Clara writes: My blackberry plants were fruiting last summer when you recommended pruning so I didn’t but they need cutting back this spring. Do they fruit on old or new wood.?
A. This little lesson may teach you the rules of good blackberry production the hard way. Most likely your plants are full of thorny stems that if you dare to do some pruning now it could end up being a sticky mess. Blackberry fruit on the previous season’s growth so that means they are going to bear on the growth made mainly after fruiting last summer. Here is a suggestion – do little if any pruning now and bundle up to avoid the thorns when harvesting this season’s crop. Then no matter when it occurs cut the plants down to the ground after the harvest is over. New shoots quickly sprout from buds near the ground to grow the stems that are going to flower and fruit next year. Q. Joanna writes: I am having a problem with a black soot on the leaves on the leaves of a tangelo and a couple of crape myrtles in the yard. What can I do to stop the soot and also get the tangelo to bear fruit? A. That black stuff, known as sooty mold, is a fungus growing on the excreta of insects. Aphid, whitef
Related Questions
- Clara writes: My blackberry plants were fruiting last summer when you recommended pruning so I didn’t but they need cutting back this spring. Do they fruit on old or new wood.?
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