Blackberry Black Diamond

Black Diamond BlackBerry is cultivated by a large number of gardeners. To get a decent harvest, they select the best planting material, adhere to the planting time and scheme, thus achieving the required result. In this article, you will learn about the features of this variety, its reproduction, diseases and harmful insects that infect the bush, about agricultural practices, about how to collect and store fruits.

A brief excursion into history

Black Diamond variety was developed by American scientists (states of Oregon and Washington, USA). The Black Diamond variety was developed in San Francisco in 1997. The breeders wanted a thornless variety to optimize the automatic machine harvesting process. The name of the blackberry Black Diamond is translated into Russian as "black diamond".

Blackberry Black Diamond: video about the variety

Blackberry is a cone-shaped berry, belongs to the Multicolored family, to the genus Rubus. It is a shrub that grows in forest areas and along the river coasts of the Eurasian and North American continents. Depending on the level of ripeness, the color of the fruit changes from green to brown, then to black. The inner content of the berry is dense, the taste is sweet, sour, the fruit weighs eight to ten grams. A bush of high growth, large size, shoots spread in half. There are some thorns at their base. Flowering and fruiting begins only at 2 years in the 15th of June. The flowers are large, pink in color. The fruits ripen in the 15th of July and the first days of August.

The name "blackberry" comes from the word "hedgehog". Because culture has little needles.

Blackberry Black Diamond: variety description and characteristics

When breeders bred the Black Diamond variety, they wanted it to have certain varietal traits. The variety we are considering is resistant to dry and frosty periods, has a decent yield.

Drought and frost resistant.

Black Diamond variety has good resistance to frost periods, can withstand temperature conditions up to minus twenty-seven to twenty-nine degrees. But in the winter season, it is required to cover the bush with polyethylene, spruce branches, straw or other material that allows oxygen to pass through. In addition, Black Diamond has good tolerance to summer season and droughts, however, the leaves can turn yellow and dry. The berry will receive the required amount of water, a strong root system will help it in this.

Yield indicator, fruiting period.

Fruiting of the Black Diamond blackberry begins on the 15th of July - the first days of August. At the end of the ripening of the fruits, it will be possible to collect them from each shrub in a day all month. For one period, the yield from a bush is thirty-five kg.

Blackberry Black Diamond: planting

Blackberry Black Diamond: photos

Planting the Black Diamond variety is required according to certain rules. To get a decent harvest, you need to choose the right time and site for planting. In addition, a good planting material is selected, it is planted according to the planting pattern.

Optimal time.

You can plant Black Diamond Blackberries in the fall and spring, before the foliage blooms. The most optimal time is the beginning of the first spring month.In the autumn season, planting is carried out before the onset of the first cold snaps. Cuttings are cut to twenty-five cm.

It is necessary to grow blackberry seedlings of the Black Diamond variety on fertile soil (in moderation), loamy or chernozem soil with a moderate acid level (pH five and a half to six and a half) is suitable. Sandy soil needs to be additionally fed with organic matter.

How to choose a site for planting.

The Black Diamond planting site should be well lit, because in the shade, the bushes will not give a decent harvest. Do not place raspberries near brambles to avoid morbidity. In addition, it is advisable to change the landing site every seven years.

Before planting, clear the garden area from weeds, dig it up. Next, pits are prepared for planting, they are dug into the depths fifty cm, the distance between them is about one hundred to one hundred and twenty cm. Five to six kg of humus, potassium sulfate (fifty grams), superphosphate (one hundred grams) are added to each hole.

How to choose and prepare seedlings.

Seedlings with a closed root system are selected as material for planting, the roots must be moistened. Choose bushes from a nursery or a reputable gardener. The seedlings should have two stems and at least one living bud.

How to plant.

Black Diamond is grown in rows, orientation from north to south, a distance of two meters. Do not shorten this interval, as in the future the growth of shrubs will be observed, they will need a lot of space. Walls, fences, buildings that are located on the territory should be located one meter from the bushes.

Blackberry Black Diamond: care

The planting pit is filled with manure and other top dressing, then a seedling is installed in it, dug in with soil and watered. It is advisable to build drip irrigation or irrigate the soil two to three times every seven days. In order not to overmoisten the earth, it is better to regularly loosen it.

In the first year of development of the Black Diamond, it is required to make additional fertilizing and mulch the soil. To increase the yield, organic matter and compost fertilizer are introduced (five kg / square). At the beginning of the ripening of the berries, potash mixtures are introduced.

It is better to cut the bush in the autumn season, or rather, after harvesting the fruits. To accomplish this goal, all shoots are cropped, you only need to leave seven to eight lashes, shortening them by one third. If the bushes are not trimmed, they will grow more slowly, making it harder to pick berries in the future. In the spring season, the procedure is carried out to get rid of frozen and wilted shoots.

Blackberry Black Diamond: harvesting and storing crops

Blackberry Black Diamond: video

Since the Black Diamond bush does not have thorns, it becomes easier to harvest the fruits, but you should not necessarily do it with your hands, because the characteristic varietal characteristics make it possible to use specialized equipment and automotive equipment for this purpose. The fruits have excellent tolerance for long-term transportation, they are stored fresh on the refrigerator shelf for up to ten days.

How to prepare Black Diamond for wintering

Black Diamond variety is highly resistant to frost periods, tolerates temperature conditions up to minus twenty-seven to twenty-nine degrees, but it is better to cover it in winter. You can cover with spruce branches, straw, roofing felt, humus, sawdust, burlap, cardboard, polyethylene, hay, tops.

Blackberry Black Diamond: reproduction

Breeding methods for the Black Diamond variety:

• With the help of apical layers. For this purpose, the upper part of the shoot of the first year is bent to the soil and buried in. After a certain period of time, the plant will take root, then it is transplanted to a new site.
• Division of the bush. The bush is dug up, the roots are divided into parts, planted on a new site, remembering the observance of the interval between rows. Cuttings should be up to six to nine cm long, and up to one cm thick.
• Seed method. Once the seeds have been collected, store them in the refrigerator for up to three days. Further, after moistening in advance, the seeds are placed in the ground, deepened by five to eight mm and stored for thirty days at temperature conditions plus five degrees. In the future, the temperature regime increases to plus twenty degrees, and after the first leaves have appeared, the bushes are thinned out. After strengthening the plants, they are planted in open conditions.
• With the help of root processes. In the spring season, the shoots are separated from the base of the root system of the bush, then they are placed in a solution of the drug "Kornevin", keep them in it for ten hours. The shoots should be ten to fifteen cm long. However, with this method, thorns may appear on the stems.

To propagate the Black Diamond blackberry, the first and second methods are chosen, since they are less energy-consuming, in these cases no special education of the gardener is required, that is, even beginners can handle it.

Diseases and harmful insects

Black Diamond variety is attacked by harmful insects. The pests are listed below.

• Spider mites and raspberry mites. Buds, leaves, fruits are damaged, pests eat up their insides. For preventive purposes, the bushes are sprayed with Karbofos. Also spray the leaves and flowers with insecticidal preparations: "Fufafon", "Aktellik", "Iskra M".
• Stem raspberry gall midge... Although the pest is small in size (one and a half to two mm), it is very harmful to all vegetation. The larvae, which were laid by the females, penetrate the young shoots. Because of this, the stems swell, therefore, the bush grows at a slow pace, and may even die. To prevent the attacks of this insect, do not feed the bushes in large quantities with nitrogen-containing mixtures, because of them the bark exfoliates. In addition, it is required to systematically ventilate the room where the shrub grows and thin out the rows. They will help to cope with the pest "Karbofos", "Calypso", "Karate".
• Stem fly... The body of the pest grows up to six to seven mm. The pest lays the larvae at the root system five to six cm deep.When the soil warms up sufficiently (up to plus twelve to thirteen degrees), the fly turns into a pupa and after eight to nine days into an adult insect, as a rule, this happens on May days, because at this moment, the growth of the shoots of the bush begins. The fly feeds on them, multiplies and affects the bush. To fight the pest, the bush is treated with Karbofos or Actellic preparations.

The most popular diseases of Black Diamond:

• Anthracnose... The reason is that the spacing in the aisle and between the holes is not respected, as a result, the bush grows, and the plant in the neighborhood is affected. Leaves, shoots, fruits are affected, the disease leaves rounded small specks of gray color with a purple border. With the development of the disease, the fruits grow slowly, dry out, and turn brown. To combat anthracnose, spray the stems and foliage with a 3% Bordeaux mixture. The manipulation is repeated a week later, but this time the solution is already 1%.
• Gray rot. Spreads rot, which affects the inflorescences and fruits of Black Diamond. Shoots die off, the disease spreads to flowers and petals. To get rid of rot, use these drugs: Switch, Horus, Teldor.
• White spot. It provokes a disease of rains and a fungus pathogen.Black Diamond bush is covered with specks of pale brown color, three mm across. Over time, the shade changes to a lighter one, and a dark border is also formed. Black dots are observed on the specks, because of this, holes are formed on the leaves, the stems dry out. To get rid of the disease, they use Agrozin, Emmochka, Baikal-M1.

If you read the historical information about the development of the Black Diamond variety, with its characteristics and agrotechnical principles, you are guaranteed to get a decent yield. At the same time, apply modern methods to combat disease and insect pests for a good quality Black Diamond harvest.