April 12, 2024

How to Grow Raspberries & Blackberries

Rubus spp.

Raspberries & Blackberries

Raspberries and Blackberries are aggregate fruits filled with vitamin C, fiber, and manganese. Both host more than one hundred caterpillars (butterfly and moth species) essential for a healthy ecosystem. Although they’re considered brambles (prickly fruiting shrubs or vines of the rose family), many newer varieties are bred to be thornless. They’re also extremely productive and well-behaved in the landscape or containers.

bramble berry gardening

care tips

Light | Full sun (6+ hours of direct sunlight)

Soil | Well-drained, amended soil (pH 5.5-6.5)

Fertilizer | Fertilize in spring and summer with Berry-tone®.

Water | Water deeply and thoroughly, 1″ of water per week.

Protection | Discourage deer and bird browsing by covering berry shrubs with netting.

 

Rubus spp.

Raspberries

Red are the most popular of the raspberries, with plenty of summer-producing and everbearing varieties to choose from. Plant at least two approximately 3-5’ apart for the best flavor and harvest. Raspberries are self-fruitful, but they always perform better with multiple varieties around them.

Try ‘Kokanee’, an everbearing variety that produces medium to large, sweet, light red berries on upright canes, or ‘Meeker’, a classic, summer-bearing variety with juicy, dark red berries on spreading canes.

Rubus spp.

Blackberries

Blackberries grow slightly larger than raspberries, so they require a bit more space. They also need their own sunny spot away from raspberries, and the plants should be placed at least 5 feet apart.

Look for ‘Navaho,’ one of several spectacular new, thornless, disease-resistant varieties. It produces sweet, juicy fruit with smaller seeds on upright canes. Also try ‘Columbia Giant,’ a remarkable variety producing huge, 2” long berries on semi-trailing stems.

pruning

tips & tricks

Helpful bramble pruning practices include:

  • Cutting canes to the ground in fall when fruit picking is done for the season
  • Removing weak, diseased, damaged, or dead branches in early spring before buds swell.
  • Thinning canes to maintain about 4-6 per plant, spacing them out.
  • Removing root suckers.

Video Spotlight

Care Tips + Varieties

Raspberries & Blackberries are considered easy-growing brambles and part of the Rose family. Like roses, they are shrubs that produce somewhat prickly canes. But unlike roses, they produce delicious, edible fruit in biennial cane cycles. The sweetest thing! Noelle explains how to grow fruiting brambles like Raspberry & Blackberry, plus she re-visits proper pruning methods. And as always, she introduces varieties!

growing bramble berries

like a boss

Growing raspberries and blackberries is an easy and rewarding way to enjoy delicious homegrown fruit and support local pollinators. As with most fruits and vegetables protection from wildlife is key! Apply bird netting around all fruit shrubs to create a virtually invisible barrier that discourages both deer and bird browsing so you can enjoy your harvest!

Back to Berry Bush Gardening

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