ELEMENTS OF BLACKBERRY GROWING TECHNOLOGY IN CONDITIONS OF OREL REGION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30850/vrsn/2018/4/31-34Keywords:
blackberries, winter hardiness, winter shelter, Agrotex, growing technology, TUR retardant, trellisAbstract
Simple technological methods have been developed for growing low-winter-hardy blackberries in conditions of the central zone of Russia with the use of winter shelter and TUR retardant. The morphological diversity of blackberry cultivars creates certain difficulties in ensuring protection from winter frosts, especially in erected and semi-erected cultivars, since most gardeners consider it necessary to bend the shoots for the winter to the ground, which limits the choice of varieties and makes it problematic to use them in the Central Chernozem Zone. The studies were carried out with the use of the standard methodology of variety investigation. The experiments demonstrated that the successful overwintering of the most blackberry cultivars in conditions of the Orel region was possible without bending the shoots to the ground under the light shelter. In winters in 2014…2017 (with minimal temperatures -26?C and -29?C in January and -31?C in February) the covering of blackberries with Agrotex synthetic material with a density of 60 g /m2 in one layer, together with the 1,3-1,5 m trellis, ensured good safety of shoots and generative buds of most erect, trailing and semi-erect cultivars and genotypes. The temperature under the shelter was 4…5?C higher than outside. However, the standard width of the material (3.2 m) was not always sufficient for plants with elastic erect and semi-erect canes, which should be taken into account when forming plants. The triple treatment of representatives of the main morphological groups of blackberries with 0.1% solution of the retardant in the period of intensive growth at the beginning of vegetation significantly increased the winter hardiness of plants with trailing canes and prolonged growth. The impact of the retardant least affected the winter hardiness of the variety with erect canes and restrained growth. In the variant without shelter the retardant at applied concentration did not improve the winter hardiness of the plants.
