When to start growing blackberries
How to Grow Blackberries - Complete Growing Guide
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well hello everybody welcome to another
very exciting complete growing guide
here on the mi garter Channel it's a
beautiful beautiful sunny day I am just
out enjoying it so I thought I'd bring
to you all a complete growing guide
because I was looking through the list
and I was reading all of your comments
on the past complete growing guide
asking for suggestions on ones we
haven't done yet and someone brought up
the point that we have not done
blackberry and raspberry yet so today's
episode is going to be on how to grow
blackberries and then the next complete
growing guide is going to be on how to
grow raspberries forewarning they are
both exactly the same but for
searchability I have to put two separate
videos out there otherwise I will get
somebody asking how to grow raspberries
even though we could cover them both in
the same episode and just call it how to
grow brambles so for those that watch
this channel pretty religiously you can
skip that episode I will not feel hurt
but it will contain the exact same
information I promise so only letting
you guys know that so the first thing to
know about blackberries is that you
actually have a very good selection to
choose from there are many many types of
blackberries out there so search around
and find ones that will meet your
criteria for instance we don't like
thorns on our blackberries because with
Geneva being around we wanted really
easy to grow blackberries that that she
could walk up and pick and not worry
about getting you know stuck with a
thorn so we went with thornless
varieties but there are lots of other
varieties out there there are some
beautiful options for those that like
options so we went with a thornless
variety but any variety will still apply
I only say that because I think
oftentimes people just assume
blackberries as being like a single
variety there are hundreds of varieties
of blackberries out there so fun tip for
that for those that do not yet know that
now when it comes to growing
blackberries it could not be more simple
I'm telling you what in fact we actually
did so little to this bed because this
was a this was a pre-existing garden bed
when we bought this houses was sitting
here and they actually had there's a
rosebush there and some other
daylilies and stuff and we didn't really
like how it looks so we move the daily
daylilies off and pretty much just kept
this soil here because we realized wow
this soil is perfect for growing
blackberries and raspberries
so blackberries do not like a super clay
heavy clay soil but they do like to have
a soil that holds onto water very well
and so we put them in this bed that has
a slightly higher clay content then I
guess are all of our other beds have but
what we've gone and done is we've added
about two to five percent organic matter
back into this bed in the form of
compost so what that's going to do is is
going to provide the the organic matter
that every plant needs but the clay is
actually going to hold on to that
moisture very well because raspberries
and blackberries are extremely prone to
drying out if you've ever seen a
shriveled up raisin raspberry that's
because it dried out and so one way you
can eliminate that it's just so common
it happens all the time and you lose so
much fruit but one way you can mitigate
that is by planting them in a soil that
has a ton of organic matter or some clay
and so since we're putting them here we
figured hey it's got the clay anyways
let's just add and it's not like really
heavy clay it's just got some clay in it
so normally would not be as ideal for
other plants but because it holds on to
water very well we're actually using it
to our advantage so that's something to
keep in mind that that raspberries and
blackberries can go in places that other
plants might not do as well now the next
thing to growing blackberries is
extremely important is to note sunlight
so we actually have a tree off to our
left and a tree off to our right but we
have a big opening in the center and
that's going to provide ideal conditions
for growing blackberries and raspberries
so for growing blackberries they really
do like having a period of full Sun but
then having some filtered Sun in between
because the hot day sun's you'll find do
in fact dry out the berries because the
berries that the blackberries and
raspberries don't have a whole lot of
protective foliage and most plants will
actually have
Eve's and their their their main
objective is to kind of shield the fruit
to protect from sunburn
however raspberries and blackberries
don't really have that their foliage is
very sparse since it's a vine and so
you'll find that like we talked about
kind of with drying out just being in
very hot Sun you'll find that the
berries have oftentimes a lot of Sun
scald on them and so you'll find that
giving them any more than eight hours of
Sun is actually kind of it's not going
to do you any good and in fact you're
going to actually suffer in some some
seasons if they're hotter than others
so since I always err on the side of
caution we've given them about five and
a half hours of Sun here so we got that
opening and then some beautiful just
kind of filtered Sun through the leaves
which is just great for growing
blackberries the next thing that I want
to talk about is fertilizing this is a
question that always comes up you know
since they're perennials do they do they
need any specific types of fertilizer
the answer is yes they do need a
specific type of fertilizer since
they've planted bare root in fact I'll
bring you in so you can see what we've
planted here we planted bare root canes
because they're the cheapest option out
there and we want to pull them out of
dormancy this applies to bare root if
you're just planting them or if you're
planting them even from from a plant
that you get from a nursery or even if
you already have them in the ground and
you just want to grow them better so in
the springtime it is crucial to feed
them with a high nitrogen fertilizer so
we've gone through we fertilize every
single plant with trifecta and what that
will do is the plants will take up that
fast-acting nitrogen and it will
kick-start the plant to grow leaves
because if you don't have a very strong
sturdy plant there's really nothing for
it to fruit on and raspberries Mutchler
blackberries much like raspberries and
all the other brambles they will fruit
on new growth so if you have old canes
you'll find that they won't fruit
anything and then you just have a big
tangled up mess of no fruit so the
secret is to boost new growth every
spring because that's what they're going
to fruit on and they'll fruit that same
year on that new growth so big pointer
there
so how so getting them off to to the
races is a good idea so we've got them
fertilized up blood meal is also a
really good option fish emulsion is a
less potent but still a very good
nitrogen option but something that has
nitrogen in it then come fall around
early October ish I'm depending on the
type of blackberry some will ripen in
October but just after the fruit has
been harvested you want to come back and
follow up with a high phosphorus
fertilizer what that's going to do is is
going to prep the root system for for
winter and to go dormant so since you've
already gotten the fruit off of it and
most blackberries will kind of fruit all
around the same time some will fruit you
know throughout the course of like a
month month and a half but pretty much
once fruiting is done it's done and
you're not going to get any more so you
might as well get it ready for winter so
as soon as you harvest usually in August
August September October are your months
for blackberries pick them off and then
prep prep the plant for winter using a
high phosphorus fertilizer again we just
follow up with trifecta because the
plant will take up that phosphorus
that's in trifecta plus but if you want
another option bone meals another great
organic option and and that's going to
give you a very good source of
phosphorus to prep the root system for
winter now the next thing I want to talk
about is watering
so we also talked about this with soil
but I figured I might as well make it a
topic on watering because we do stuff a
little bit differently here than some do
because it actually really helps us out
so coming in close for this one so I can
demonstrate demonstrate has already done
but I can show you what we've done to
conserve water so that we don't have any
drying out of our berries and fruit and
it's also going to help you save water
during the hot season so coming close
check this out alright so what we've
gotten done is we've planted the plants
slightly below soil level and we've
created kind of a crater here what that
will do is all the water whether it's
you watering or rainfall will actually
go into the crater and soak in being way
more efficient with where the wall
is going and that's you can see that is
extremely effective because we had a
rain about two days ago and I have not
watered these scents and it's still very
very nicely damp which is great and you
can see I mean the outer soil is dry as
a bone I mean it's just blowing away so
we are going to go through we are going
to go through here and mulch this don't
you worry which is a good idea if you
want to helps conserve more moisture and
just kind of keep the soil quality
intact which is something we're going to
follow up and do but but you get the
method here and this is going to really
be a lifesaver for conserving water and
your fruit quality if I don't think I
wanted to talk about when growing
blackberries was soil pH this is
something that you really do want to to
kind of keep up on if you have already
kind of slightly acidic soil that's
going to be great you don't have to do
anything and they'll do awesome but
blackberries do prefer a slightly acidic
soil of right around 6.0 to 6.5 so by
having your soil slightly acidic it's
going to allow the plants the ability to
uptake much more nutrients stay stay far
healthier and disease-free if your soil
is alkaline you'll find that one of the
problems that you have is that the
blackberries will turn dark around the
edges it's a very common problem and
that can be solved by just adding some
soil acidifier some sulfur things like
that and what that's going to do is it's
going to lower the pH again back to
ideal levels and you'll find that that
that those dark edges might stick around
for a little bit but they will recede
and the leaves will turn green again so
I do get asked that a lot too with
blackberries and people often times
panic and and it's really also one of
those things that is kind of it's it's
not a major concern because it's so
fixable and it's not like it's really
harming the plant the only time I would
harm the plant is if you left it for the
whole season like that it would begin to
have some some issues and that stress
would take its toll eventually but if
you leave it for like a month or two
with these dark you know the dark leaves
its are the dark edges around the leaves
it's not going to harm anything in fact
I might even have a some example of one
that I just put in a small
small container to get it kind of
growing and up to size before you
transplanted it I think had some dark
edges so I'll show you that if I have
one aha I did have one so this right
here is growing in pretty average soil
here it's just some native soil that we
dug up and we're really just using this
as a temporary holding space the soil
quality is not as great I'll probably
have to go back and fix it but you can
see here the leaves are very very dark
and that darkness is because of a pH
imbalance if I made the soil slightly
more acidic you'll find that the leaves
will return back to kind of this state
here and even this one is still having
some some pH problems as you can see but
it's not a big deal I'm not concerned
I'm just going to go back here put some
soil acidifier in and mulch with some
some really good finish compost and it's
going to fix all these problems it's
just because the the native soil is
quite clay and that clay has a tendency
to be slightly alkaline and so that's
all it is it's really not a big issue at
all but it's something that you do want
to keep in check so there you go there
is all there is to growing blackberries
I hope you all enjoy hopefully you learn
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enjoyed hopefully you learned something
new and as always this is Luke from the
mi Gardner channel reminding you to grow
big or go home see ya bye
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