Rubus phoenicolasius
Japanese wineberry
Common names: Wineberry
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −22 °C
- Pruning
- Aug–Oct
- Harvest
- Jul–Aug
- Spacing
- 200 cm, rows 250 cm
- Water need
- Medium
Photo: Rasbak · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Description
The Japanese wineberry is distinguished by its red-streaked, sticky canes and glossy orange‑red fruit that taste like small raspberries. It is a decorative shrub that climbs well on fences or trellises. In some areas it can become invasive, so give it a limited location.
Care instructions
Plant the blackberry in a sunny to semi‑shaded spot in humus-rich soil and tie the long canes to the trellis. It bears on two‑year‑old wood, prune away spent canes after harvest. Keep the growth in check by removing suckers in the hedge and harvest the sweet berries from July onward.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
HarvestJul–Aug
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
humus-rich, well-drained, loamy, nutrient-rich
Plant the Japanese wineberry in deep, humus-rich and free-draining soil. Loamy-sandy with good water retention is ideal, because the shallow roots tolerate neither drought nor waterlogging. The pH may be neutral to slightly chalky (6.0 to 7.5); strong acidification, as for blueberries, is not wanted. Mulch the area around the shrub so that the roots stay evenly moist in summer.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Mar–Apr
In spring (March/April), work ripe compost shallowly in around the shrub. That is usually enough for this moderately hungry plant. Go easy on nitrogen: too much only drives canes instead of flowers and fruit. In autumn, a thin compost mulch layer helps prepare the plant for winter.
Pruning
Cut out the canes that have fruited close to the ground straight after harvest (from late summer). They have borne fruit and die off, which creates light and air for the young canes. In harsh sites you may put this cut off until early spring (February/March), because the old canes give a little protection in winter.
Overwintering
The Japanese wineberry is hardy and stays outdoors. Established plants need no protection. After harvest, cut the two-year-old canes that have fruited close to the ground and leave this year's shoots standing for the next harvest; cover freshly planted specimens at the base with leaves or brushwood in their first winter.
Propagation
Methods
- Layering
- Runners
- Cuttings
- From seed
The simplest and most natural method is tip layering: the long, arching canes of the Japanese wineberry touch the ground in autumn or winter and root there by themselves. You can actively support this process by fixing a strong shoot tip to the ground with a wire staple and covering it lightly with soil. In dry weather during dormancy, test the tips with a gentle pull. If they hold firm, you have a rooted young plant. Lift it with a spade, shorten the stalk to a few centimetres and first plant it in a pot. Only when new shoots sprout from the base does the plant go outdoors.
Propagation by suckers/offshoots is just as straightforward: the plant forms new shoots around the root ball. In autumn or early spring, cut off a rooted sucker with a spade, separate it from the mother plant and set it in its new spot. Take as many fine roots as possible and keep the soil evenly moist after moving.
For cuttings, in spring to early summer cut healthy shoot tips about 10 to 15 cm long, remove the lower leaves and insert the cuttings in moist, free-draining seed compost. Keep the compost evenly moist, a transparent cover placed over them keeps the humidity high, and put the pots in a bright spot without direct midday sun. After about six to eight weeks, the first new leaves show that rooting has succeeded.
Sowing is possible but less common: the seeds are cold-stratification seeds. Stratify ripe seeds moist and cool in seed compost for several weeks, then sow them in spring and only press them in lightly without covering them; they germinate in light. Place the sowing in a bright, moderately warm spot. Note that the species spreads itself very easily by every route. So check regularly whether young plants are settling where they are not wanted, and remove them early.
Companion planting
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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