- When you're growing raspberries and blackberries,
they look amazing like this,
but they're gonna get outta control really quickly.
So it's about time
I put in a really simple DIY berry trellis,
and there's a lot of work to do,
so let's get to it.
Blackberries and raspberries are cane crops
meaning they put out these long stems
that, depending on the type,
will either fruit on the first year
or the second year of that individual cane's life.
And as Jacques found out last year,
planting blackberries and raspberries in ground
can get a little unruly.
So what you need to do is build some kind
of trellis to contain them.
And this is what we've come up with.
It's a four by four post
on either side of the blackberry patch.
And what you do is you adhere that in the ground
with cement, maybe a foot-and-a-half or two-feet deep,
and then coming up anywhere
from four to six, seven, eight feet
even if you want to.
And we'll put a couple little crossbeams
out about two feet across
and we'll run some wire to contain all of those canes,
so they don't get in our way.
Got my safety goggles.
The first thing we need to do here
is cut our four by four posts down to size.
These are eight feet,
I need to get 'em down just a little bit.
So I'm cutting a foot and a half off here
and this is common redwood.
So it's not absolutely the most sturdy on Earth,
but it's pretty close.
And I think for this purpose,
it's gonna be totally fine.
And this is a little hard to cut on my own.
So I might actually need
to summon the resident garden hermit for a little help.
(machine whirring) Whoa.
Hey, we're not using that yet, Jacques.
I just need some help holding this thing.
- Oh, I guess we need to cut it
before we make the whole-
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(Jacques laughs)
Here we go.
(saw machine whirring)
Our four by fours are cut.
We need to cut the crossbeams with the same wood,
common redwood, two by fours, two feet each.
And we need how many? Four?
- [Jacques] Yep.
(instrumental music)
- Our cuts are made really simple.
Remember to check the description for the full cut
and build list, but now we need to get back to the patch
and start putting it together.
Okay, we're back where it all began.
We're gonna use this Power Planter to start these holes
and then we're gonna use the shovel to finish it off
and set it with concrete.
(instrumental music)
First post going in.
Just using some fast-setting QUIKRETE.
Very simple.
We're doing the easy method of just pouring it in
and mixing at the same time and not stressing out too much.
(instrumental music)
Okay, we're just gonna take a stake
and mix it around a little bit.
Make sure it's nice and set, well incorporated.
(instrumental music)
- [Jacques] So I think it's about 30ish minutes
before we could start messing with it.
- Yeah, onto the next.
All we're doing here is making sure
that these posts are, okay, level,
and roughly at the same height as one another.
We don't want any weird aesthetic look.
And then just getting the concrete in
to provide enough of a base,
so that when all these canes are being contained,
they don't pull the system out from itself.
We'll see you back in about 30 minutes
once this sets to put on the rest of the hardware.
We're back and we're set.
As you can see, we're in a good spot.
So what we need to do is add on these crossbeams
and these are coming on the outside edge,
so that the line that we throw down will pull against it
and it'll have a nice secure sort of setup here.
So our two-foot crossbeam on top,
we just need to make sure that we center it.
So a couple quick measurements here.
Yep, we'll throw a pilot, screw it down.
- [Jacques] You wanna drill?
- Yeah, I'll do a drill.
So we're gonna be using these t30 screws to get in
which is why it was important to drill a pile hole
because these are kinda beefy.
So in go the crossbeams,
you wanna make sure they're on the outside edge
of the trellis system and that they're nice
and centered and level
because remember, you're mapping this
to the other side of the trellis as well.
And then for this second crossbeam,
it's just roughly halfway down the system,
as long as it's the same height
as the other one we'll put in,
we're gonna be in a really good spot
to make sure these canes have something to hang onto.
Our two crossbeams are in, level and secure over here.
We just need to duplicate that on the other side.
And then we'll string it up.
Now that we have our crossbeams in,
there are two pieces of hardware
we need to actually install the trellis.
So on one side, let's say this post here,
we're gonna be using these eye hooks.
This has a washer, a lock washer, and then a nut.
And it's gonna be affixed pretty much like this,
but right around here, right about in the center,
so that we can tie our wire to this eye.
On the other post, instead of the eye hook system,
we're gonna be using
just this little anchor piece right here for our wire,
this is what's gonna catch the wire.
So what we need to do is drill a hole through the wood.
And what we'll do is we'll put this anchor in,
basically like this
with the pointy side pointing in.
The reason why that's important is
because as you feed wire through this,
what happens is it can go through like that,
but it cannot come back, so we can push it in
and have it actually have a nice tight hold
sort of like this basket around our berries.
But if you wanna ever fix it,
you can actually pull the whole thing through and reset it,
if you need to tie it up again or something like that.
So let's go ahead and screw this in.
So all I'm doing is just making sure
that I'm roughly in the middle here
and I'm coming in about an inch or so.
With this hardware system,
you have a lot of flexibility
because while the anchor on the other side
will only accept thread and will not bring it back,
you can actually thread the whole thing straight through
if you ever need to reset the wire for some reason,
and you can unscrew the eye hook
or just cut off the wire from the eye hook,
run it through the anchor, and reset the entire thing.
So I'm just making sure that I am nice and sturdy here
and as even as I can
from one side of the trellis to another
when I install this hardware.
Our eye hooks are in, let's flip over there,
and do the anchors.
Remember, this is the side that accepts the wire.
So this is the side that needs to go through the hole here.
So it'll go through just like that.
(instrumental music)
The anchors are in, we are at the final step here to thread
and then train all of our canes up into our final trellis.
So our wire is a 12-gauge galvanized wire.
And all I'm really doing here is just affixing it
to the threaded side in a really simple manner.
All I'm gonna do is just come through,
thread it through, get enough slack here
to make one loop like this, pull this really tight,
and then I'm just gonna start threading it around
and kind of wrapping it almost like you're coiling a spring.
Okay, that's good enough.
It's really not gonna come apart.
And then I'm gonna use these Felco CPs.
This has become one of my favorite tools
for cutting these harder materials.
It's actually available in our store.
I'll leave a link in the description for you guys.
Absolutely love this.
I'll hold one end, snip the other end.
There we go.
Easy peasy.
And now we just need to drag it down to the other side,
making sure that we don't cut it off
until we have enough slack.
Because remember, that anchor accepts the wire,
but it does not give you the wire back.
So you have to make sure you have some slack,
so let's drag it out.
Okay, we're here at the end.
Looks like I've got more than enough slack here.
So I'll come through and make my cut.
(instrumental music)
Okay, we'll trim off the end and just rinse and repeat.
(instrumental music)
The basic structure of this trellis is now complete.
What I can do now is make sure
that I'm keeping all of my raspberry
and blackberry canes inside this basket, so to speak.
I can also run another wire down the middle,
if I feel like I don't have enough support,
but I think I'll be okay with these wires for now.
The thing to remember is
that this is gonna get pretty bushy.
They can come all the way up to here
and what you're really looking for,
especially on these floricane varieties,
meaning they are fruiting
on the second year of a cane's life is actually
for them to fall down and you'll get a ton of production
on those canes that have fallen down.
It's actually somewhat similar to how a dragon fruit grows,
even though those plants aren't really related at all.
I'll show you right here.
If I take this cane,
this one's the longest one here, and I hold it up,
it's almost ready to come down.
So I can even take a little tape
and tie it here and let it fall,
but this is the tallest one I have.
So as I grow in this patch back here,
I'm gonna be waiting and watching
and just making sure I take care
of these plants as they grow,
which is gonna come up in another video.
So stay tuned, subscribe, good luck in the garden,
and keep on growing.
(instrumental music fades)