Position – If possible, plant your youngberry in full sun for good flower and fruit production. They are creepers, requiring a trellis or fence to grow up.
Soil – Youngberry plants like slightly acidic soil with a pH of 5.5 and 6. Ensure the site has good drainage, and mulch it well with pine bark and green pine needles.
Dig a 50cm x 50cm deep hole and add a bag of compost or acid compost. Mix the berry mix and volcanic rock dust into the top section of this soil. Make a little hole and plant, ensuring you don’t add the soil higher than where the soil is in the bag. Then, add the pine bark mulch on top, keeping it away from the plant’s stem. Place the plant directly into the soil mixture and cover it with pine bark mulch.
Watering – Youngberries do not like waterlogged soil. Once it’s been transplanted, water the plant daily in hot, dry weather. Otherwise, please give it a good 30-minute soaking every 3rd day. In winter, water it once a week (never letting it dry out completely).
Fertilising – Use an organic, slow-release fertiliser before fruiting for the best results in summer.
Pruning – Youngberry canes proliferate and reach up to 5 metres long during their first year after transplanting. After fruiting (around August) cut those canes back completely to encourage new growth in the spring. As new shoots will grow around the plant, dig them out to prevent the plant from taking over your garden.
Pests – Spray your youngberry vine with an organic pesticide like Neem oil (1 teaspoon) mixed with a small amount of dishwashing liquid in 1 litre of water. You cannot keep this mixture for more than 8 hours, but it can be used on all your fruit trees every two weeks to prevent pests, aphids, etc. Pour any leftover solution onto the soil around the plant.
Harvesting – Fruit will begin to form in the early summer and you can pluck them when they are easy to pull off the vine.
