Growing Blackberries Naturally

Neat tip Crt!

Yes a perfectly ripe blackberry is hard to beat!

The blackberries are producing a ton of beautiful flowers in their second year this year. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite flowers and plants in the food forest!

The blackberries are growing like crazy their second year and are producing lots of new vigorous shoots!

The blackberries are in all different stages of development. Some small ones are starting to form, new flowers are blooming, and new flower buds are still starting to form!

Are the new shoots coming up near the base or away from previous year's canes? My thornless BlackBerry does not spread like the wild ones, maybe this clumping trait is desirable for breeders. I wanted more blackberries so I tried layering one cane last year. It was super easy and worked out great. Sure I am going to layer more new canes this year.

Mine have surprised me how much they've spread this year, which I'm really glad they have. The majority of new shoots have popped up right next to the main shoot or within about 5 feet. I had another one though that popped up about 10 feet away from the main shoot on the blackberry plant that grew the most last year. At first I thought it was from a wild one, but it was thornless.

Blackberries getting close to being ripe

Our earliest ones are at that stage too; bought as "Navaho big and early" although the merchant has been known to get creative with names. They are indeed early but not especially big. Nice bushy upright growth though.

The thing is that with our REALLY large-fruiting blackberries (Triple crown) which ripen a couple of weeks later, the berry is super large, but the seeds are also noticeably larger. For some people that's unpleasant. When storing blackberries in the form of liqueur it doesn't matter

Spring warmth was delayed this year by an appearance of northern winds for about 2 weeks; in mid-May there was still a day when overnight temps dipped to just a hair above freezing. So just a couple of days ago we were still able to pick Haskap berries; right now it's all early raspberries (Autumn bliss + Golden bliss), redcurrant and blackcurrant, and then we'll move straight onto blackberries. It's hard but someone's gotta do it.

What are the thoughts on getting named varietals?
Ate there some that produce considerably better than others?
I have big box store berries that seem to di quite well,
as long as I keep the grape vines  off of them.

I didn't read the whole thread, so I apologize if this has been covered.

I try to get the ones that have originated near me or in a similar climate to mine. So far all of the ones I've tried have been good growers and taste good!

I like the thornless ones, as I've been cut too many times by the thorny wild ones.

I hope to create some new locally adapted varieties soon also by planting a lot of the seeds!

Hope your Blackberries do as well for you as the Black Raspberries did around here. We're right in the middle of the season & that cold, rainy spring made them sweeter this year than they've ever been.

I hope the same for the Dewberries next month, albeit we are going into a bit of excessive heat this week, so I doubt it, if that continues for long. Glad I caught it before all five plants that I managed to sprout this year died.

We've had a lot of rain here too recently and like you mentioned, it's really seemed to make the blackberries extra sweet!

Thanks for this thread. I just read through all the instructions from our state extension office, and it's a travesty of advice about using Roundup (can't believe they actually have the gall to recommend it by the brand name, even) and all manner of fungicides and other -cides.

I arrived here looking for an answer to this question: Do you really need to tip the canes?

I'll be interested in seeing your harvest. So far here in year two, all I've done is cut back the errant suckers and train the canes along a wire strung between fence posts.

I haven't tipped any canes, and the blackberries look super healthy, are spreading everywhere, and producing like crazy. They were so sweet, flavorful, and delicious!

I picked about 40 blackberries today and took a few pictures in between stuffing my face!

Steve Thorn wrote:I haven't tipped any canes, and the blackberries look super healthy, are spreading everywhere, and producing like crazy. They were so sweet, flavorful, and delicious!

I picked about 40 blackberries today and took a few pictures in between stuffing my face!

AWESOME. Thanks, Steve! I'm in 6a/7, too, and I got my blackberries for $1 each (x3) from the Missouri Dept of Conservation. Your example is giving me something to look forward to!

Are you going to trim out the canes after they bear fruit and die?