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.)
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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.
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?
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.
Blackberry disease
Have blackberries several years now and have been fighting something....the leaves turn yellow and the stem they are on turn brown and the stem and the leaves die. The main cane will also die. No tomatoes have been in this soil but not far away. I always dip cutters in Clorox water to trim all
affected areas out but can't get rid of it. We are afraid this may be our last year with there canes. Maybe you could give us some insight/ Thank you Leslie
Want to Grow Blackberries
Hi ,
Thanks for a fantastic informative site !
I am from New Delhi,INDIA and am planning to grow blackberries in containers as the summers are pretty harsh here so the container plants can be moved to a cooler spot . I am getting wild blackberry plant (5 yr + ) , few rooted cuttings and unrooted cuttings of apache, triple crown thornless varieties. Can you pls. advise if these can be hrown in our hotter climate at all and also about some more varieties which are most heat tolerant so I can additionally start those too . Also pls. let know the preparation for planting soil suited for the containers to ensure these plants can sustain the shock . I am determined to grow these and am ready to try out any suggestions you might share .
Thanks
making more blackberry plants.
a neighbor gave me a blackberry plant. Is it possible to make more plants from one plant? How?
blackberry cuttings
Root cuttings are best made in the fall by cutting roots the size of a pencil or larger into 3- to 6-inch lengths and storing them at 32°F in moist, not wet, peat moss. These can be planted in mid-winter (depending on your zone) to early spring. However, propogating plants from those of a neighbor can introduce unwanted root-rot organisms or viruses into your soil. It is best to purchase disease-free plants from a nursery.
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