Blackberry

[Chic Rustler]

What do you guys nnow about blackberries?
We have a very large bush on the property line. Maybe 25 feet long by 15 feet wide by 12 feet tall. It has just started making berries and some are red but they are very small. Probably the size of mulberries. What can i do to help it out?

 

[Britesea]

DH won't allow me to plant blackberries anywhere on the property. He's still traumatized by the Himalayan blackberries that ate the tank house, broke the cement patio, and started growing into the house when he was young...

 

[Hens and Roos]

canes will die once it has produced fruit- we clean out dead canes from our raspberries and blackberries each year. Right now any new plants growing will be next year's producers. We also have blackcaps but we don't do much in the way of maintenance with them.

@NH Homesteader

 

[Hens and Roos]

can you add some fertilizer around the base of the bush? We have a raspberry patch and the plants were very short and struggled to grow-once we added poop/waste hay from our rabbits and goats the plants started growing and doing better.

 

[Hinotori]

I'm not sure what you use to make blackberries grow. I can't get rid of the things here since Himalayan blackberries are a nasty invasive even if the fruit is good.

I dump chicken litter around my thornless blackberries once a year. They do good with that. Those are the only ones I've planted.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Oh yeah, hi @Hens and Roos! Nice to see you here!!

 

[Chic Rustler]

Thanks for all the replies! If i get any spare rabbit poop, thats where it is going to go.

 

[NH Homesteader]

The bears and I share... I can tell where they've been most days, usually right where I was headed!

 

[Hinotori]

Some examples from here.

Pacific trailing blackberry. Likes to grow under evergreens. Doesn't like full sun. Canes are weak and run along ground for maybe 10 feet. Will grow over brush.

Himalayan blackberry. Canes can be 20 feet long and I've seen some an inch or more in diameter. Super invasive

Cutleaf blackberry. Not quite as big or aggressive, but still invasive. Easy enough to control.

My thornless blackberry. Gets maybe 5 foot. Very tame.

Thimbleberry. Red berries that come off as a thin cap. Not very juicy but they taste good. About 5 foot tall or less. Thorns like raspberry.

Dwarf thornless raspberry. About 2 foot tall and bushy. Container plant.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I WISH they'd run wild on my property, lol. I love me some blackberries!