Blackberries are easy to grow. A diverse array of blackberry varieties are native to almost all of North America. They are especially abundant in areas with warm summer days, cool nights, and plenty of moisture.
黑莓是由许多被称为核果的小水果组成的集合水果,在口味和生长习性上与覆盆子相似。黑莓从六月下旬开始大量开花。The fruit is ripe by mid-July.
黑莓的味道是黑暗和丰富的独特组合酸甜的美味夏天的款待。黑莓可以作为冰淇淋的配料,添加到甜点或冰沙中,或者作为果酱或果冻保存起来,一年四季都可以享用。每从自家花园里采摘一杯碎黑莓,你就能得到半品脱的果酱、果冻或糖浆。
Grow Blackberries For Profit
The goal of both rural and urban homesteaders is to develop self-sufficiency by growing our own fruits and vegetables.
If properly planted and managed, a blackberry patch can produce an abundance of fresh and flavorful berries; more than enough for canning, preserving, sharing with family and friends, and selling at the farmer’s market.
Just three or four blackberry plants will more than supply the needs of a family of four. Commercial growers can anticipate a yield of 6,000 pounds per season from a well-managed one-acre blackberry bramble.
Types Of Blackberries
Divided into three main groups, blackberries are distinguished by a difference in the growth habit of their canes: trailing, semi-erect, and erect. Hybrids also exist.
- Trailing blackberriesgrow lower to the ground, so they may need more trellising or support if you don’t want them turning into a ground cover.
- Erect blackberriessupport themselves more like a bush or shrub, and may not require trellising.
- Semi-erect blackberriesfall somewhere in the middle.
- Hybrid blackberriesmay be crossed with other cane fruits like raspberries.
Blackberries have a perennial root system with biennial canes. The new shoots, known as primocanes, develop during the first growing season. The primocanes are retained through the winter. During the second year of growing, primocanes are referred to as floricanes. As the floricanes mature, they bloom, bear fruit, and then die off after flowering.
Readthis excellent primer from Colorado State Universityfor more information.
Erect Blackberries
This type of blackberries has stiff arching canes that are somewhat self-supporting. However, they are much easier to handle when trellised and pruned. Summer prune or tip primocanes to encourage branching and increase fruit production on the second-year floricanes. Plants can become invasive to an area as it can produce new primocanes (suckers) from the roots.
Erect blackberries which produce fruit with relatively large seeds. Flavor and aroma are not considered as intense as in the training blackberry cultivars. They are semi-hardy in climates with rapid springtime temperature shifts, like Colorado.
Primocane-fruiting cultivars of erect blackberries produce fruit on the new canes. This makes management easier as the canes can be cut to the ground each winter.
Semi-Erect Blackberries
半直立的黑莓植株无刺,从树冠产生旺盛、粗壮、直立的藤蔓。从根部不产生primocanes。在夏天修剪primocanes,以促进分枝和增加floricanes的果实产量。需要一个棚架来支撑这些手杖。半直立的黑莓通常比蔓生或直立的高产。果实品质与直立的黑莓相似。
Blackberry/Red Raspberry Hybrids
These are generally natural crosses between blackberries and raspberries. Because the receptacle (white core) comes off with the fruit, they are generally considered a type of blackberry. Popular cultivars include Boysen (Boysenberry), Logan (Loganberry), and Tay (Tayberry).
For most homesteaders, orderly rows of blackberry bushes present the easiest harvesting opportunities. However, you can cultivate blackberries mixed with other fruit-bearing shrubs.
What Is The Difference Between Raspberries & Blackberries?
除了味道、颜色和大小之外,覆盆子和黑莓的主要区别在于果实是否保留了白色的果核。对于覆盆子来说,花托或果核会留在植株上,果实看起来是“空心的”。With blackberries, the core stays with the fruit.
Best Varieties Of Thornless Blackberries For Homestead Cultivation
- Apache– This variety, developed by the University of Arkansas, produces large conical fruit with excellent quality and flavor. Apache ripens mid-July with high production. Sunburn can be an issue after rain. Erect, sturdy canes are self-supporting. Canes are vigorous and prolific: fruit is well presented for picking. Apache is resistant to orange rust and winter hardiness is similar to other thornless varieties.
- Arapaho– Another variety developed at the University of Arkansas dependably produces medium sized, firm and flavorful berries with smaller seeds than most varieties. Arapaho produces berries early in the season for a concentrated harvest. Canes are vigorous and erect with reported good hardiness.
- Black Satin– A late ripening variety developed by the United States Department of Agriculture, Black Satin produces a large, firm, dull blackberry with a tart taste. A vigorous producer, Black Stain is one of the most winter hardy varieties available. Because the berries remain firm after picking with little breakdown, it transports well to sell at farmer’s markets.
Site And Soil Preparation For Blackberries
Blackberries do not grow well in heavy clay soils. Compacted soil makes it difficult for the roots to spread out and grow, and clay soil does not drain well. Blackberries will not grow in areas that collect standing water when it rains.
Choose the site for your blackberry bramble the year before planting. Blackberries should not be cultivated in soil that has previously grown tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers, strawberries, or any other type of berry bush or bramble.
Break up the soil well, incorporating two parts organic garden compost or aged herbivore manure (e.g. poultry, sheep, goat, cow, horse, or lama) and one part sand. When mixed with topsoil, organic compost and manure work wonders with water, allowing good drainage through compacted heavy soil while it retains moisture in sandy soil.
Blackberry bushes do best in nutrient-rich, loamy, well-drained soil in a full sun location. Soil with a pH of 6.5-6.8 is ideal.
Because a blackberry patch, once established, will produce for more than 30 years, it is important to make sure that the soil in the space allocated for blackberries provides the necessary growing requirements. Take a sample of the soil to yourlocal county extension office测试或pH水平的土壤测试套件可从当地的家庭和花园中心购买。
Make sure compost and manure are well worked into the soil, Rake the ground, breaking up dirt clods and removing rocks, weeds, and debris. You will want to give your blackberry bushes the best start possible, so it is worth it to put extra effort into preparing the patch.
Planting Blackberries
- Remove blackberry bushes from packaging, trimming off any broken or damaged roots.
- 将根浸泡在水中6-8小时。在种植之前,保护根部免受阳光直射。黑莓的根部在种植过程中暴露在阳光下会有很高的死亡率。
- Dig holes twice as wide and deep as the blackberry root mass. Spread the roots out in the planting hole, fill with soil and water well. Blackberries require two inches of water a week. Blackberry roots are quite shallow, so do not allow the surface soil to dry out completely between water applications.
- Plant young blackberry bushes in rows spaced 2-4 feet apart. Rows should be spaced from 5-8 feet apart for ease of harvesting. Unless you are planting blackberries as a living fence, most experienced blackberry growers highly suggest choosing a thorn-free variety of blackberries for ease of cultivation, pruning, and harvesting.
- Mulch heavily around the base of each blackberry bush to help retain soil moisture, control weeds, and increase fruit yield. Use straw, pine bark,grass clippings,或未经处理的锯末或木屑。
Companion Planting For Blackberries
Companion planting, or the gardening practice of locating plants close to each other that benefit each other, helps boost fruit yield when cultivating blackberries. Low-growing groundcover plants, including any variety of mint, lemon balm, bee balm, hyssop, borage, thyme, or chives, are excellent companion plants for blackberries.
它们吸引蜜蜂授粉,帮助击退树叶和水果捕食者,让甲虫和老鼠远离你的黑莓作物。在黑莓灌木底部附近种植豆类或豌豆有助于向黑莓地的土壤中注入氮。唐茜、蓝莓和芸香也是黑莓的优良植物伴侣。
References
Blackberry Variety Review, Cornell University
Making Jams And Jellies, National Center For Home Food Preparation
Growing Blackberries In Colorado, Colorado State University
Growing Blackberries In Missouri, Missouri State University
Growing Blackberries And Raspberries In Kentucky, University of Kentucky
Growing Blackberries For Profit, Gardens All
Growing Blackberries In Your Home Garden, Oregon State University
Phillip Bartleysays
Yes we have a thorn blackberries here but we live at could you possibly send some thornless blackberries to this address seeds on roots 433 lake Avenue Lebanon Kentucky 40033 Phillip Bartley thank you
Amir Hussein Younesisays
Yes . I appreciate the dear writer.the text was good full of impartant imformation about thus kind of fruit.
I am eager to study on it to grow it.
Would please help me how can i get this kind of blackberry?
I live in iran
Brandysays
Is it ok to plant blueberry bushes near BlackBerry bushes?
Kane Jamisonsays
Yes, those should work fine together! The main thing you’ll encounter is that the blackberry canes will often come up wherever they please, so they might start invading your blueberry patch. Trimming them back or pulling them out at the roots keeps them in check usually.
伊什特says
Mi lehet az oka, hogy a virágzás után szépen kifejlődnek a bogyók az egyik része beérik a másik meg elszárad. Permeteztem, gomba és lisztharmat ellen de nem igazán reagált rá, nem álitotta meg az elszáradást.
Keithsays
你能在黑莓附近或和黑莓一起种植西葫芦吗?