Content
- Blackberries - recognize and combat diseases
- Animal pests on the blackberry rods
- Care and fertilizer for the vitality of blackberries
- The most important blackberry diseases and their control
- Tips & Tricks
Blackberries - recognize and combat diseases
In wild blackberries in the forest, it is rarely a serious infestation with diseases. The bred blackberry varieties for the garden, however, sometimes need some help against various pathogens.
Animal pests on the blackberry rods
In addition to the diseases caused by fungi and other pathogens, there are also numerous pests that can cause damage to the leaves and fruits. Among the most well-known pests of blackberry plants is the so-called Brombeergallmilbe. It sucks on the fruits, whereby they no longer fully mature and remain red. The best antidote to the increase of the Brombeergallmilbe and the equally damaging perennial is the cutting of the harvested blackberry strains in autumn and winter. Thus, the clutches and winter hiding places of the pests can be removed with the shoot tips of the old rods.
Care and fertilizer for the vitality of blackberries
Prevention is the best remedy against the occurrence of diseases on the blackberry strains. Thus, the general vitality of the stock should be increased by the blackberry plants are brought with a trellis or other clusters help for blackberries in a not too dense and well ventilated form. In addition, malformations on the leaves, rods and fruits can also be the result of insufficient supply of some nutrients. Fertilization with special potassium-containing berry fertilizers or a biological alternative in the form of animal manure or compost should be administered as many times a year as possible. The regular cutting of the two-year-old rods after the harvest provides the new shoots with enough light and space, but deprives diseases and pests of their livelihoods.
The most important blackberry diseases and their control
Most of the following diseases are rather inadequate to combat and often occur when the stock density is too high:
In Rubustauche the side shoots grow in a compressed and tuft-like shape. The affected blackberry sticks are weakened in their life force and usually die within about five years. The tendril disease, on the other hand, initially causes black and purple spots on the tendrils. Later, black fruiting bodies of this fungus form, which can also lead to a death of the plants in strong severity. In the case of downy mildew, the blackberries dry up before maturity, while powdery mildew, on the other hand, forms a whitish-gray coating on the leaves and tendrils of the blackberry plant. Against powdery mildew can be sprayed with a biological brew from some days in water nettles or horsetails.
Tips & Tricks
Although there are some chemical remedies for blackberry diseases, these usually ruin the fruit's usefulness for at least one year. Some diseases can be contained by a consistent removal of infested plant material and an equalization of the population density.