HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
Among the Orchards of the Northwest
A Page of Interesting Advice and Information About Fruits, Large and Small.
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To get best results from berry
fields it is necessary to train
tho plants to some sort of trellis
for the support of the canes.
The kind of troll i 3 to use and
the mothod of training depend
upon the kind of berries and
their habit of growth. Bed rasp
berries and high-bush black
berries whose habit of growth is
0 . upright are usually trained on a
different sort of trellis from
trailers such 'as Loganberries
and Evergreen blackberries.
Mr. Stahl, the writer of this
article, is horticulturist' at the
Washington State Experiment
Station.
3
BY J. L. STAHL.
THERE are several methods or sys
tems of training red raspberries,
now in use, some of which are ex
cellent while others are not so desirable.
System A. Many berry growers use
& trellis made or two JNo. 11 wires
strung horizontally on cross pieces made
of 2x4 8. The cross pieces are usually
12 to 16 inches in length and nailed to
upright posts at a height of about four
and a half feet. Seven-foot posts are
used and set about two feet in the
ground and thirty to forty feet apart.
The canes are kept between the wiros
and out of the way during cultivation,
but the old and new canes are not sepa
rated. With this system of training the
new canes are often in the way during
harvesting and are sometimes badly in
jured by the pickers.
System B. Another method of train
ing usus a double trellis having two
eross pieces and four wires. One pair
of these wires are placed at a height
of two feet, and the other pair . at a
height of four and half feet from the
ground. With this system the old or
bearing canes are bent over and held
firm by weaving them to the wires on
one side and the new shoots are allowed
to grow upright between the pairs of
wires and out of the way of the bearing
canes. The posts and cross pieces of
the trellis are very similar to those of
the preceding system. Growers using
this method of training are very much
pleased with it and claim the fruit is
easily picked and the new canes very
Beidom disturbed or injured at harvest
. time.
System C. Some growers instead of
having either a single or double trellis
of horizontal wires and cross pieces
have but one wire from post to post on
-which the bearing canes are fastened.
It is usually stretched between four and
five feet in height.. The canes are some
times woven to the wire but quite often
are bent over and tied. The new canes
are allowed to grow erect and shortly
before harvest time they are tied to a
temporary wire.
Old French Method.
Any of the systems so far mentioned
can be used in fields having rows set
seven feet apart.
System D. A plan of training very
much like the old French method has
been tried by some growers and is be
ing adopted in a number of newly t
fields. The tows are set north and
south, ci'it !ct apart, and trellis
placed about a foot to the taul of each
row. Tho tivllU is made by ustftg eight
foot posts Ion inehes to a foot in
diameter. Tiny are set tbreo fe-t in
the grouud about fifty feot apart. Posta
seven feet iu length may be suiwtiUitod
but they must be set elowr. A wire is
sretcbed from post to post, thrue foot
from the ground, and on tho side of the
posts ut-iirost the plaats. The beariug
canos are drawn over to tlw wire and
sucurely tied with string. On the oppo
site side of aoh post and ton or frwelf
inches higher another wire is stretched.
The bearing ones hung ovvr this wire
but aro not tied td it. As tbs fruit is
developed the caws gradually droop un
til they rest m the upper wiro. Thoy
aro thus supported and can oe easily
pushed to one sido withont injury as
tho fruit in picked. All of the picking is
done from the east side of the row and
the new canes are not disturbed. The
no' or young canes grow erect and are
held in place by stretching a temporary
wire on the west side of them and a few
inches below the lower wire of the
trellis ti which the bearing canes are
tied. Stretching of the temporary wire
may be done any time' after the young
canes are three or four feet in height
and before harvest. With this system
of training the pickers are in the shade
of tho plants most of the day. Cultivat
ing is made no harder than with other
systems and the canes are given every
opportunity for development. : 1 -
System E Given. ; ':v '; . .
System E. A few growers who do not
care for early berries are adopting the
following, system.' Posts are ..set -and
cross pieces attached as in. system A,
but at a height of five feet. The cross
pieces are of one-inch boards six inches
in width and about sixteen inches, in
length. ; ' .' .-. 4 ;
Instead of stapling the wires to the
cross pieces, holes are bored about two
inches from the ends and three inches
from the top of each board. Through
these holes the wires are drawn. - About
two inches above and an inch nearer
each end of the board other boles .are
made for two more wires. '
A notch is made to the. top holes with
a saw so that wiros can be easily pushed
into the holes from the .top of the board.
The top wires are strung loosely until
the canes are in place. The fruiting
canes of each hill aro divided; half are
placed outside of the lower wire on one
side and half the same way on the other
side. The upper wire is then drawn
tight and the canes held securely in
position with no tying.
There is a space of twelve inches be
tween each lower wire in which the
young canes are allowed to develop. Tn
this way the young canes are not in
jured during harvesting and do not in
terfere with the fruiting canes;- Pick
ing is done from both sides of the row;
This svntem makes harvesting easy and
the foliage dries quickly after a rain.
The frniting canes are usually cut back
to a height of six feet, making the
fruiting season a little later than when
some of the other systems of training
are used.
High-Bush Blackberries. ? '
The high-bush blackberry is some
times set in hills six feet apart each
way, but more often the plants are set
in rows seven or eight feot apart and
about three feet apart between indi
vidual plants. The method of trainin?
is vpry similar to System A described
for training red raspberries. When the
fruits are patrially developed, the fruit-1
ing shoots are drawn to the outsido of i
the trellis,' where they 'hang in easy
reach of the pickers, '-''!
System F. "Most of the trailer black-
berries, such as Evergreen, pre mi?-'!
ported by a double trellis quite like tbatf
used, in- System B for Ted raspberries,
but the posts are set closer and crow
pieces of wood or wire connect each
pair of wires. The posts are usually set
sixteen to twenty- four feet apart and
the cross strips on the wires are at
intervals of twenty-four or tbirtv
l-ncW. The lower pair of . wires sup
ports the young canes as they aro de
veloped and the upir trellis bold the
hearing canes. The cross strips or slats
on each pair of wires are usually made
of wood. They are held to the wires
by notches in the wood or by stapling
one end of ths strip to one wire and
driving a Bhingle nail in the other end
in such a manner that it hooks over the
other wire. The strips can thns easirv
be removed when the eanes are cut out
or raised. The eanes are trained sorpn
t.in fashion above and below the cross
strips and held firmly to tnetrellis.
After the bearing eanes have produced
a crop they are eut out and the young
eanes raised in their place.
Loganberries.
System 0. A few growers train tha
young eanes at a height of five feet six
inches and the bearing eanes below at
a height of forty inches. They like this
method better than the preceding one.
With both ByBtems the eanes may all
be trained in the same direction but
usually half of the bearing eanes in
each hill and half of tne yoang eanes
are trained in opposite directions.
Tn general the systems for training
Loganberries are the same aa fox Ever
greens. ,
Some of the growers instead of train
ing the canes on a double trellis have
three wires, one above the other, and
about eighteen or twenty inches apart.
Th bearing canes are curled, snail fash
ion; over one wire and under the next
instead of serpentine fashion above and
below cross strips. The young eanes are
allowed to remain on the ground under
neath the-trellis unt.il the bearing canes
have been removed and then are trained
to take their place."
t With this plan the plants may be set
closer in the rows than with other sys
tems of training.
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tained much of its equipment from the
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