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How to Grow Blackberries: The Complete Guide

Photo Credit
Pixabay
Botanical Name
Rubus fruticosus
Plant Type
Fruit
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Soil pH
Acidic
Bloom Time
Summer
Flower Color
White
Hardiness Zone
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Blackberries

Catherine Boeckmann

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.

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.

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.)

Read Next

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 one 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 one 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 five to six 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 one to two inches of new primocanes when they are four 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 four-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 four-foot cross arms at the top of a six-foot post. Install a three-foot cross arm about two 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 five feet tall, remove the top two 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.

Types

Here are some favorite blackberry varieties to investigate, but be sure to ask about varieties that fit your growing zone.

  • Erect Thornless: â€˜Navaho,’ â€˜Arapaho’  
  • Erect Thorny: â€˜Cherokee,’ ‘Brazos,’ â€˜Shawnee,’ and â€˜Cheyenne’
  • Semi-erect Thornless: â€˜Black Satin’
  • Trailing: Olallie

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.
Gardening Products

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.

Pests/Diseases

  • 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.

Recipes

Blackberry Cobbler
Blackberry Soup
Refrigerator or Freezer Blackberry Jam
Fruit
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

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

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Comments

Hi Jessica,
You will need to build your raised bed at least 2 feet deep. Use landscape fabric or hardware cloth for the lining.

Philip F (not verified)

9 years 2 months ago

How long does it take for patents issued on blackberry and raspberry cultivars to expire?

Hoyki (not verified)

9 years 3 months ago

An old abandoned house down my street is being torn down within the month.I have been given permission to attempt to take the black berry patch that has been there as long as anyone can remember. I'm in Northwest New York. What would be the best way to go about this. Do you think they will survive early transplant?

Fall is the best time to transplant blackberries but it should be OK to do it now. Cut the canes back to about 5 feet before digging up the plants. Get as much of the roots as you can and put the plants in plastic bags to transport them. Plant them ASAP in the new location. Dig the holes about twice as big as the rootball and add some compost. Make sure to water the plants often until they get established.

EvzRib (not verified)

9 years 3 months ago

I've had zero luck growing these beautiful berries in full sun. The leaves turn brown and die. I don't overwater them either. They seem to do better in mostly shade and very little sun. I live in SoCal so am I off base here or am I doing something wrong. I made this great arbor to grow them on in full sun and it's still empty :(

Hmmm.  Blackberries love California weather and definitely need full direct sun for 6 to 8 hours per day if you want a lot of fruit. How's their soil? It needs to be well-draining.
When leaves turn brown and die, this suggests that you could have spider mites.Do you see signs of this (dust)? Insecticidal soup spray usually does the trick. Perhaps contact our cooperative extension for more local information.

KEN FLOWERS (not verified)

9 years 3 months ago

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO PROPAGATE THORNLESS BLACKBERRIES.I WAS TOLD THAT I COULD USE DIP N GROW

The best time might depend on the type of propagation method and your location. The best method of propagation would depend on the habit of your thornless blackberries. In general, tip layering would be OK for semi-erect and trailing types; start this in late summer or early fall and then prune them off of the mother plant in spring, and transplant. Root cuttings can be done in fall, when the plant is turning dormant. Hardwood cuttings (and rooting hormone), when the plant is dormant; softwood cuttings, in spring, when the plant is beginning to grow.
 
Depending on your climate, the timing might change a bit. For best advice for your area, you might contact your county's Cooperative Extension. For contact info, see:
 
http://www.almanac.com/content/cooperative-extension-services

Jo-Ann grundy (not verified)

9 years 4 months ago

Hi I moved into a new house last October and there didn't seem to be much plant life in the garden. It's now July and I'm fighting with a thorny blackberry bush to get out of my back door. This thing is monstrous at nearing 10ft tall and 4ft across. It's producing hundreds if not thousands of black berries but I just can't fight through it any longer let alone the hundreds of bees which come with it. What is the best way to trim it down a bit without causing any harm please?

For starters, you might cut down to the ground any canes that have already fruited (floricanes)--those with dead leaves, or old fruit on them. This is usually done in late summer, after the floricanes have stopped fruiting. At any time, you can remove any other canes that are damaged or diseased, or remove any canes that extend at ground level beyond the area where you want the plant to grow. If possible, you can set up a trellis and tie the canes that you would like to keep to it, to keep them from blocking the doorway. You can also trim back the primocanes (the 1-year-old canes that will fruit the second year) to about 3 or 4 feet. Some gardeners select just 4 to 8 primocanes to keep for next year's harvest, and prune out the other primocanes.
 
In spring, gardeners often prune off the tips of the canes back to about 24 inches, which encourages branching and more fruit.