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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>Samantha T.</span> Sat, 07/26/2014 - 13:56
Hello, I purchased a blackberry plant last year. It was just called Blackberry Mure and apprently it came from Epic Plants. I had about 7 berries that formed on it and then it shot up and produced a bunch of flowers that turned to seed instead of berries and then the plant pretty much died. Now I have a hundred little plants that have come up from those seeds and the leaves don't look the same. Seems like odd behaviour and almost impossible for a berry plant to produce seeds instead of fruit. I've tried reseaching and can't find anything about it. Any ideas what might have happened. Ever heard of this happening before? Samantha
<span>Peter Fasake</span> Tue, 07/22/2014 - 10:31
My 15 or so thorned, tall and erect blackberry canes were my Grandfather's and must be 90 years old. They used to produce. I transplanted them Spring of 2013 and the canes have really taken off and appear to be specimens of health. However, no fruit nor signs of any. When should they bear? Any ideas on my problem?
<span>R Hays</span> Sat, 11/15/2014 - 16:53
Peter. for most varieties of blackberries 15-20 years is tops on production life. Some varieties stop producing after about 8-10 years. If you do not let the vines crowns "walk" from original spot they will stop producing. This is the reason that wild blackberry patches get bigger every year. after a few years you can go back and see the middle of the patch is dead those crowns have gotten old and stopped producing. I have well over 8 miles of trellised blackberries and some of my crowns are actually several feet from where originally planted.
<span>Janice Satterwhite</span> Mon, 02/23/2015 - 12:42
Hi R Hays, I was wondering about your patch. It seems lovely. Do you have any video's of your set up? I am sure many of us would love to see it. I am thinking of having a smallish berry patch for a pick your own farm when I relocate. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
<span>John Neary</span> Mon, 07/14/2014 - 18:35
Hello.. WHAT a GREAT site.. We have been growing blackberry varieties for 40+ years in every state we have lived in..From Western Oregon (Portland) to Montana (Great Falls) and back to Oregon (Columbia River Gorge) .. We move to North central Oregon 8++ years ago and planted both thorn-ed and thorn-less bush's..Both erect and semi erect.. The first four or so years they were all huge and sweet.. for the last 3 years the some of the erect canes have lost all flavor..Not gradually but from one season to the next.. The berries are the size of a large thumb, extremely juicy with absolutely no flavor, even the ones that fall to the ground.. All the others are big and very tasteful.. Doesn't matter if they are thorn-ed or thorn-less.. Could this be too much water or not enough mulch..We have not changed our pruning fertilizing or water regime.. Your help is greatly appreciated..
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 07/15/2014 - 12:55

You must indeed be blackberry connoisseurs. When you say that some of the canes have lost flavor, we have to wonder how you are pruning. Blackberries must be pruned correctly to keep them productive. Are you cutting out the fruited canes to ground level? Are you keeping the strongest new canes and getting rid of the thinnest, weakest ones? If it's not a pruning issue, it might be best if you spoke to a local expert and perhaps the county cooperative extension can help. See this map: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/find-us

 <span>Cindy In Texas</span> Mon, 07/07/2014 - 23:09
Our blackberries are so tart this year. Is there anything you can fertilize or feed them with that will make them sweeter?
<span>R Hays</span> Sat, 02/07/2015 - 20:51
You may have one of the varieties that are naturally tart. Like the Natchez, Black Satin. These varieties, have about 8-9% sugar content, and are not ever sweet. The sweetest berry is the sweetie pie. It has a sugar content of 12%. I have never had a problem with the berries getting tart from age of plants. I have 11 varieties of berries and have had some since 2000. I have 9 miles of trellised blackberries. Intense heat can cause them to be less sweet at times. Less water than they need will not make them less sweet but have less juice in the berries and also make the berries smaller.
<span>Diane3003</span> Thu, 06/04/2015 - 14:45
Mine are tart also until they are huge with no red at all left in them. I was also wondering how to sweeten them. Someone gave us ours & I have no idea what kind they are.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 07/08/2014 - 10:54

There are a few reasons why your blackberries may be tart, the first being that the bushes may be old. If they are over 15 years old, it may be time to plant new ones. Also, it is best to pick the berries when they are dull and slightly soft. When they are shiny, they are not ripe yet. Lastly, blackberries need 1 to 2 inches of water per week from spring (May) to fall (October) to produce healthy, sweet fruit.

You can use your tart fruit to make jam, jelly, or crisp. The added sugar will combat some of the tartness.