If you’re thinking about planting blackberry bushes in your home garden, rest assured that you’re in for a special treat. Blackberries are low-maintenance once established, and your efforts will get rewarded with a bountiful harvest of luscious berries year after year. Keep reading to find out how to grow blackberry bushes at home, along with all the essentials for blackberry bush care.
Blackberries are delicious and nutritious fruits packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. They’re perfect for eating fresh off the vine, making tasty jams and baked goods, giving your favorite smoothie or cocktail recipes a fresh twist, or freezing to use later.
If you have a spot with full sun and rich soil that drains well, you can grow a blackberry bush. Or, try growing blackberries in containers or raised beds. Follow these blackberry growing tips to enjoy a yearly supply of fresh, homegrown berries.
Essential Tips and Tricks for Planting Blackberry Bushes
There are a few crucial factors to keep in mind when growing blackberry bushes. Knowing what type of blackberries you planted and understanding how the plants grow is vital for giving them the proper care. Depending on the variety, blackberries grow in USDA hardiness zones 3-9.
Almost all blackberry cultivars are floricanes. That means the fruiting canes are vegetative in their first year and produce fruit during their second growing season. As such, annual pruning of the second-year canes is essential to avoid ending up with unmanageable bramble bushes.
You might be asking, “How tall do blackberry bushes grow?” The plants’ mature size depends on the variety. In general, blackberry bushes grow pretty large. Trellising is often helpful for containing the spreading blackberry vines.
There are numerous blackberry varieties to choose from. Generally speaking, blackberry cultivars get classified into three groups: erect, semierect, and trailing. Additionally, there are thorny and thornless blackberries.
Erect blackberry types grow in a columnar shape and support themselves. On the other hand, trailing varieties have a sprawling growth habit and grow best on a trellis. Semierect cultivars don’t naturally climb, but the plants do require additional support.
Best Blackberry Varieties
- Arapaho (USDA zones 4-9, erect, heat-tolerant, early ripening, 4-6 feet tall, 4 feet wide, thornless)
- Baby Cakes (USDA zones 4-8, dwarf erect, disease-resistant, compact growth habit, extra sweet flavor, 3-4 feet tall and wide, thornless)
- Black Satin (USDA zones 5-8, semierect, heat-tolerant, prolific producer, 5-6 feet tall and wide, thornless)
- Chester (USDA zones 5-9, semi-erect, heat-tolerant, disease-resistant, extra-large fruit, 3-5 feet tall and wide, thornless)
- Illini Hardy (USDA zones 3-8, erect, exceptionally cold-hardy, high yields, extra sweet flavor, 5-6 feet tall and wide, thorny)
- Navaho (USDA zones 6-10, erect, disease-resistant, high yields, 4-6 feet tall, 3-5 feet wide, thornless)
- Obsidian (USDA zones 5-9, trailing, disease-resistant, reliable producer, early ripening, 6 feet tall and wide, thorny)
- Ouachita (USDA zones 5-9, erect, heat-tolerant, disease-resistant, 4-5 feet tall and wide, thornless)
- Shawnee (USDA zones 5-9, erect, disease-resistant, early ripening, extra sweet flavor, 4-5 feet tall, 5-6 feet wide, thorny)
- Triple Crown (USDA zones 5-8, trailing, disease-resistant, extra sweet flavor, large fruit, 10-12 feet tall, 6-7 feet wide, thornless)
Where to Plant Blackberry Shrubs
Choosing a suitable blackberry planting site is essential. For the best results, make sure the soil is rich in organic matter and has good drainage. Also, look for a spot free from rocks, weeds, and other obstructions. Blackberries thrive in full sun to partial shade, with a minimum of four hours of direct sunlight per day.
Blackberry bushes grow best in slightly acidic soil with a pH level between 5.5-6.5. Contact your local cooperative extension office to order a soil test if you’re unsure of your soil pH.
Depending on your climate, it’s best to plant blackberry canes and bare root plants while they are still dormant in late fall, late winter, or early spring. Doing so reduces the risk of transplant shock. However, blackberries can get planted any time the ground isn’t frozen.
Blackberries need plenty of space to spread out. Overcrowding your plants often results in stunted growth, increased risk of disease problems, and diminished fruit production. Spacing between each plant should be at least five or six feet. If you’d like, plant blackberries in a line to make a hedgerow.
How to Transplant a Blackberry Bush
To prepare your planting area:
- Apply a generous layer of dark-colored mulch or organic compost a week or two before planting to warm the soil.
- Dig a hole approximately twice the size of the plant’s root ball.
- Fill in around the root system with a 50/50 mixture of garden soil and compost.
After planting, water them deeply. It’s best not to fertilize new blackberry plants until they start putting on new growth.
Mulch around the plant’s base with organic matter like bark chips, leaves, grass clippings, straw, or pine needles to insulate the soil, retain moisture, protect against erosion, and suppress weeds.
Blackberry bush flowers are self-fertile, meaning they don’t require a second plant to produce fruit. However, growing multiple plants together helps generate a higher fruit yield.
Blackberry Bush Care
Unlike some other plants, blackberries shouldn’t dry out between waterings. Keep the soil consistently moist, especially during hot and dry weather. On average, blackberry plants need approximately one to two inches of water per week.
Although blackberries aren’t especially heavy feeders, they grow best when fertilized regularly. Use an organic, all-purpose fertilizer specifically designed for acid-loving plants once in late spring and again in late summer or early fall after they finish fruiting.
Coffee grounds, eggshells, and wood ash make excellent supplemental blackberry fertilizers. They add trace amounts of nutrients like calcium, magnesium, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus to the soil and also help maintain an acidic soil pH.
Pruning Blackberry Bushes
Pruning is a vital part of blackberry bush care. Unlike some raspberry varieties, which are primocanes and grow fruit on first-year canes, most blackberries are floricanes. That means that they produce fruit only on second-year canes.
Prune all old canes to the ground in late fall or early winter after the plants have gone dormant. However, wait to cut them back until the wood has completely dried out. That way, the nutrients can return to the root system. After removing old canes, begin training the new canes of trailing blackberry varieties to climb up the trellis with wires or loose plant ties. To learn more about the benefits of pruning in winter, check out this article from the University of Illinois.
Erect and semierect blackberry cultivars typically sprout canes from a central crown as well as from root suckering. To control their size and shape, remove any unwanted suckers as they appear and shorten lateral branches as needed. To encourage branching, prune first-year canes when they reach four feet tall.
Growing Blackberries in Containers
If you’d like to grow blackberries in your container garden, look for a compact, thornless variety like Baby Cakes, Chester, or Navaho. Find a pot that’s a minimum of 12 inches deep and wide with several drainage holes at the bottom.
Container-grown blackberry bushes generally need more water and fertilizer than in-ground plantings because nutrients leach out of the soil as excess water drains. Feed your blackberry plants in early spring as soon as they start putting on new growth and again in late spring when they begin flowering. After they finish fruiting in late summer or early fall, fertilize them a third time. Nonetheless, too much fertilizer leads to excessive leaf/wood growth and reduced fruit production, so don’t overdo it.
Eventually, the root system will outgrow the pot. Every two to four years, remove the shrub from its container and divide it in half using a sharp shovel. It’s best to divide the plant in late fall or early spring when the root system is dormant.
Harvesting and Storing Blackberries
Most blackberry fruits ripen to black, while some produce both black and red berries. Pick fresh blackberries as soon as they ripen for the best flavor and to encourage more vigorous fruit production. During the peak fruiting season, harvest your blackberries every few days. Most blackberry varieties begin flowering in mid-spring and fruit from late June or early July until early September.
Store your homegrown blackberries in the refrigerator for up to a week. For the best flavor and texture, use them as quickly as possible. Blackberries are highly perishable, so freezing or canning large berry harvests is a great way to extend their shelf life. Use your frozen blackberries within one year.
If you’re planting blackberry bushes for the first time, rest assured that it will be well worth the effort. Once established, blackberry plants are relatively low-maintenance. As long as you plant them in a location with ample sunshine, rich soil, and plenty of space to spread out, you’ll get a large blackberry patch within several years. You’ll get to enjoy an abundant harvest of delicious blackberries for many years to come.
Have you ever tried planting blackberry bushes at home? Feel free to share your experiences or ask any questions you may have in the comments! If you found these blackberry growing tips useful, please share this post about how to grow blackberry bushes with your fellow gardening enthusiasts.