Rubus fruticosus × idaeus
Tayberry
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −20 °C
- Pruning
- Feb, Mar, Jul, Aug
- Harvest
- Jul–Aug
- Spacing
- 200 cm, rows 250 cm
- Water need
- Medium
Photo: Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The tayberry is a hybrid of blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) and raspberry (Rubus idaeus) that produces long, wine‑red fruits with an aromatic, sweet‑tart flavor. It grows as a climber and requires a trellis or support structure. The nearly thornless canes make harvesting a pleasant experience.
Care instructions
Plant the tayberry in autumn (October, week 43) in a sunny, sheltered spot and tie the long canes to a trellis. It bears on two‑year‑old wood, after harvesting, cut away the spent canes and train the young ones for the following year. Mulch well and water regularly during the fruiting period from July onward.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
HarvestJul–Aug
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, humus-rich, well-drained, moist
Give the tayberry a deep, humus-rich and free-draining soil with even moisture. It tolerates neither waterlogging nor prolonged drought, so make sure of drainage and avoid heavy, compacted soils. It likes slightly acidic to neutral conditions (about pH 5.5 to 6.8) and, unlike the blueberry, is not strongly lime-averse, so it copes with some lime in the soil.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Mar, Apr, Aug
In spring, at the start of growth, work mature compost shallowly around the plant; this covers the moderate basic need. Hold back on nitrogen, otherwise it puts on a lot of wood at the expense of fruit. After the harvest in late summer, apply another dose of compost as a mulch layer. In late autumn, do not feed with nitrogen-heavy fertiliser any more, as this delays the ripening of the shoots and reduces frost hardiness.
Pruning
Cut the spent canes out close to the ground straight after harvest (July/August) and tie in the young canes, because the tayberry fruits only on two-year-old wood. In spring (February/March, when frost-free), leave 5 to 6 strong canes, shorten them to ~2 m and cut the side shoots back to two buds.
Overwintering
In late autumn, cut the spent, old canes off close to the ground. Untie the young canes of this year from the trellis, carefully bend them downwards and cover them flat on the ground with leaves, brushwood or straw. In mild locations it is enough to leave them on the trellis and wrap them in fleece. In early spring, remove the covering, tie the canes up again and cut off any frozen shoot tips.
Propagation
Methods
- Cuttings
- Layering
The tayberry is a hybrid of blackberry and raspberry and can be propagated true to type only vegetatively. Sowing is out, because the offspring would not come true. It forms no suckers, which keeps growth manageable.
Tip layering (preferred method, very reliable): In late summer (August/September), bend a strong shoot from this year in an arc down to the ground. Remove the leaves at the contact point, bury the shoot tip about 5 to 10 cm deep in loose, moist soil and fix it with a wire hoop or a stone. Over autumn and winter the tip forms its own roots. From spring (March/April), check whether it is already sprouting strongly. Only then do you separate the layer from the mother plant with a sharp cut and move it to its final spot.
Hardwood cuttings (late summer to winter, lower success rate than layering): Cut woody shoot sections about 20 to 25 cm long from this year's growth. Remove the leaves and push the cuttings into loose, humus-rich soil so that only 2 to 3 cm show above the surface. Let them overwinter sheltered but frost-free. By the following spring most cuttings have formed roots.
Companion planting
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
For your garden
Grow Tayberry yourself
Gartenkern tells you when frost is coming, when to sow and when to harvest, for your location.
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