How To Grow a Blackberry Bush At Home

Planting a Blackberry at Home

Growing your own blackberry bushes can be very rewarding, and many plants are successfully grown to an age of 20 years. Once you get a blackberry at home well established, you can take cuttings or propagate using other methods to increase the number of plants and yields. Luckily black berries can tolerate a few growing conditions and soil types, which increases your chance of harvesting mouth-watering berries. If you are interested in growing a blackberry at home, check out these recommendations to get started.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 1

Choose a variety and planting locations. If you are not an expert at growing a blackberry at home, you should research varieties before making a selection for your yard. There are quite a few varieties that bare different sized fruits or maybe disease resistant. They also come in bush plants and trailing varieties. Try researching blackberry plant varieties to find plants that grow well in your planting zone using the Internet. Ask the folks at the local nursery what varieties they recommend and why.

Step 2

Find the perfect planting location for a blackberry at home. Blackberry plants need plenty of sun to produce flowers to grow the berries. Look for a place that gets at least six hours of sun daily, and make sure the location offers easy access to a garden hose for watering. An ideal location is sunny and out of the wind. If you are considering the trailing variety and have a fence in the sun, you might want to grow a home blackberry along the fence railing and save the expense of buying a trellis.

Prepare the planting location. Clear the area of all weeds, rocks and sticks. Check the planting instructions for the hole size requirements. Dig a hole with an appropriate width and depth. Growing a blackberry at home requires good drainage. If your soil is overly sandy or is heavy with clay, add organic matter and supplement the soil with leaves, hay or compost. These supplements will improve soil structure and help to provide proper drainage.

Step 3

Blackberries grow best with a soil pH of 5.5 to 7. You may need to spend a couple of dollars to get a soil tester and adjust the soil with amendments if your pH levels are far from these recommendations. Get a good start by planting a home blackberry bush in the spring.

Step 4

After you have prepared the hole, soil and added necessary amendments, plant the bushes or trailing berry plants according to planting instructions on the plant label. Water thoroughly and deeply.

Step 5

Prune the home blackberry back around six inches after planting. Do not worry that you are going to lose berries because they do not produce any berries during the first year. Cutting back will help plants to grow their roots and strengthen. Provide water weekly. Fertilize the home blackberry the following year to produce your first batch of berries.

 

Tips

If you take good care of blackberry plants they can live for as long as 15 to about 20 years. Should you have problems with birds eating the ripe berries it may be necessary to cover plants with bird netting. When berries begin to ripen on a home blackberry, you should pick them about twice a week.

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