1. Berries to Brambles
Dale Hildebrandt
Master Gardener
Certified Arborist

2. Sage says:
“There is
nothing like
raspberries
in the
morning !!”

3. • Imagine, strolling out your back door,
basket in one hand and a cup of tea in
the other. You pick tasty, ripe
raspberries. We also enjoy the beautiful
spring flowers and wonderful summer
shade from our trees.
• How do we do this ???

4. Choices
• What type of berries (soft fruit) do you
want go grow?
Blackberries, raspberries, strawberries,
grapes, currants, or gooseberries
Hybrid bramble fruits – loganberries and
boysenberries
Unusual fruit (simply impossible & too
expensive to transport) mulberries
Prickly pears

5. Planning
• Growing berries, and grapes requires
more attention and research than
growing a vegetable or flower garden.
• So what do I need to consider???
Site requirements
Growth habits and form
Cold hardiness
Heat zone requirements

6. Planning
Spacing
Irrigation
Fertilization
Pruning practices
Pollination
Diseases …I did not know we have that
here!!!
Pest control . . . Those pesky fruit eaters.
Protection . . . Security systems, etc.
Harvesting
Storage – now what

7. So Have You Done Your Homework?
• Let’s see what we are really talking
about.
Site requirements –
• Soil
Inorganic minerals, and organics / humus.
Pore space (water to air ratio).
Texture – looking for a medium aggregate.
pH of 5.6 – 7.0 for small fruit (berries and grapes)
and pH of 6.0 – 7.0 for pome and stone fruit.
Water holding capacity – needs to be moderate to
high.
Adequate microbial activity.
Adequate nutritional level.

8. More Homework
• Growth habits.
Roots (must have).
Flowers (must have).
Fruits (depends on Mother Nature).
• Form.
Upright
Trailing
Single leader
Multi-trunked
• Cold Hardy.
Tolerance of a plant to the expected cold
temperature in an area.
Ability to survive (or the application of long
underwear).

9. More Homework
• Heat zone requirements.
How a plant performs in the summer heat in a
particular geographic area / microclimate (what type
of sunscreen is required?? SPF 15 or SPF 40).
Twelve zones which are defined by the average
number of days above 86 Fahrenheit for the growing
season
Latitude – longitude – altitude – attitude

10. Berries
• Selection of fruit production season.
Strawberries.
• Day-neutrals (DN’s).
Crop is almost continual from July to the first frost
in the fall.
Produce very few runners.
• Everbearers (EB’s).
Two crops per year, June – July and fall.
Produce a few runners.
• June-bearers (JB’s).
Produce one crop per year, June – July.
Produce many runners.

11. More Berries
Raspberries.
• Summer-bearing (everbearing).
Biennial canes. First year’s growth (primocane) bears
no fruit. Berries will be produced on the following
year’s growth.
• Fall-bearing
Fruit on the top of the cane in the first year.
Production is in the late summer or fall.
Fruit in the second year will be on the remaining
portion of the cane (floricane).

12. Berry Selections
Currants.
• Red, white and . . . black.
• No other silly details to confuse you . . . yet.
Gooseberries.
• Green, red and pink.
• No pesky details here either . . . yet.
Grapes.
• American, European and hybrid.
• Relax, no details here . . . yet.

13. Bodacious Berries
• Variety
Strawberries.
• DN’s
Fern, tribute and tristar.
• EB’s
Ozark beauty, and quinalt.
• JB’s
Hood.
Raspberries.
• Summer-bearing.
Cuthbert, Latham, Newburgh and Willamette.

14. Bodacious, Beautiful Berries
• Everbearing.
Heritage, Indian summer, Ranere, and Delaware.
Grapes
• American.
Concord
• European.
Interlaken
Himrod (not nimrod).
• Hybrid.
Verdelet
• So are you overwhelmed yet ????

15. Grapes
• Yes, they do grow in Nevada.
• Grape plant growth.
Grapevines are easy to grow . . . but . . . You
need to give the vines good care so that
high-quality fruit is produced.
The most difficult aspect of grape
production is pruning and training to
achieve a good yield of high-quality fruit.

16. Grape-ology (Terms)
• Trunk.
Permanent, aboveground stem of the vine.
• Arms (the arm bone’s connected to the trunk bone).
 Wood that’s two or more years old; short
branches of the trunk from which canes or
spurs develop.
• Cordon.
A long arm, usually trained along a
wire, from which canes or spurs develop.

17. Grape Pictures
• The foundation
of a grape
plant is it’s
trunk.

18. More Grape-ology
• Cane (used by MG’s after long days in the garden).
A mature shoot after leaf fall.
• Spur (what Wendy uses on us when we misbehave).
A cane pruned back to one, two or three
buds.
• Shoot (what we want to do to those garden pests).
New green growth with leaves, tendrils, and
often flower clusters, developing from a
bud of a cane or spur.
• Lateral
A branch of a shoot.

19. Pictures Help
• A picture makes all
this wonderful grape-
ology make sense 

20. The Last of Grape-ology
• Sucker (doesn’t include bubble gum in the center).
Also called a “water sprout;” a shoot
growing from old wood, often the trunk
base, rather than from shoots or canes.
• Node.
Thickened portion of the shoot where the
leaf and lateral bud are located.
• Internode.
Portion of the shoot or cane between two
nodes.

21. Grape Cuttings
• Old cane cuts
required to make
cuttings.
Cuttings, 3 buds
long showing basal
and top ends.
• Proper way to set
cutting in a
propagation bed.

22. Training the first year.
Short parallel lines show the pruning cuts

23. • Cane pruning, first
winter.
• Cane pruning, 2nd.
Growing season.
Note the pruning
cuts.

24. • Cane pruning, 2nd
winter.
Note the pruning cuts
• Cane pruning, 3rd
season.

25. • Cane pruning, 3rd winter
before pruning.
Black canes will be
retained for next
season’s fruiting wood.
• Cane
pruning, 3rd
winter after
pruning.

26. • Cane pruning, 4th
winter before pruning
Black canes will be
retained for next
season’s fruiting wood.
• Cane pruning,
4th winter after
pruning.

27. Pruning – Basic Considerations
• Before training or pruning a plant, visualize the
results of the action.
Once a branch is pruned out or removed, it cannot
be replaced.
• Train as much as possible and remove as little
as possible.
Bending and tying shoots instead of cutting them
out. Use sharp pruning tools to make clean cuts.
• Discard or compost pruned out shoots and
branches.
These plant parts will serve as dwelling sites for
insects and diseases and should be removed from
the area to reduce pest populations.

28. Basic Considerations
• Different types of fruit and their
cultivars differ significantly in growth
habits and therefore require different
approaches in training and pruning to
achieve optimal fruit production and
quality.
• THAT MEANS MORE HOMEWORK !!!

29. Pruning and training
Gooseberry, currant and blueberry bushes
Grow without support
.
Raspberries, blackberries & hybrid
bramble fruit will need training and tying.
Standard gooseberries and red currants
require staking.

30. Basic Considerations
• A few general guidelines.
Immediately Removal any growth that is
DEAD, DAMAGED or DISEASED
sometimes known as “the three D”
Thin out crowed and congested areas so
that light can get in and air can circulate.
Tie up or cut back and growth that is
hanging too low or touching the ground.

31. After Harvesting raspberries,
blackberries, and hybrid bramble fruit, cut
out the canes that have fruited, as they
won’t fruit again.
Each winter, remove a few of the older
stems from the established blueberry,
gooseberries and current bushes. This will
make way for new growth.
.
Prune sideshoots on gooseberries, red
current and white currents in both winter
and summer to encourage them to produce
lots of fruit spurs. But don’t do this with
black currents, they fruit differently.

32. Routinely remove strawberry runners, using
the to propagate new plants if required.
Nets are the only guaranteed protection,
and a specially constructed, walk-in fruit
cage is the ultimate defense.

33. Routine Care
Watering - Water regularly, once to twice
a week in a dry summer especially when the
berries are beginning to fatten up. Try to
avoid splashing the canes or you may spread
fungal infections.
Feeding - Raspberries are hungry plants
and do need feeding. In spring, topdress
the soil around the plants with a general,
blended fertilizer to boost levels of
nitrogen, phosphate and potash.

34. Care continued
Mulching – After feeding, water the soil.
The spread a 2-3 inch thick mulch of well
composted material around the plants,
without letting it touch the canes
themselves.
Netting – Summer-bearing raspberries
need nets to keep off birds. Fall-bearing
varieties seem to generate less interest
and can be grown without netting.

35. Frost protection
Raspberries flower later in the year than
most other soft fruits and are less
susceptible to frost damage.
Pick raspberries when it’s dry – although, if
it’s wet, EAT AND ENJOY in the garden.
Slightly underripe berries are better for
cooking & freezing

36. Ok – I am overwhelmed
The best way to not to be overwhelmed is
used the resources that are available to
you!
Do your homework!!!
Use Cooperative Extension information
sheets that are University based and area
specific.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK
ASK QUESTIONS
THANKS FOR COMING