Get Almanac's Daily Updates Extended Forecasts Where to Buy Contact Us

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

Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Blackberries

Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener
Print Friendly and PDF

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: ‘Navaho,’ ‘Arapaho’  
  • Erect Thorny: ‘Cherokee,’ ‘Brazos,’ ‘Shawnee,’ and ‘Cheyenne’
  • Semi-erect Thornless: ‘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

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.

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.

Recipes
Blackberry Cobbler
Blackberry Soup
Refrigerator or Freezer Blackberry Jam
Fruit
About The Author
Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the website companion of The Old Farmer's Almanac. She covers gardening, plants, pest control, soil composition, seasonal and moon c...
Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

More Like This

Comments

<span>R Hays</span> Sun, 11/16/2014 - 10:21
check the ph of the soil. Blackberries do better in high acid soil. My mother planted 6 berry plants the same year I planted my first six. her berries never produced any fruit where mine are averaging 4.25 gallons per plant. I now have over 8,000 (yes eight thousand) plants planted and right now I am planting another 2,000 plants and will have 3,000 more coming in Feb. of 2015. My mothers soil ph is 7.4 and mine on my farm ranges from 4.9-5.3 ph. Most experts say that the optimum ph is 5.5-6.5 ph.
<span>Patricia Brothers</span> Mon, 08/05/2013 - 10:48
I find that store bought blackberries are tasteless- the wild ones that grow nearby are sweet and good - but I want to plant my own blackberries that taste like the wild blackberries - please tell me where to acquire the plants and how to care for them so that they produce the kind of blackberries that grow in the wild.
<span>R Hays</span> Sun, 11/16/2014 - 10:29
Every variety of blackberry has its own flavor and soluble solid (sugar) content. Just like apples, every variety of apple tastes different, from Granny Smith to Rome, and Gala and the Delicious apples. The berries you buy in the stores are picked before they are ripe so they will have a longer shelf life. You can get the same varieties that are in the stores and they will be sweeter because you pick them ripe. However, if you want the sweetest blackberry on the market, there is a new one that will be in nurseries this spring in limited numbers called Sweetie Pie. It has a sugar content of about 12%, the next sweetest berry is from Univ. of Ark called the Osage, with about 11.7% sugar then all of the other varieties that are on the market will have less all the way down to about 8% sugar very tart berries.
<span>D. Flowers</span> Mon, 03/02/2015 - 00:03
I live in central Alabama and was wondering what would be my best choice blackberry plant for a sweet, easy to raise and put on a large crop berry. It is hot and humid here. Please advise. Thank You D Flowers
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 03/04/2015 - 10:51

Visit a local garden center and see what varieties they offer. Here are a few suggestions for southern blackberries. Erect type blackberries: 'Cheyenne' fruit is sweet and large and has a slight raspberry flavor. 'Brison' is a high-yielding blackberry. 'Womack' produces medium-size fruit and high yields. Trailing type blackberry: 'Youngberry' has large sweet berries.

 

 <span>Terrie Resler</span> Sat, 08/03/2013 - 20:27
I have a blackberry bush and it produced very few blackberries with them ripening at different times. I have some new branches with lighter leaves, is this what i am supposed to trim back? The whole plant is less that 3ft tall and only has about 8 branches. I am not sure what a CANE looks like
<span>R Hays</span> Sun, 11/16/2014 - 10:34
Terrie, every variety of blackberry will have a ripening period of 4-6 weeks from the first berry getting ripe to the last one. So that is normal, the lighter leaves on the new growth is also normal, as the leaves get older they will get a darker green, do not trim these back as these are the canes that will produce berries next year. The cane is the vine/stalk that is coming out of the ground. Hope this helps.
<span>Charles Mcachran</span> Thu, 08/29/2013 - 21:50
There are different varieties of blackbeties. Some have a certain season for producing berries and some will produce berries over a longer period of time. I have thornless blackberries that produce berries for about 6 weeks starting around July 1. Mine will produce fruit on the canes (branches) for two yers, then die. New branches sprout each year. They must have 8 hours of full sun to produce well. The first year the canes are green. The second year they begin to turn brown and after the crop ripens they begin to turn fully brown and before winter, I remove them. This year, because of a cold start for spring, my berries were not as big as usual. I just bought a couple of bushes that produce berries all summer and I will see how this turns out.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 08/07/2013 - 16:34

Canes are the stems that are coming up from the soil. The canes that produced fruit this year can be pruned back. Leave all the new growth for next year.

 <span>Janice Webb</span> Sat, 08/31/2013 - 14:06
my blackberry plkant looks healthy,but it is one big stem growing up the trellis. No thorns on it and no berries. Is this a sucker branch? Should I cut it back?