Blackberries
for the Home Garden
Small fruits are becoming popular additions to the home garden. Blackberries,
in particular, are productive and well suited for homeowners in most regions of
North Carolina. Breeding programs have released a number of thornless variet¬
ies that are large, taste great, and because they have no thorns, are much eas¬
ier to harvest than berries found in the wild. In addition, studies have shown
that this fruit can help fight cancer, decrease cardiovascular disease, and slow
down brain aging And best of all, one blackberry plant can easily supply up to
10 pounds of delicious berries each year.
Blackberries are divided by their growth habit (trail¬
ing, semi-trailing, and erect), and by the presence or
absence of thorns (thorny or thornless). All blackber¬
ries benefit from some sort of support such as a trel¬
lis or poles to support their canes. If you have room
for several plants, select early-, mid-, and late-season
varieties to extend your harvest (Table 1). Each of
these varieties should perform well in all regions of
North Carolina except where temperatures drop
below 1 0° F.
Site Preparation
Prepare an easy-to-access location for your blackber¬
ries a year before planting. Blackberries need full sun
and plenty of room to grow. The soil should be a
well-drained sandy loam soil. A soil high in organic
matter is beneficial under non-irrigated conditions. If
the soil is not well drained, establish the plants in a
raised bed.
Establishment and Maintenance
Erect and semi-trailing blackberry plants should be
planted about 3 to 4 feet apart, while the trailing
types need 6 to 8 feet between plants. They can be
planted in the early spring several weeks before the
last frost. Each plant can produce 10 to 20 pounds
of fruit, so four to six plants can easily produce
ample berries for a family of four.
Dig a hole that is large enough to allow the
roots to spread out evenly. Set bare-rooted plants
into the soil at the depth they were grown in the
nursery. Fill in the hole and tamp down the soil.
Water the newly set plants well, but don't fertilize
until 3 or 4 weeks later.
Fertilize after growth starts with a complete fer¬
tilizer such as 1 0-1 0-1 0 at 5 pounds per 1 00 linear
feet (or about 3 to 4 ounces around the base of each
plant). In established plantings, apply the fertilizer in
March well before the plant starts to produce flowers
and fruit.
Support the canes with a trellis. Erect and semi-
trailing types perform well using a two-wire system
with wires at 3 and 5 feet from the ground (Fig 1 ).
As the canes emerge in the spring, evenly distrib¬
ute them on the wires to form a fan pattern (Fig. 2)
Once the canes have reached the top wire, remove
the tips to encourage branching. Trailing types set
further apart require a different system. Start with a
similar trellis with wires at 3 and 5 feet, except do not
tip the canes. Instead, allow them to grow to the top
wire and then weave them back down to the bottom
wire and back up to the top wire to fill in the space
between plants (Fig. 3)
Blackberries require about 1 inch of water each
week during the growing season. During fruit devel¬
opment, the plants will need about 2 gallons per
plant each day. Mulch placed around the base of
the plant reduces the need for water and helps keep
weeds under control. Pine straw, wood chips, and
seedless grasses are good mulches.
The fruit is ripe and at its peak sweetness when
it is a dull black color. Pick fruits that are shiny black
if you need to store them in your refrigerator. They
won't be as sweet, but they will last longer. Harvest
will continue for 2 to 3 weeks, depending on variety.
As soon as all the fruit is harvested, prune out
all the old fruiting canes and remove them from the
garden, as they no longer produce fruit. Continue
to tie, tip, or train the new canes that have not pro¬
duced fruit to the trellis until growth stops in the fall.
During winter, prune laterals on erect types to 12
to 1 6 inches, and leave only 4 to 8 canes per square
yard for fruit production in the following year
(Fig 4).
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