Sobering update. I posted about a month ago that I was stepping my foot into the world of Berries. Unfortunately it has been an incomplete failure.
The first picture is the area I was planning on turning into a bramble. It's hard to tell, but there are 5 small sticks in the ground spaced about 3 feet apart with labels in front of them. I had 5 varieties of root stock that I got from Home Depot.
I followed the label directions to soak the roots for 30-60 minutes before planting at the same height they were packaged in. Each root showed signs of life, all 5 had at least a few leaves and seemed healthy for the most part. after soaking, I noticed the roots of all 5 were very small and short (when I look up bare roots online what I see is much larger and vigorous looking than what I was working with). I planted each about 3 feet apart with a small scoop of worm castings as well as a small scoop of basic fruit/veg fertilizer. The plants were watered thoroughly with their soaking water as well as my hose at planting. The next day I trimmed all 5 to 6" from the surface (as directed) and spent the next month giving them a deep water every week, but otherwise leaving them be while I tended to the rest of my garden.
The last month has been fairly mild in my area. Lows never dropped below 60° and highs never got above 85°. I expected at least a few leaves by now. I did a scratch on the stems yesterday, and 4 of the 5 have no green and the stems are brittle. I snapped a half inch off each one with little effort. 1 showed some green and would not snap off, but has no other positive signs. No leaves, no buds, nothing. I feel terrible.
My plan was to use pavers to create a bed for the bramble with irrigation and mulch with coconut husk before the weather gets too hot. The varieties I planted were (in order) Red Amity, Jewel, Latham Red, Brandywine (the sole survivor, so far) and Royal purple. I knew it was going to be a long journey before I saw any fruit from this project, but I was still excited about it. I'm researching other berries for other areas of my backyard (Mulberry tree, blackberries, blueberries, and kiwi berries) but this was a gut punch to my enthusiasm.
by lord_snow_1983
3 Comments
They need a lot of sun and water. Looks way too shady.
On a positive note, whatever you have planted in that raised bed looks fantastic and healthy
You didn’t mention where you are or your soil type or climate but watering once a week on the bare root is not enough generally.
On bare root planting all water every day once it’s not raining. Most likely they just dried out and didn’t make it.