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How to Grow Blackberries: The Complete Guide

Image Credit:
Pixabay
Botanical Name
Rubus fruticosus
Grown as
Perennial
USDA Zones
5a
5b
6a
6b
7a
7b
8a
8b
9a
9b
Toxicity
Non-toxic
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Water Needs
Moderate
Height
6-10 feet
Spread
3-6 feet
Soil pH
Acidic
Bloom Time
Summer
Flower Color
White
Special Features
Erosion Control
Attracts Butterflies
Attracts Pollinators
Attracts Songbirds
Resilience
Clay Soil Tolerant
Heat-Tolerant
Plant Type
Fruit
Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Blackberries, like raspberries, are very easy 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.

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.)

Planting

When to Plant Blackberries

  • Plant when the canes are dormant, preferably in early spring.
    • Planting may also be done in late fall; however, it should be delayed until early spring in very cold areas, as low temperatures could kill some hybrid varieties.
  • Blackberries and their hybrids are all self-fertile, so multiple plants are not needed for fruit production.

Choosing and Preparing a Planting Site

  • Select a site that receives full sun for the best berry yields.
  • Soil needs to be fertile with good drainage. Add organic content to enrich your soil. (Learn more about soil amendments and preparing soil for planting.)
  • Make sure you plant your blackberries far away from wild blackberries, which may carry (plant) diseases that could weaken your own plants.

How to Plant Blackberries

  • 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 1 inch deeper than they were grown in the nursery.

Growing

How to Care for Blackberries

  • 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 1 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 5 to 6 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 you remove the old fruiting canes, you may 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, it’s fine to leave the primocanes on the ground for the winter, where they could be mulched for winter protection. In the spring, after the 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 1 to 2 inches of new primocanes when they are 4 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 4-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.

  • If you have primocane-fruiting erect blackberries, which are harvested in late summer/early autumn, cut all canes to the ground in the late winter (after the fall crop). In the summer, when the primocanes are 3½ feet tall, remove the top 6 inches. The primocanes will branch, thereby producing larger yields in the fall.

  • If you have semi-erect blackberries, they are easier to manage on a Double T Trellis. Install 4-foot cross arms at the top of a 6-foot post. Install a 3-foot cross arm about 2 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 5 feet tall, remove the top 2 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.

Harvesting

How to Harvest Blackberries

  • 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 not 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.

How to Store Blackberries

  • 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.

Pests and Problems

  • 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 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.

Types

Basically, there are three types of blackberries:

  1. Erect thorny blackberries
  2. Erect thornless blackberries
  3. Trailing thornless blackberries

Erect blackberries are bushes that support themselves, while the trailing blackberries have long canes that must be trellised for support.

Wit and 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.

Fruit

About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening, so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana.

Read more from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Mike</span> Sun, 07/31/2016 - 11:54
This is the 3rd year and I am getting a lot of fruit this year...Yay! I had built a trellis and they grow up on those. The fruit is up to about the 6 ft. level and then the plants grow up much longer and are just flop over but have wound them into the stair railing above. They are now up to about 10 ft. I guess I should be or should have trimmed them based on what I read above. As I read of what to do I am not sure of the type I have. Training BB, Erect BB, Semi-erect. Should I just trim them?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 08/02/2016 - 10:47

Hi Mike,

You can certainly do some thinning out of any dead or dying canes, and tipping back of some of the longer healthy canes. You could also take some photos of the plant and bring it to a local nursery, where someone might be able to identify the type you have--this will help you when it comes time to do a bigger pruning job, which you will want to do to keep the canes fruitful.

 <span>Shannon</span> Tue, 07/26/2016 - 15:09
I would like to plant my blackberries this fall, but when exactly would be best to do it? I love in the Texas panhandle, on the border of zone 6b/7a.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 07/27/2016 - 11:57

Hi Shannon,

Dormant, bare root blackberries should be planted mid- to late winter for summer berries.

 <span>Teresa</span> Sat, 07/16/2016 - 16:19
I am not a plant person at all but my stepfather passed away right after he planted these blackberries and they are so good I'm trying to keep them growing and producing. It has been going so well for the last 11 years but now I have a problem they are "trailing?" and as I'm weeding around them and trying to stake them I can't do it because both ends are in the ground it's a mess so do I cut one end some don't look that established but others are deep in the ground and look like they've been there for years. They weren't like that last year can I cut one end without killing both ends? I don't know what to do can you help me please and Thank you.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 07/18/2016 - 15:13

"Trailing" blackberries are a type. The canes grow along the ground and they must be tied to a trellis to keep the fruit off the ground. However, they are not cold hardy and do not produce in cold regions.

Semi-erect blackberries tend to grow close to the ground, like vines. Assuming you do not have true trailing berries (thus, you must reside in a warm region), perhaps you have semi-erect berries. Sources suggest that semi-erect berries become upright and branched in their second year—and yours are in their eleventh year!

We can not find any information about blackberry canes self-rooting at the tip. As for cutting one end without killing the plant, you want to avoid cutting the base, the source. Presumably, it is thicker than the tip of the cane.

Perhaps your grandfather pruned and you simply did not realize it. He must have had a system! If it is as thickly tangled as you seem to suggest, It may be time to cut them back (in late winter, to about 7 feet) and essentially start again, securing them to wire fencing or the like. Such hearty plants will probably withstand even a (forgive us) gross over cutting on your part, but it will give you a fresh start and, hopefully, quite a few years of wonderful berries.

We hope this helps!

 <span>Larry Jackman</span> Sat, 07/16/2016 - 06:04
I have quite a few wild blackberries around my pond, I was wondering what to spray them with to enhance their productivity and control insects? Also, when to spray?
<span>Brigitte</span> Sun, 04/02/2017 - 18:13
My blackberries probegate that way a long branch hits the ground and the piece in the ground roots... that is great make sure the one that rooted is secure in the ground if not.. add dirt around it and then simply cut the stem it came from ... strawberries do it the same way.... since the canes don't live but 2 years this is a way to prolong the live... but usually around the 1st cane others shoot up and the older one dies off ... cutting to the old dead ones helps... my cats love it in my bush but this year i had to get in there and cut some of it back to encourage growth and more fruit.. last year i had an enormous amount of green but little fruit because i did not prune last Sring. Happy gardening ... let me know how your are now?
<span>Bob G.</span> Tue, 06/28/2016 - 12:58
Is it possible to grow tayberries in Lake Charles, LA (very south Louisiana!!). Some blackberries THRIVE here but NO raspberries!
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 06/29/2016 - 15:11

Hi, Bob, this is a new one on us: tayberry. Who knew? As you know, this is a hybrid cross of a blackberry and a raspberry, and many people believe it to be the most flavorful of the brambles! (Where have we been?) The tayberry is very thorny (double the pleasure, double the pain?), and it requires the planting, training, and pruning techniques usually applied to the blackberry. But will it grow in Louisiana...? We have no evidence, pro or con, for or against, yea or nay.

You might contact and ask an expert at the LSU Agricultural Center about tayberries: agstusv@lsu.edu

LSU Ag Center has a page that suggests "Raspberries are not well adapted to Louisiana conditions. Afternoon or partial shade my a production. Dorman Red is the only raspberry that has consistently produced fruit in Louisiana. It has training canes and cae be managed similar to dewberries. It has medium-size, attractive fruit, with average to poor flavor: http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/5DD47469-DA9F-4398-AD57-85FDB3E9327E/27320/pub1553blackberriesFINAL.pdf

Seemed too good to be true...

So that's all we've got. If you find out from the LSU Ag Center, let us know!