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Introduction to Growing Blackberries Do you want to begin growing blackberries? Overview Jump To Table of Contents. Making Nursery-Mature Plants. Because they are highly perishable, it's important to follow the development of your ripening blackberries carefully. Immature blackberries start out green, then transition to red before maturing to a deep, glossy black. Blackberries do not continue to ripen after harvest, so pick the berries only after they have turned completely black.
Berries last about seven days in the refrigerator after harvest. Blackberry roots are perennial but the canes are biennial. This means that second-year canes that have produced their fruit need to be trimmed away after harvesting. For an established shrub, new canes that haven't yet fruited should be tip-pruned to about 3 feet in summer. This will cause the new canes to branch out, maximizing the fruit produced. Once these canes produce fruit, they should be removed to the ground immediately after the fruit harvest.
In early spring before new growth has started, remove any canes damaged by winter, and thin out the remaining canes to the four or five strongest canes. It's easy to propagate blackberry plants from stem cuttings. Cut a 4-inch piece from the end of the stem in late spring when temperatures are mild and rainfall is plenty. Plant it in the soil, and keep it moist. Roots will form in two to four weeks. These newly started plants can be planted in the fall, or you can keep them in a sheltered location and plant them the following spring.
Blackberries are prone to anthracnose, stem blight, and crown gall. Prevent disease by purchasing disease-free plant stock from reputable nurseries, and planting your blackberries away from areas with wild brambles, which may carry these diseases.
Insect pests include stink bugs and raspberry crown borers. Keeping your plants healthy and vigorous will make them less attractive to insect attack. Blackberries are sometimes afflicted by viral diseases. Raspberry bushy dwarf virus and blackberry calico virus both cause bright yellow splotches to appear on leaves. Affected plants will need to be removed and destroyed. This will help keep your valued plants from falling victim to various fungal diseases.
Those of us who live in colder areas should mulch with dark-colored material to preserve warmth and moisture. Those of you who live in warmer climes can mulch with light-colored material to deflect a bit of heat from the sun and keep the roots cool and moist. In the winter, cover the entire plant with straw. If you live in an area where it snows, the snow will cover the straw and make a fantastic insulation against brutally cold weather.
This will encourage the plant to focus its energy on growing laterals. Cut the spent floricanes down to the ground to get them out of the way. Trim the central primocanes to three to four feet again, and the laterals back to about 12 to 15 inches.
Read more about pruning your blackberries here. There are dozens of cultivars to choose from when it comes to blackberries. Here are a few of our favorites to kickstart your adventure into growing these tart fruits. Do you want a thornless, erect cultivar that produces a robust crop of sweet, one- to two-inch-long berries? Even better, this cultivar blooms with pink and white flowers in mid spring and produces fruits that ripen in mid-June. Start your berry patch off strong with a pack of three bare root plants, available from Nature Hills Nursery.
This disease-resistant cultivar grows up to three or four feet in height and width, and climbs a trellis beautifully. Start your berry-growing adventure with bare root plants from Nature Hills Nursery.
Hardy in Zones 6 through 8, this cultivar grows up to five or six feet in height and spread. It blooms with pink and white flowers in early to mid spring. The heavy, one- to two-inch-long berries ripen in July or August for primocane-borne fruits, and June for floricane-borne fruits.
Find bare roots or live plants for your blackberry patch available from Burpee. Pest and disease resistant cultivars abound, too, further helping to keep your plant healthy. Monterey Agricultural Spray. Remove the affected fruits and spray the rest of the plant with a horticultural miticide oil, like this one by Monterey, available from Arbico Organics. Spotted wing drosophila infests individual berries, depositing white larvae inside.
To test for these, drop a berry in warm saltwater. After half an hour, check the surface of the water. If you see small white maggots floating on the top, you have an infestation.
If so, remove and destroy the affected branch. Japanese beetles skeletonize the leaves, as well as eating flowers and ripe fruits. At the first sign of Japanese beetle damage, remove affected foliage and spray the entire plant with PyGanic, a botanical pesticide made with pyrethrum.
PyGanic Pesticide. PyGanic is available from Arbico Organics. One common disease is anthracnose, which is caused by the fungus Elsinoe veneta and results in whitish-gray lesions that develop on young, actively growing canes and leaves. Avoiding overhead watering goes a long way toward preventing this moisture-loving fungal disease.
Bonide Copper Fungicide. Another plague that may affect your plants is orange rust, caused by the fungus Gymnoconia peckiana. In new growth, orange rust manifests as weak shoots with pale green or yellow leaves. They will be smaller than the fruiting canes, as well as greener. Dig up these first-year canes by the root ball in clumps, place them in a bucket or bin with a little bit of water, and drive them to your new home.
Transplant on a cool day, either in the morning or evening for best results. Good luck! We have wild blackberries on the property. The last two years I haven't been able to harvest before the wild critters got to them. Typically, there is a lot of fruit set, but the berries are very small. We keep bees, some of the bushes are very close to the beehives, so I doubt it's a pollination problem.
Should we try pruning the blackberries? I have blackberry plants that produce big, beautiful berries, but they are really tart. Is there something I can do to make them sweeter? More water, add something to the soil? It could be that the canes did not get enough water when fruit was forming or that the plants are not getting enough sun.
Or it may be your variety. You could fertilize them with an all-purpose fertilizer e. Apply 4 to 5 pounds peer 00 foot row, or for a small patch, sprinkle 3 to 4 tablespoons around each cane in early spring.
I have a thorned blackberry plant that is loaded with blackberries. The problem is that they are little. What am I doing wrong? This plant is 2 years old so this is the first year producing fruit. Our sources say that there is no single reason for poor fruit set; it may be due to fungi, viruses, lack of bees, and other things, including lack of bee activity. I have a HUGE blackberry bush in my backyard. My neighbors love me. I'm in the tipping phase but I see a few scattered blooms, should I pinch those off?
I have a question as to a comment. Today I found in my row of peonies 3 or 4 small fruit producing wild grown thorny blackberry vines. Assumingely grown from a birds calling card??
How do I maintain these? Do I remove the peonies or the berry bushes from each other to gave more space? Or leave all alone and build a trellis within all for the vine to grow upon?
If you want to keep them, it would be wise to transplant them out of your peony bed. Blackberries and raspberries will grow and spread like crazy, and could quickly overwhelm your peonies. How do I know if the bush is alive? It has been planted for several a months, no signs of life, just a dust grayish stick? I have fertilized and wated well each week. 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? 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. 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. 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. 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.
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