Rusty_Hinge writes
The message
from K contains these words:

The suggestion is that you train last year's growth into a fan shape,
and tie in all this year's shoots vertically.

Vertically? Vertically! Any bramble worth the name will be scraping the
sky if grown vertically!

Even in the first year up to fruit picking time? I grow the various
hybrids, and would expect about 8 ft.

Train them horizontally, and if you want new plants, bend the tips to
touch ground, where they will root.

If not, don't let the canes touch the ground.

then the autumn pruning is
simple - cut all the fan shoots at the base, untie the vertical bundle
and spread them out into a fan.

Remove wood which has fruited.

Isn't that what I said? Cut out at the base all the ones which have been
trained into the fan, which are the ones which are in their second year
and have borne fruit.

If you let last year's and this year's shoots mix in with each other,
untangling them all for pruning in the autumn is a real pain, especially
when you get to the stage of each shoot being 10 ft or so.

No problems, providing you only take short lengths - easier to feed into
the incinerator or on the bonfire thus.

It's a problem! I've done it. Taking short lengths doesn't help because
you keep having to push your hand through the tangle to get at the next
short length. Much easier to keep first and second year growth separate.


--
Kay

The message
from K contains these words:
Rusty_Hinge writes
The message
from K contains these words:
The suggestion is that you train last year's growth into a fan shape,
and tie in all this year's shoots vertically.

Vertically? Vertically! Any bramble worth the name will be scraping the
sky if grown vertically!

Even in the first year up to fruit picking time? I grow the various
hybrids, and would expect about 8 ft.

I'm not going out now to measure mine (Oo-er!) but I'd estimate fifteen
to eighteen feet - and those were terminated before *THEY* had
intended...

Train them horizontally, and if you want new plants, bend the tips to
touch ground, where they will root.

If not, don't let the canes touch the ground.

then the autumn pruning is
simple - cut all the fan shoots at the base, untie the vertical bundle
and spread them out into a fan.

Remove wood which has fruited.

Isn't that what I said? Cut out at the base all the ones which have been
trained into the fan, which are the ones which are in their second year
and have borne fruit.

Aye, but read on...

If you let last year's and this year's shoots mix in with each other,
untangling them all for pruning in the autumn is a real pain, especially
when you get to the stage of each shoot being 10 ft or so.

No problems, providing you only take short lengths - easier to feed into
the incinerator or on the bonfire thus.

It's a problem! I've done it. Taking short lengths doesn't help because
you keep having to push your hand through the tangle to get at the next
short length. Much easier to keep first and second year growth separate.

I've done it too, and it's a doddle - and mine have somewhat vicious claws.

I can't post pics on my wibble ATM as Zetnet's usersites are being
'migrated' and I can't upload anything until the beginning of May...

Not a happy bunny.


--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

Rusty_Hinge writes
The message
from K contains these words:
Rusty_Hinge writes
The message
from K contains these words:
The suggestion is that you train last year's growth into a fan shape,
and tie in all this year's shoots vertically.

Vertically? Vertically! Any bramble worth the name will be scraping the
sky if grown vertically!

Even in the first year up to fruit picking time? I grow the various
hybrids, and would expect about 8 ft.

I'm not going out now to measure mine (Oo-er!) but I'd estimate fifteen
to eighteen feet - and those were terminated before *THEY* had
intended...

I'd expect that eventually but not in the first summer, certainly not
from shoots that maybe only started in may or june.


If you let last year's and this year's shoots mix in with each other,
untangling them all for pruning in the autumn is a real pain, especially
when you get to the stage of each shoot being 10 ft or so.

No problems, providing you only take short lengths - easier to feed into
the incinerator or on the bonfire thus.

It's a problem! I've done it. Taking short lengths doesn't help because
you keep having to push your hand through the tangle to get at the next
short length. Much easier to keep first and second year growth separate.

I've done it too, and it's a doddle - and mine have somewhat vicious claws.

Maybe the difference is that I am allergic to the sap, so too much
touching of the plants while sorting them out is a problem for me. I
used to
start by cutting the base of fruited shoots and working up about a yard
at a time, but that meant I kept having to reach through new canes. Then
I'd cut the strings holding the new canes and try to rearrange them in a
tidy sort of fashion.

I's much easier now I keep the two sets separated.

The other problem might be that mine are a bit too close together (I've
only got a small garden). so they're not trained in a straight line,
they're coiled around in a 6ft dia circle, as many times as is needed.
All adds to the tangling.
--
Kay

The message
from Rusty_Hinge contains these words:

/prune/

Even in the first year up to fruit picking time? I grow the various
hybrids, and would expect about 8 ft.

I'm not going out now to measure mine (Oo-er!) but I'd estimate fifteen
to eighteen feet - and those were terminated before *THEY* had
intended...

/Prune/

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/...fruity_001.jpg - rather more
than 8 feet, I'd have said...

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

Rusty_Hinge writes
The message
from Rusty_Hinge contains these words:

/prune/

Even in the first year up to fruit picking time? I grow the various
hybrids, and would expect about 8 ft.

I'm not going out now to measure mine (Oo-er!) but I'd estimate fifteen
to eighteen feet - and those were terminated before *THEY* had
intended...

/Prune/

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/...fruity_001.jpg - rather more
than 8 feet, I'd have said...

How old are the shoots in question?
--
Kay

The message
from K contains these words:
Rusty_Hinge writes
The message
from Rusty_Hinge contains these words:

/prune/

Even in the first year up to fruit picking time? I grow the various
hybrids, and would expect about 8 ft.

I'm not going out now to measure mine (Oo-er!) but I'd estimate fifteen
to eighteen feet - and those were terminated before *THEY* had
intended...

/Prune/

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/...fruity_001.jpg - rather more
than 8 feet, I'd have said...

How old are the shoots in question?

Judging by blowing-up the pic, the one disappearing off the right of the
pic will be about one year old - no flowers or fruit visible, so I guess
the pic was taken in the spring - April, probably, as there are flowers
coming on now.

I shall be taking one as far as it will go, this year - one of the
shoots is around two-foot six inches high ATM, and well over an inch
thick at the base.

The website is currently unavailable as all Zetnet's websites are being
'migrated' (I tried to open it today, and it wouldn't...). 5th May is
supposed to be the unveiling day.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

Rusty_Hinge writes
The message
from K contains these words:
Rusty_Hinge writes
The message
from Rusty_Hinge contains these words:

/prune/

Even in the first year up to fruit picking time? I grow the various
hybrids, and would expect about 8 ft.

I'm not going out now to measure mine (Oo-er!) but I'd estimate fifteen
to eighteen feet - and those were terminated before *THEY* had
intended...

/Prune/

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/...fruity_001.jpg - rather more
than 8 feet, I'd have said...

How old are the shoots in question?

Judging by blowing-up the pic, the one disappearing off the right of the
pic will be about one year old - no flowers or fruit visible, so I guess
the pic was taken in the spring - April, probably, as there are flowers
coming on now.

I don't think that's particularly different to what I was saying -
basically shoots appearing in the spring (for me, that's about now) are
about 8 ft by September when I'm cutting out fruited canes and tying in
the new ones - but by next spring they'll be about double that. So, yes,
it's perfectly feasible to tie in vertically because they're only half
grown when the time comes to loosen and tie in a fan shape for next
year's fruits.
--
Kay

The message
from K contains these words:

I don't think that's particularly different to what I was saying -
basically shoots appearing in the spring (for me, that's about now) are
about 8 ft by September when I'm cutting out fruited canes and tying in
the new ones - but by next spring they'll be about double that. So, yes,
it's perfectly feasible to tie in vertically because they're only half
grown when the time comes to loosen and tie in a fan shape for next
year's fruits.

Just walked the walk - I'd expect mine to have reached at least thirty
feet before September.

The one departing off the right of the picture was pruned - and it was
around ½" in diameter at the cut...

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

Rusty_Hinge writes
The message
from K contains these words:

I don't think that's particularly different to what I was saying -
basically shoots appearing in the spring (for me, that's about now) are
about 8 ft by September when I'm cutting out fruited canes and tying in
the new ones - but by next spring they'll be about double that. So, yes,
it's perfectly feasible to tie in vertically because they're only half
grown when the time comes to loosen and tie in a fan shape for next
year's fruits.

Just walked the walk - I'd expect mine to have reached at least thirty
feet before September.

You're saying yours are growing 30ft in 6 months?

The one departing off the right of the picture was pruned - and it was
around ½" in diameter at the cut...


--
Kay

The message
from K contains these words:

Just walked the walk - I'd expect mine to have reached at least thirty
feet before September.

You're saying yours are growing 30ft in 6 months?

Look at the pic? (Assuming Zetnet's new owners have got their act together)

It doesn't grow lengthwise in the second year.

Mind you, it is a *VERY* vigorous triffi^h^h^h^bramble, and I always
water it a lot.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

Rusty_Hinge writes
The message
from K contains these words:

Just walked the walk - I'd expect mine to have reached at least thirty
feet before September.

You're saying yours are growing 30ft in 6 months?

Look at the pic? (Assuming Zetnet's new owners have got their act together)

If it's growing 5ft a month, then I'm impressed. They don't do that
around here!
--
Kay

The message
from K contains these words:
Rusty_Hinge writes
The message
from K contains these words:

Just walked the walk - I'd expect mine to have reached at least thirty
feet before September.

You're saying yours are growing 30ft in 6 months?

Look at the pic? (Assuming Zetnet's new owners have got their act together)

If it's growing 5ft a month, then I'm impressed. They don't do that
around here!

Seems about right - you can see the growth day-by-day when the weather
warms up.

--
Rusty
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk

In message , Gordon H
writes
In message , Ragnar
writes

I am fairly sure that Blackberry flowers on the 'old wood', not the current
year's shoots. SO if you were pruning back the vigorous growth last year
that could explain why you have no flowers this year. Only prune stems that
have borne fruit, and then take them right back to ground level.
R.

That's correct, they definitely fruit on last years growth.
I used to train each new stem separately across the fence behind them
as they grew, and cut out last years' after fruiting.
Otherwise it's a tangle to get at the fruit next year.

Do they call it Spandeling or something like that? g

I mitre bin thinking of "Espalier". :-)
--
Gordon H
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