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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

Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Blackberries

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.

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

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Comments

<span>R Hays</span> Sun, 11/16/2014 - 10:37
No it is the main cane of the plant. It will produce next year
<span>Johnpeters</span> Sat, 08/03/2013 - 17:37
I'm having this discussion with the father in law. At the end of our eating season, about the 1st of july, I mowed the bushes while cutting the grass. Today, 1st of august, I cut them down again. Father in law says to only cut once. I would like to keep cutting them until Oct/Nov. What say you?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Wed, 08/07/2013 - 16:20

Your blackberry yield would be much better if you didn't mow at all and only cut out the old canes that fruited this year. That way you save the new canes to bear fruit next year. You can mow 1/2 the bushes down to clear more space but you may have to wait longer for the berries to grow. Mow only once!

 <span>Kev Smith</span> Sun, 07/28/2013 - 07:03
i have a blackberry bush which i cut back every year it is 4 yrs old 1st and 2nd gave lots of fruit 3rd ND 4TH NO FLOWERS OR FRUIT ?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 07/29/2013 - 14:34

There are many reasons why blackberries fail; fungus, virus, lack of pollinators, and insect injury to name a few. It sounds like your berries may be infected with the fungus Cercosporella rubi. You should continue to cut back the berries yearly, but next year when the growing season begins, apply fungicide every other week for 8 weeks (4 applications). About 4 days before you are ready to pick the berries, apply another dose of fungicide. Once all of the berries are harvested, apply another dose. Good luck next year!

 <span>Martha Hunt</span> Sat, 07/27/2013 - 09:12
I have vines that are turning brown to a purple black. Some fruit dried up and dead and some still good off the same stock. What to do?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 07/29/2013 - 12:53
It sounds like your blackberries have a fungus called Leptosphaeria coniothyrium. You will need to remove and destroy the infected canes during dry weather so that the disease does not spread. The fungus can be carried by the wind to other plants and has the ability to overwinter.
<span>Hummingbirdbear</span> Fri, 07/26/2013 - 09:37
I have tons of wild blackberries all over my property. They produce quite well they have grown with no pruning or picking for at least 7 years or more. They taste great. but weeds and wild roses are starting to take over. what can I do to save them? A friend and I have decided to start picking them and selling them at the farmer's market. any help would be great.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 07/26/2013 - 10:40

You need to prune and thin your blackberries and cut back or remove as much of the weeds and wild roses as you can. Then put down a few inches of mulch around all the bushes to keep the weeds down.

 <span>Charles Mcachran</span> Thu, 08/29/2013 - 22:07
When I tried mulching my blackberries to cut down on the grass and weeds I got bugs and insects in the mulch. The birds came and got the bugs and insects along with my blackberries so I gave up on the mulch and do the best I can to eliminate the grass and weeds. I do not like to use chemicals in my blackberry patch.