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Growing Blackberries
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Blackberry Bushes
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Blackberry Bushes
Blackberries, like raspberries, are a very easy fruit 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: 1. erect thorny blackberries, 2. erect thornless blackberries, 3. trailing thornless blackberries. The erect blackberries are bushes that support themselves. The trailing blackberries have long canes that must be trellised for support.
All blackberries are perennials; the roots come back 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. (See more below.)
Planting
- Blackberries and hybrids are all self-fertile, so multiple plants are not needed for fruit production.
- Select a site that receives full sun for the best berry yields.
- Soil needs to be fertile with good drainage. Add organic content to enrichen your soil. (Learn more about soil amendments and preparing soil for planting.)
- Make sure you plant your blackberries far away from wild blackberries that may carry viruses.
- For semi-erect cultivars, space plants 5 to 6 feet apart. Space erect cultivars 3 feet apart. Space trailing varieties 5 to 8 feet apart. Space rows about 8 feet apart.
- Plant shallowly: about one inch deeper than they were grown in the nursery.
- Planting may be done in late fall, however, it should be delayed until early spring in very cold areas as low temperatures could kill some hybrids.
Care
- Mulching is important throughout the season to conserve moisture and suffocate weeds. Keep a thick layer of mulch surrounding plants at all times.
- Blackberries require plenty of moisture, especially when growing and ripening. Ensure plants receive one inch of water per week and more in hot temperatures.
- Blackberries benefit from fertilizing in early spring with an all-purpose fertilizer such as 10-10-10, or a 16-16-8.
Trellis Trailing Blackberries
As mentioned above, trailing blackberries need a trellis or support. Explore a two-wire system, running a top wire at five to six feet with a second line 18 inches below the top wire. After the first year, there will be fruiting floricanes along the wires. Train the new primocanes into a narrow row below the fruiting canes. Directing all canes in one direction may make it simpler.
Pruning
We have provided detailed pruning information below, but do not be scared. The main idea is to simply remove the old canes that already bore fruit and let new ones take their place.
- Trailing blackberries: After the fruit harvest period, the old fruiting (floricanes) are removed to the ground. However, unless there is a lot of disease, it’s best to delay removing the old fruiting canes until they have died back considerably. This allows the dying canes to move nutrients back into the crown and roots. After old fruiting canes are removed, train the primocanes up on the wires. Work with one or two canes at a time in a spiral around the trellis wires. Canes from adjacent plants may overlap a little. No pruning of primocanes is necessary.
In areas with low winter temperatures, leave the primocanes on the ground for the winter where they could be mulched for winter protection. In the spring, after danger of extreme cold has passed, train the old primocanes (now considered floricanes) up on the wires. Avoid working with the canes in cold weather, as they are more prone to breaking.
- Erect blackberries produce stiff, shorter canes that come from the crown and from root suckering (often forming a hedgerow).
Erect blackberries benefit from summer pruning. Remove the top one to two inches of new primocanes when they are four feet tall. This causes the canes to branch, increasing next year’s yields. Plants will require several pruning sessions to tip each cane as it reaches the four foot height. Primocanes (suckers) that grow outside the hedgerow should be regularly removed.
In the winter, remove the dead floricanes (old fruiting canes) from the hedgerow. Also shorten the lateral branches to about 1½ to 2½ feet.
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If you have primocane-fruiting erect blackberries, cut all canes off just above the ground in the late winter for the best fruit. In the summer, when the primocanes are 3½ feet tall, removed the top 6 inches. The primocanes will branch, thereby producing larger yields in the fall.
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If you have semi-erect blackberries, they are easier to manage on a Double T Trellis. Install four-foot cross arms at the top of a six-foot post. Install a three-foot cross arm about two feet below the top line. String high-tensile wire down the rows, connecting to the cross arms.
Semi-erect berries need to be pruned in the summer. When the primocanes are five feet tall, remove the top two inches to encourage branching. Several pruning sessions will be required as canes reach the appropriate height. In the winter, remove the dead floricanes (old fruiting canes). Spread the primocanes (new floricanes) out along the trellis. Canes do not need to be shortened. However, they can be if they are difficult to train.
Pests/Diseases
- Raspberry Borers
- Fruit Worms
- Gray Mold
- Viruses
- If your plant is suffering from the blackberry disease known as Raspberry Bushy Dwarf virus, the leaves will be have some bright yellow on them, and the leaves of the fruiting vines may have a bleached look in the summer. The disease known as Blackberry Calico will cause faint yellow blotches on the leaves of the plant.
Harvest/Storage
- Pick only berries that are fully black. Mature berries are plump yet firm, a deep black color, and pull freely from the plant without a yank. Berries do no ripen after being picked.
- Once blackberries start to ripen, they must be picked often—every couple of days.
- When picking, keep the central plug within the fruit (unlike raspberries).
- Harvest during the cooler parts of the day. Once picked, place berries in the shade and refrigerate as soon as possible
- Blackberries are highly perishable and will only last a few days once harvested, even with refrigeration.
- Although fresh fruit is always best, blackberries can be stored by canning, preserving, or freezing. Techniques used for freezing blueberries can also be used on blackberries.
Recommended Varieties
Here are some favorite blackberry varieties to investigate, but be sure to ask about varieties that fit your growing zone.
- Erect Thornless: ‘Navaho,’ ‘Arapaho’
- Erect Thorny: ‘Cherokee,’ ‘Brazos,’ ‘Shawnee,’ and ‘Cheyenne’
- Semi-erect Thornless: ‘Black Satin’
- Trailing: Olallie
Wit & Wisdom
Blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries are very high in ellagic acid, which is an antioxidant that acts as a scavenger, helping to make potential cancer-causing chemicals inactive. Ellagic acid reduces the genetic damage caused by carcinogens like tobacco smoke and air pollution. Blackberries also contain other antioxidants that can help lower cholesterol and ward off cardiovascular disease.
Recipes
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Reader Comments
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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.
Blackberry problem
I live in North Texas (zone 8a) and my blackberry plants are 13 years old. They always produced nice berries. This year all of the berries were stunted, three to five drupelets per berry, no full berries at all. Any idea what could be wrong with my plants?
They might just be getting
They might just be getting old! I read that their oldest age is around 15 years. Could be soil nutrient deficiencies too.
Blackberries
Hi I have a 2 part question:
1. What is the difference between blackberries and boysenberries? I was told mine were boysenberries.
2. why is some berries are not sweet?
Thanks
Boysenberries
Boysenberries are a cross between a blackberry/raspberry/logan berry. They were developed in the early 1920s in California.
Boysenberries are bigger and have a unique flavor that’s almost like a mix between a sweet juicy blackberry and a tart raspberry. They’re very fragile and need to be eaten right away.
Growing different vareties
Hello. We have 16 blackberry plants, and all have been fantastic for three years. We lost three this year - the canes were diseased - and I am wanting to replace with another variety, something a bit more sweet. Is it ok to plant different varieties side by side?
Cassie, that is fine to do.
Cassie, that is fine to do. Plant away! Enjoy your blackberries.
Growing thornless blackberries in Zone 9
Is there anyone who has some tips for starting blackberries in zone 9?
growing blackberries
Blackberries can be challenging in zone 9. Apache and Arapaho and Navaho are good varieties. Check a site likeberriesunlimited.com
I have blackberry bushes that blossomed but the fruit
The fruit never developed. Lots of very immature clumps of berries. Pretty much just seeds. Wondering if I should try transplanting a shout in spring. Don’t know what the problem is.
GROWING THORNLESS BLACKBERRIES IN ZONE 9
I grow mine in a 40 foot row raised bed. It has a compost soil and is mulched with layers of wood chips and leaves. The mulch mixture keeps the soil moist when is a necessity for blackberries. If you are just starting, try the new primocane varieties, dont plant the two inch plugs directly into the ground, as the rabbits may eat the tops off some as they did to me. Let them gets a foot or so in gallon planters, which also makes the vegetation tougher, then transplant. As your mulch layer breaks down, keep layer on more. This spring I did a stable bed mixture of manure and cedar chips picked up from local stable for free. This cause new canes to really shoot up quickly, and the berries on the older canes are huge!
Blackberry Weed Control
I just planted 4 blackberry plants. Can I put down a weed barrier to help keep down weeds?
Thanks
Blackberry Weed Barrier
We would recommend putting down a couple inches of mulch around the plants instead of a weed-blocking fabric. The mulch will inhibit weed growth while the blackberries get established and will also work as a natural compost as it breaks down over time. Don’t mulch right up to the stems of the plants—leave 3–4 inches of space between the stems and mulch.
Blackberrys in Fairbanks Alaska
What is the safest temperature range for blackberrys. I live in Fairbanks Alaska and it gets cold here.
We can usually plant on mother’s day up here and harvest in September
Tomato & blackberry
Last year I planted one blackberry plant at the end of my garden, next to the tomatoes, not realizing the problem that could occur. As we enter this year, I'll move the tomatoes, but what do I need to do to the soil around the blackberry plant to serve it best and to avoid problems?
Many farmers say to avoid
Many farmers say to avoid planting blackberries in soil where tomatoes have been (or are planted)—because the soil itself may carry a diseases to which blackberries are susceptible.
Since you already planted the blackberry in the soil, you’ll just have to hope that it’s avoided disease or infection and see how it does!
There aren’t any special soil requirements beyond well-draining soil so the plant’s feet don’t get wet. Just make sure the plants have a thick layer of mulch to keep out the weeds.
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