txblackberries.com Blog

Holiday decorations

Administrator — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:15:50 +0000

We recycled last years hay bale for our Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations

we got the whole family involved, our son in from Iraq and his wife , visiting from Alaska

how to decorate

and their finished work

smiling jack-o-lantern

the hay bale lives on as gobbles the turkey

gobbles sees all

A wonderful video of a family picking

Administrator — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:56:43 +0000

Blackberry picking in Silsbee,TX
Thanks to a recent picker we have this great family video picking their blackberries.

Pruning completed

Administrator — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:13:59 +0000

With the major pruning done and our hot summer still on, we are watering heavy. Another chore that needs to be done is tying up this years growth on the trellis and tip pruning. We spend hours over the summer doing this. Tying up the primocanes or this years growth lets us mow easier and allows the canes to grow up stronger. Also we can now spray Round-up to kill the weeds. Cane tip pruning lets the canes produce more branching growth .

Pruning completed

Administrator — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 02:26:47 +0000

Wow , the hot weather makes removing floricanes an hot job even hotter and it seems to last forever

waiting to be pruned

prune me next

We finally got the floricanes pruned out

pruned out

The canes get picked up and burned since insects and disease can overwinter on old canes.

pick me up next

pick up aisle two

Farm Maintenance

Administrator — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:19:57 +0000

This hot weather is no time to be adding water lines but some things need to be done.
Using the Earth Saw by Little Beaver of Livingston Texas, trenching takes no time. We are drip watering every 3 days for 7 hours to ensure deep watering. Blackberries need 1 inch per week and in this hot weather 2 inches.
Blackberries first seasons of growth is vegetative cane growth which is called primocane. Over the winter the cold weather changes primocanes into floricanes which produce the fruit. At the end of the season all this old growth floricane must be cut out. Over the next few days we will begin this hot time consuming job.