season

• 10-12 primocanes per plant or per 2-3 ft.

tied or wrapped around wire

• ‘Newberg’, ‘Latham’, ‘Willamette’, etc.

Everbearing Raspberries

•Produce 2 crops:

Small crop on floricanes

Larger crop on primocanes

•All canes usually cut to ground in winter

Harvest later crop only

• ‘Bababerry’, ‘Oregon 1030’, ‘Heritage’,

‘Fallgold’, ‘Indian Summer’, etc.

Summer-Bearing

Everbearing

Raspberry Growth in June

Floricanes

Primocanes

Trellising for Cane Berries

• Strong end posts, posts or stakes in between

• 12-gauge galvanized wire

• Blackberry – wires 2, 4, and 6 ft. high

•Crossarm if desired

• Raspberry – wires variable, top wire 4.5 ft.

•3 or 4 wires, crossarm

•Moveable wires optional

Raspberry Trellis Examples

Trellis in Oregon

Installing New Raspberry Beds Jan. 2013

Blueberries

• Delicious, very healthy

• In high demand for antioxidant content

• Easy to grow

• Small plant, low maintenance

•Many varieties for extended ripening

•Mid-May through June or (higher

elevations) July

• “Southern & northern highbush” types

Southern – lower chill requirement

• Self-pollenized, greater set w/ pollenizer

• Spacing 3-5 ft. apart; grow to 4-8 ft. tall

• Best varieties (?): ‘Reveille’, ‘Misty’,

‘Sunshine Blue’, ‘Bluecrop’, ‘Southmoon’

• Grow best in low-pH soil (4.5-5.5)

• Acidify soil with soil sulfur before planting

• Soil should be 20-40% org. matter

Blueberries

Blueberry Plantings

Young Blueberries in Kern County

Blueberry Heath Family (Ericaceae)

(Manzanita too)

Planting at FOHC, 2007

Soil for Blueberries

•Good drainage essential

• Blueberry roots need air

• Compaction, hardpan, shallow soil

make for poor growth and production

• If clay loam to clay soil

– Use berms or raised beds

Fertilizing Blueberries

• Very sensitive to overfertilization with N

• Desirable growth = 10-12” on a

2-year-old cane

• Synthetic: N or balanced fertilizer

– Ammonium sulfate is acidic

• Organic: Pelleted manure, feather meal,

Blueberries in Containers

Excellent choice for

containers

Adequate watering is critical

Problem: Soil level

eventually goes down due to

high org. matter

Dwarf varieties available

e.g., Sunshine Blue

•1/3 pathway bark (1/4 inch)

•1/3 peat moss (coarse, if you can find it)

•1/3 leaf mold or forest humus-based

potting soil

•Mix together and add 2 Tbsp. soil sulfur

•NOTE: Org. matter will break down so

soil level will go down.

Soil Mix for Containers Dave Wilson Nursery

pH Sand Loam Clay

5.0 0.5 1.5 2.3

5.5 1.0 3.0 4.5

6.0 1.4 4.3 6.5

6.5 1.8 5.6 8.4

7.0 2.5 7.5 11.3

Soil Sulfur Needed to Achieve pH 4.5 (tsp./cu. ft. of soil mix)

pH Sand Loam Clay

5.0 4 12 18

5.5 8 24 37

6.0 12 35 53

6.5 15 46 70

7.0 19 59 88

Soil Sulfur Needed to Achieve pH 4.5 (lbs./1,000 sq. ft.)

Citrus Thrips Damage

Leaf deformation

Shoot stunting

Reduced growth & yield

Thrips

Flower thrips damage rare

»Halo spots on fruit

Citrus thrips – leaf deformation

Control: forceful stream of water

»Late spring, summer

Growing Grapes

in the Home Garden

A Few Good Grape Varieties

Table grape varieties

»Thompson Seedless, Flame Seedless,

Black Monukka, Fantasy Seedless,

Perlette, Diamond Muscat

Red wine varieties

»Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot,

Pinot Noir

White wine varieties

»Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris

Grape Bud

Grape Shoot

Grape Flower

Growing Grapes from Cuttings

• Take cutting from dormant vine, ½ in. dia.

• Cut to 18 in. long

• Cut off all buds but the upper 2

• Stick in loose soil, upper 2 buds exposed

• Plant 2 per hole, remove weaker one

Grapevine Pruning

Grapevine Terms

• Head – upper portion of trunk

• Cordon – permanent branch on wire

• Shoot – current season’s growth

• Cane – mature, woody shoot

• Spur – 2-bud section of cane for fruiting

• Arm – old growth of years of spurs

• Tendril – twining organ used for support

Head Training, Cane Pruning

Head Training / Cane Pruning

• Used for varieties that produce no fruit

from lower buds (e.g., Thomp. Seedless)

• 4-6 canes per vine, 10-14 buds long

•Wrap or tie canes along wire

• Leave 1½ spurs per cane to produce

replacement canes

Bilateral Cordon, Spur Pruning

Cordon Training, Spur Pruning

•Majority of varieties

• Trunk divides into 2 or 4 cordons

• Create 5-8 spurs per side (~6 in. apart)

• Remove weak canes or make 1-bud spur

• Select lowest of the 2 canes for the spur

Arbor Pruning

Arbor Pruning

Grape Growing Terms Increasing Fruit Size & Quality

• Cluster thinning – removal of clusters

• Berry thinning – removal of lower portion of clusters

•Girdling – removal of ring of bark

• Gibberellic acid – spray used to increase fruit size (commercial use only)

• Shoot thinning – removal of unwanted shoots to open canopy

• Leaf removal – around cluster, air circ.

Thompson Seedless

Raisin grape:

No berry thinning

Table grape:

Berry thinned

Trunk Girdling to Increase Berry Size

• Disrupts downward movement of sugars

• Increase in weight about 50% (seedless)

• Increase in weight about 5-10% (seeded)

• Done at fruit set, 10-14 days after full

bloom (about mid to late May)

• Remove strip of bark ~¼ in. wide

• Cut all the way around trunk or cordon

Trunk Girdling

Callused over after 2 months

Grapevine Problems and Pest Management

Powdery Mildew

Yellow blotches

early on

Strands of spores

on berries

Brown blotches in

fall/winter

Powdery Mildew

Powdery Mildew Characteristics

• Fungus – Does not require moisture

• Limiting factor in growing European grapes; American varieties resistant (Concord, etc.)

• Growth is minimal below 70 F and above 92 F

• Spring conditions required for growth:

70 F for 6 hrs., 3 days in a row

Powdery Mildew Symptoms

• Initial – Yellowish blotches on leaves

• Later – White powdery fungus on leaves,

fruit

• Fruit – Small, don’t ripen

• Canes – Brown blotches

Powdery Mildew Control

• Plant in full sun

• Thin and trim shoots in late spring

• Thin clusters in May/early June

• Remove leaves around clusters

• Dust or spray with wettable sulfur

•Oil sprays (not with sulfur) • Horticultural oil, neem oil, etc., mixed in water

Powdery Mildew Use of Sulfur or Oil

• Preventive only!

• Spray early season, dust late

• 1st spray: Depends on temps.!

• Bud break to 2 inches of growth

• Then every 7-14 days through June

•Good coverage essential!

Erineum Mite (Aesthetic problem only!)

Erineum Mite

• Large, puckered spots on leaves

• Felty white underneath early, brown

later

•Aesthetic problem; not harmful to plant

•Sulfur applications for powdery mildew

control it

•Soap sprays in spring

Questions?