Blackberries, like raspberries, are a very easy berry to grow. Once this native berry is ripe, get ready for an abundant harvest, picking every couple of days! Here’s how to grow and harvest blackberries in your backyard.
Basically, there are three types of blackberries:
- Erect thorny blackberries
- Erect thornless blackberries
- Trailing thornless blackberries
Erect blackberries are bushes that support themselves, while the trailing blackberries have long canes that must be trellised for support.
All blackberries are perennials; the roots survive year after year. However, the top of the plant above the soil is what we call biennial. This means that the canes grow vegetatively for a year, bear fruit the next year, and then die. However, every year the plant sends up new canes to replace those that died! For a great fruit harvest and to avoid a messy plant, pruning is important. (Learn about proper pruning techniques below.)
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What kind of blackberries?
How do I determine if my blackberry plant is trailing or erect? Primocane-fruiting or semi-erect? I got it as a gift last year. It is doing well with berries and has a really tall cane.
wild black berries
i have several wild bushes in a flower bed. does any one know if these can sucessfully be dug up and potted foir resale? I would like to share these delish berries with fewer being seen.
Blackberries dry up and turn brown
I have 4 lovely, strong, healthy looking upright thornless blackberry bushes and for the past two years they flower, start blackberries, then turn brown and dry up. The plants are planted in large pots in miracle grow potted soil. Last year they were in the ground, and did the same thing, so I removed them and tried big pots. Help, the plants are BEAUTIFULLY STRONG AND HEALTHY. Just dried up and brown half formed fruit.
Transplanting a 3 year Blackberry bush/tree
Please help. I have a 3 year old blackberry bush/tree which is producing a lot of fruit this year. Mom passed away and I have to move away and I don’t won’t to leave her blackberry tree. Please tell me if I can uproot and transplant into my new moving location which is about 10 hours away. What is the best way to preserve it? What season is best time to move it? I’m looking forward to your answers. Thank you.
How to Transplant a Blackyberry Bush
Hi Sheryl,
You can absolutely transplant your blackberry bush by your new home. Blackberry bushes grow canes that produce fruit in the second year of life, and then once finished die back. You want to identify the canes that are in their first year of life and not currently producing flowers or fruit. They will be smaller than the fruiting canes, as well as greener. Dig up these first-year canes by the root ball in clumps, place them in a bucket or bin with a little bit of water, and drive them to your new home. Transplant on a cool day, either in the morning or evening for best results. Good luck!
Wild blackberries
We have wild blackberries on the property. The last two years I haven't been able to harvest before the wild critters got to them. Typically, there is a lot of fruit set, but the berries are very small. We keep bees, some of the bushes are very close to the beehives, so I doubt it's a pollination problem. Should we try pruning the blackberries?
Tart blackberries
I have blackberry plants that produce big, beautiful berries, but they are really tart. Is there something I can do to make them sweeter? More water, add something to the soil? I live in south/central Missouri.
sour berries
It could be that the canes did not get enough water when fruit was forming or that the plants are not getting enough sun. Or it may be your variety. ‘Black Satin’ berries are naturally tart. You could fertilize them with an all-purpose fertilizer (e.g., 10-10-10). Apply 4 to 5 pounds peer 00 foot row, or for a small patch, sprinkle 3 to 4 tablespoons around each cane in early spring.
Blackberry plant
I have a thorned blackberry plant that is loaded with blackberries. The problem is that they are little. What am I doing wrong? This plant is 2 years old so this is the first year producing fruit.
small fruit
Our sources say that there is no single reason for poor fruit set; it may be due to fungi, viruses, lack of bees, and other things, including lack of bee activity.
Blackberries
I have a HUGE blackberry bush in my backyard. every year, we get a ton of blackberries! at school, i had to do a project for science, and i did mine on blackberries. i used this website, and i think it is really good!! thank you!!!
Late blooms on new canes
Hello, thank you for the article.
It's late July, I've had a great harvest (30 lbs+), from 1 thorny BlackBerry Bush. My neighbors love me. I'm in the tipping phase but I see a few scattered blooms, should I pinch those off?
Wild Thorny blackberry bushes
I have a question as to a comment. Today I found in my row of peonies 3 or 4 small fruit producing wild grown thorny blackberry vines. Assumingely grown from a birds calling card?? How do I maintain these? Do I remove the peonies or the berry bushes from each other to gave more space? Or leave all alone and build a trellis within all for the vine to grow upon?
Wild Blackberries
First, make sure that you can positively identify the plants as blackberries rather than a berry lookalike that doesn’t yield edible berries. (Consult your state’s Cooperative Extension service for advice.)
If you want to keep them, it would be wise to transplant them out of your peony bed. Blackberries (and raspberries) will grow and spread like crazy, and could quickly overwhelm your peonies. Additionally, peonies don’t adapt well to being transplanted, so it’d be better to move the blackberries to a different spot.
Purchased nwe black berry bush
How do I know if the bush is alive? It has been planted for several a months, no signs of life, just a dust grayish stick? I have fertilized and wated well each week.
Blackberries competing with other plants roots.
This is not a comment, but rather a question. I have a place I want to plant some BlackBerry plants, but the area has a good amount of small roots from an oak tree. Can the BlackBerry compete or do I need another location?
the root of it
You probably want to find another location, esp if there is “a good amount” of roots. If there is adequate sun, despite being in the vicinity of the tree, and you have no other options, you could try a raised bed over the rooted area. Make it 10 to 12 inches deep so the roots have plenty of space to become established.
Triple Crown Thornless Blackberry
Hello. This past Spring, I found my Triple Crown Thornless blackberry shrub. I had planted it too close to my Illini blackberry, which was overpowering my thornless little shrub. So, I carefully dug up and noticed I now have three young thornless plants to care for. My thornless Triple Crowns are growing quite nicely, now. They are a good three to four feet high, with beautifully large dark green leaves. Hopefully, they will yield fruit next year.
Thank you for your fine articles.
Triple Crown thornless berries
What a find indeed! Thanks for the kind words and for your story. Berry on!
Transplanting blackberry
I have a three year old trailing thornless blackberry of some sort that I desperately need to transplant. When and how is the best way to do that? I live in NE Colorado - zone 5, I think.
Blackberries
Some of my berries are huge beautiful and then some are small and dried up , what’s going on?
Thornless Dwarf Blackberries
I bought 3 thornless dwarf blackberry bushes on clearance early this summer—they had some fruiting canes with a few berries each, but also some dead canes. I cut off the dead canes and planted the bushes in my yard in North Carolina. They seem happy and have grown to twice the size they were, with lots of new canes shooting out in all directions (they look more like trailing bushes than upright as the tag said). They are flowering now, but we haven't seen any more berries. Is that normal? Should we plan to prune them this year or wait (since only a few canes had berries to begin with)?
Disease?
After reading a little more, I'm wondering if my blackberries are diseased, since they're flowering now but not producing berries. How can I know for sure?
blackberries
I live in Oregon where blackberries are wild. We let them grow and I prune them back after they have born berries. They are very hardy and you almost can't kill them. We like to give them water, they grow sweeter with rain or under stream water. They are very small without water.
Blackberries
We have 2 year old blackberries beautiful bushes but the berries are very small what do they need
unknown blackberry
I live in Atlanta, Georgia and a friend from Temple, Texas sent me some raspberry roots last November. I dug a hole, planted the roots along with some mushroom compost then covered the roots with a pile of leaves for winter protection.
Now it is August and the raspberry plant is green and about 5 feet tall. So it seems to be happy. But I do not see any flowers therefore I don't expect any fruit this season and am hopeful for next year.
Today I noticed that some deer have munched the topmost growth so I don't expect any new tip growth.
My question is how do I know the type of raspberry I am growing. Seeing that it grew to 5 feet tall prior to the deer's pruning action is that growth a clue to what I have?
Thank you.
Terry Thomas
Atlanta, Georgia USA
Raspberry Variety
It’s very difficult—if not impossible—to tell raspberry varieties apart without seeing their growth habit or their berry color. I’m afraid you’ll probably have to wait until next year to know! Some raspberries produce berries on new growth, while others produce berries on last year’s growth. Next summer, observe which canes your plant forms flowers and berries on, as well as what time of year the berries are produced. This will give you some clue as to what kind of raspberry it is. Check out our Raspberry Growing Guide for more information!
Wild backberries
When we bought our house 40 years ago, there was a stand of wild blackberries in the corner of the property. The builder assured me he would get rig of "those thorny weeds' and I replied "Over my dead body!!" WE have to dig out runners from time to time when they arise where they don't belong, but I get quarts of delicious fruit each year, and wouldn't part with my wild blackberry bushes. I do nothing special, except cut the dead canes every Feb-March. I tired offering fertilizer, but they went wild and the fruit tasted less robust, so now i don't do anything. They are in a dip in the yard, so tend to have moist soil. If it's really dry, we'll water that side of the property as well. They are hardy, productive, and they were absolutely free!
Fertilizing Wild Blackberries
Instead of using commercially produced fertilizer on your wild blackberries, try organic compost that you can make yourself. Since they are wild plants, they might respond better to something natural. Commercially produced fertilizers might be to harsh for them.
Blackberries,(Second Harvest)
After all the blackberries have been harvested at the end of the growing season, the leaves from the producing canes can be picked and used fresh, or dried for later use as a tea. The leaves provide many of the same health benefits as the berries and have a very pleasent flavor of their own,(as is the same w/ raspberry leaves). It's also a good tea to drink to help build up your immune system before and during the cold and flu season.
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