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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

<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 10/09/2015 - 11:26

Hi Jessica,

The plants may suffer from transplant shock. Just make sure to keep the soil moist and the plants should be OK. Blackberries are usually very hardy and transplant well.

 <span>Mary J Knutson</span> Mon, 09/28/2015 - 16:44
I have an unknown variety of thornless blackberry. It is semi-erect and vigorous. Right now, at the end of September,it has lots of berries but most are still red and those that are black are either still glossy and sour (unripe) or very soft and somewhat desiccated. Is this due to lack of water? We had a very dry summer in the Pacific Northwest, and I failed to water weekly. I am ready to remove this plant if I can't solve the problem and get to pick fruit, as it takes up quite a bit of space. I should add that it is planted near trees and gets less than full sun but probably 6 hours. The plant is robust and looks healthy. Thanks for your help. I have learned so much already just reading the other posts.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 09/29/2015 - 16:04

The dry summer can have caused some of the problems. If the plant looks healthy give it another chance to produce berries next year. After harvest this fall prune the canes to about 3 feet high, water well, and add some compost around the canes. During the winter months cut out all the dead brown branches. When you see new growth at the tips of the canes cut off a few inches off the tips to encourage branching.

 <span>Jessica Birmingham</span> Sun, 09/20/2015 - 23:00
I am an avid vegetable gardener. Is there any companion vegetable plants that could be planted along with the blackberry plants? I have heard bush green beans work well to add nitrogen into the soul which blackberries need. Additionally I read garlic may be helpful as well. Thank you very much for all your advice. This is my first adventure into growing berries.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 09/22/2015 - 16:12

Hi Jessica,

Beans and peas are very good companions to black berries and some gardeners plant strawberries between the canes as a groundcover. Consider planting some herbs to attract pollinators and to keep harmful insects and critters away. Bee balm, hyssop and borage will all attract pollinators and tansy and rue will keep mice and Japanese beetles away.

 <span>Jessica Birmingham</span> Tue, 09/15/2015 - 13:17
I'm an trying to choose the best variety of blackberries for my area. Depending on what site I look at I am either zone 6 or 7A. (I am between philadelphia and Lancaster PA). I am tempted to purchase the Prime Ark 45 but have read that dependant on winters it may not bear fruit in the fall. Would Darrow be a better choice?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 09/16/2015 - 10:36

You know your microclimate and if you are concerned that you may not have a long enough growing season for a fall bearing blackberry then by all means go with 'Darrow'. It was developed at the NY Experimental Station and can stand winters down to -22 degrees so hardiness is not an issue. It is everbearing so you can enjoy fruit all season long.

<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 09/15/2015 - 15:01

Hi, Jessica: Use our note to Michelle below to find your exact Zone, then research possibilities. One thing to always bear in mind when choosing varieties of anything is where they were developed. In this case, while they are both great berries, Prime Ark 45 comes from Arkansas and Darrow comes from New York -- which is closer to you and your conditions. In fact, Ark 45 is a later-bearing berry than Darrow, so Darrow would seem to be your better bet here. That being said, another thing to always bear in mind is the conditions at the exact specific location where the plants will be. Sometimes, if the plot is in a low or windswept place where conditions are generally colder, you have to actually go down one Zone number to account for this. Try asking your county extension for advice. Thanks for asking!

 <span>Michelle Y</span> Mon, 09/14/2015 - 22:32
Hi, My fiance and I are considering growing a small BlackBerry patch in our yard but I was curious as to which variety of black berry would grow best in our Eastern central Florida back yard and when is the best time to plant? :)
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 09/15/2015 - 14:51

Hi, Michelle: First, please make sure that you have read all of the material at the top of the page carefully. Then, at top, go to Gardening/Gardening Resources/Plant Hardiness Zones to find your exact Zone. Click on your state to make it larger and more detailed. Once you know your zone, go online and search for "blackberries in zone 9a" or whatever. Or, just ask your local nursery or county extension service (the Fla. Dept. of Ag is wonderful!) for advice. There are many that will grow well in your area. Plant them in late fall. Have fun!