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Trees and Vines 
Proven Berry Plants i / KNOTT’S BERRY PLACE 
Brief Cultural Directions 
(Taken from Experience) 
Irrigation —No set rules can be laid 
down which will hold good in all cases 
because of the difference in climate and 
soil in the various sections. We irrigate 
about once each week during the picking 
season and about once in three or four 
weeks during the balance of the year, 
except in the rainy season. Some soils 
will require water more often than this, 
especially for strawberries, while others 
may need it less often. Give them a 
thorough irrigation when you do irri¬ 
gate. The one main consideration is to 
keep your plants growing thrifty 
through the entire summer. We have to 
get a large vine growth in order to be able 
to get a heavy crop, so if it takes more 
water to get a vigorous vine growth, use 
it. Water well at the end of the pick¬ 
ing season and again immediately after 
pruning, which should be done just as 
soon as the crop is picked. This gives 
the vines a good thrifty start at a time 
in the summer when they will grow very 
fast. 
PRUNING—Macatawa, Crandall, Ad¬ 
vance and other bush type blackberries 
require no pruning the first summer. 
They grow pretty much on the ground 
the first season, but stand in bushes 
after the first year. The following spring 
after the plants are set, new, stiff, up¬ 
right canes come up through the plants, 
and these should be headed back to the 
height it is desired to have the bushes, 
just before commencing to pick. This 
gets them out of the picker’s way and 
makes the framework for next year’s 
bush. Then when the crop is all picked 
all the old wood that has borne berries 
should be cut out at once. 
Dewberries (and Advance blackberries 
if trellised) should bo left on the ground 
the first season until July or August, 
when they are put up on low trellis. No 
pruning is required until the berries 
start ripening, when all the new wood 
is cut off to facilitate picking. As soon 
as the crop is off, the whole vine is cut 
off level with the ground with a hoe; no 
other pruning being needed. 
loganberries and Mammoth Black¬ 
berries require a high trellis (about 4 
feet). They are grown on the ground 
the first season until they are long 
enough to go up on the trellis. No 
pruning is usually necessary until the 
crop is picked, when all the old wood 
that has borne berries is cut from the 
trellis and off at the top of the ground. 
The new wood which has grown during 
the spring is trained parallel with the 
rows under the trellis and is put up on 
the wires when che old wood is cut off. 
In some sections the new canes of the 
Logan and the Mammoth are left on the 
ground until February and put on the 
trellis then to prevent sunburning. 
Youngberries — Youngberries can be 
pruned as described above for Logan¬ 
berries or they can be pruned as dew¬ 
berries. In Southern California, and 
elsewhere where the growing season is 
long, the best and most economical way 
of handling the Youngberry is as fol¬ 
lows: The first summer leave all the 
vines on the ground and keep the long 
runners pushed back in line with the 
row. Leave these vines on the ground 
until in the spring just when the buds 
are just beginning to start opening, and 
then put them up on the trellis, which 
should have been prepared any time 
during the past winter. If they have 
been well cared for the previous sum¬ 
mer the growth will be very heavy at 
this time and the long canes should be 
headed back several feet and the surplus 
smaller canes can be cut out altogether. 
All that should be kept is enough wood 
to cover the trellis nicely. 
Then, when the berries start ripening, 
if the new growth is in the way, go 
through and clip out any that is in the 
way. Immediately after the crop is 
picked take a brush scythe or sharp hoe 
and chop the whole vine off just above 
the ground. Cultivate and water well 
and if the soil needs it, fertilize, and 
you will grow a fine vine for the follow¬ 
ing year, which is handled exactly as 
during the first season. The important 
items to remember in handling Young¬ 
berries by this plan are to cut the vines 
down immediately after finishing pick¬ 
ing and to use plenty of water through¬ 
out the balance of the summer to grow 
heavy vines for the following season. 
Youngberries handled in this way are 
easier and cheaper to grow than almost 
any other berry and will yield wonder¬ 
ful crops. 
Raspberries. Red raspberries should 
be cut back to within three or four 
inches of the ground when set out. Then 
in the spring when the new canes reach 
a height of about twelve inches, pinch 
or cut them back to about eight inches. 
This will make them branch and send up 
more and better canes. On some varie¬ 
ties (California Surprise for one), this 
is very important; and they should be 
cut early, while still short, not over fif¬ 
teen inches. As these canes grow out 
they should be held upright by a wire 
on each side of the row fastened to 
short cross arms on stakes. 
Then about February the canes should 
be headed back; on an average about 
one-third being cut off; some prune off 
much more. After the crop is picked, 
cut out all the wood that has produced 
berries clear to the ground. 
In the spring, before starting to pick, 
the new canes can be cut back to within 
one foot from the ground. This will 
get them out of the way of the picking 
and make them branch for the following 
crop. Keep the sprouts that come up in 
and between the rows hoed out while 
small. 
Black Raspberries need no pruning the 
first summer, but should be held up with 
a low wire trellis. Ordinarily two wires 
one foot apart and two feet high is 
about right. The canes may grow 8 or 
10 feet long the first summer and should 
be headed back, while dormant, on an 
average about one-third their length. 
When the crop is picked the old wood is 
all cut out to the ground and the new 
handled as before, or if you prefer 
bushes, the new canes can be headed 
back a little when they reach three feet 
high. This will make the canes stand 
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