Rubus fruticosus
Family Rosaceae
Blackberries by the bowlful, still warm, for the price of a little trellis space — summer harvests come fast and heavy once canes settle in, and thornless varieties have taken the blood price out of picking. Jam, cobbler, and fresh eating all from the same fence line.
The plants are self-fertile and unfussy in full sun, throwing 5-8 foot canes that bloom white in spring for the bees and feed the birds whatever you miss. One row planted this year becomes a family tradition by the summer after — start the row.
Full Sun
Moderate water
Fast growth
Excellent edible
Attracts bees
300-600 winter chill
From the print shop
Our Plant Library collection carries blackberry — Rubus fruticosus, print Nº 59, “Blackberry.”
526 designsfrom $12.99white or black backgroundmatte poster, unframed
Will it fruit where you are?
Enter your ZIP — we look up your USDA hardiness zone (2023 map) and check it against what blackberry actually needs.
Hardy inZones 5-8PollinationSelf-fertileBlackberry · Common problems
7 problems on file
4 problems on file
Blackberry · Growing & propagation
LightWater
Soil
Fertilizer
PruningFloricane: Remove fruit-bearing canes after harvest. Tip new canes in summer to branch.
SpacingPropagateSeed won't come true
Blackberry · Harvest & keeping
Years to first harvestTypical yieldWhat you eat
How to tell it is readyHow long it keepsFreezes well
Blackberry · Seasonal care & spray guidance
Dormant season. Lime Sulfur: Late winter (Delayed Dormant) to clean up Anthracnose/Rust spores on canes.
Growing season. SWD: Monitor traps. Spray spinosad/insecticide if detected during fruit ripening. Beetles: Manual removal.
early spring
4 jobsFeedingIn springOnce growth starts in spring but well before the flowers open, band a complete fertilizer such as 10-10-10 at about 5 pounds per 100 linear feet of row along the planting, keeping it off the crowns, and water it in. The floricanes are building this year's fruit and the primocanes are building next year's at the same time, so the nitrogen has to be there before bloom draws the plant's reserves down.
PruningIn March and AugustIn early spring remove winter-killed cane tips; after harvest cut spent floricanes to the ground and tie in new canes. Floricanes fruit once and then decline, while open trained canes are easier to pick and less disease-prone.
What to watch forIn springJust after the last frost, walk the patch and look for shoots that come up weak, spindly and stunted with waxy blisters on the leaf undersides that turn powdery bright orange. Dig those plants out entirely, crown and roots included, and carry them off site. Orange rust grows systemically through the canes, crown and roots, so a diseased plant never recovers and every sucker off it is infected too. Removing it before the pustules break open keeps millions of spores from seeding the rest of the planting.
SprayingAt green tipIf anthracnose showed up last year, spray a copper hydroxide product labeled for brambles once the new shoots pushing from the buds are under 3/8 inch long. Wet the old canes thoroughly, not just the new growth. The fungus overwinters in lesions on last year's canes, and the spores wash onto the tender new shoots in the first warm rains. Once the shoots elongate past this stage the spray no longer reaches the source.
the growing season
2 jobsPruningThrough summerThrough the summer, pinch out the growing tip of each new primocane as it reaches the top trellis wire, about 5 feet on erect types. Do it by hand as the canes get there, not all at once. Removing the tip forces the cane to push lateral branches, and those laterals carry next year's fruit. An untipped cane grows tall and flops with few fruiting sites.
HarvestingIn July, August and SeptemberPick the berries once they turn fully black and slip off easily, chill them quickly, and keep picking every few days. Frequent harvest captures ripe fruit before birds, mold, or over-softening take it.
as it ripens, and picking
3 jobsWateringAs fruit ripensGive the planting about an inch of water a week through the season, and up to roughly 2 gallons per plant per day while the fruit is filling. Use drip or a soaker hose at the base rather than a sprinkler. Blackberry drupelets swell in the last days before ripening, so a dry spell right then gives small, seedy, crumbly fruit. Overhead water also wets the foliage and splashes anthracnose spores from cane to cane.
What to watch forAs fruit ripensAs soon as the berries start coloring, pick every 3 to 4 days and take every ripe and overripe berry off the plant and off the ground. Refrigerate what you keep at about 35F right away, and seal culls in a plastic bag left in the sun rather than composting them. Unlike ordinary fruit flies, the female spotted wing drosophila saws through the skin of sound, ripening fruit to lay eggs, so fruit is at risk from first color onward. Every berry left on the plant becomes a nursery that reinfests the patch.
SprayingAs fruit ripensIf sanitation alone is losing ground and you are finding larvae in picked fruit, spray spinosad after the flowers are finished and the berries are coloring. It holds for about 5 to 7 days; leave at least 5 days between treatments. Some trials report that adding sugar as a feeding stimulant improves control — only do this if the product's label allows it. Spinosad kills the adult flies before they can lay into the ripening fruit, which is the only window that matters since the larvae are untouchable once inside the berry.
autumn, and putting it to bed
1 jobFeedingAfter harvestAfter harvest finishes but before autumn, make a second application of 10-10-10 at about 5 pounds per 100 linear feet along the row. The primocanes keep growing after the fruit is gone and they are the entire crop for next year, so feeding them now sets the cane size and bud count you will harvest from.
Blackberry · Calculators & field guides
Blackberry · Yearly calendar
PruneJune to August, then December to February
BloomPruneHarvestBloomMay
PruneJune to August, then December to February
HarvestJune to August
These are the species' typical months — expect them a few weeks earlier in warm zones and later in cold ones. Watch the plant, not just the calendar.
Blackberry · Ecology & uses
Rubus fruticosus
AttractsMoisture
DeerProtect young plants
Origin✓ Commonly eaten
UseUseUseEdible valueSummer.
Edibility, identification, and traditional-use notes here are general reference — not medical or veterinary advice, and not a claim that any plant treats or prevents anything. Medicinal ratings record how strongly a plant features in herbal tradition, nothing more. Never eat or dose a plant you have not positively identified. More on how to use this library.
Blackberry · Varieties & cultivars
Named varieties of blackberry differ in winter-chill needs, ripening time, hardiness, and whether they set fruit on their own — pick one that fits your climate.
18 varieties
Self-fertile
large, mild sweet berries, good fresh — One of the earliest-ripening thornless erect types and low-chill (~300 hrs), so it fruits well in the warm South.
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Self-fertile
firm, sweet, high-quality berries — A reliable, upright thornless workhorse (~450 chill hrs) with a long harvest and good disease package for most of the country.
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Self-fertile
very sweet, high sugar, excellent fresh — Prized for outstanding flavor, but its high chill need (~800-900 hrs, confirmed by Drake & Clark) means it fruits poorly in mild-winter regions.
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Self-fertile
large, sweet, firm berries — Very large-fruited thornless erect type on strong self-supporting canes; among the highest chill needs of the Arkansas erect series.
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Self-fertile
sweet with small seeds — The earliest thornless erect cultivar with notably small seeds (~500 chill hrs), good for short-season and Southern gardens.
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Self-fertile
very large, aromatic, good fresh — Produces some of the largest blackberries with a long harvest and one of the lowest chill needs (~200 hrs), but the canes are thorny.
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Self-fertile
large, sweet, excellent fresh flavor — High-yielding thornless semi-erect with top-rated flavor; trellis the long, vigorous canes.
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Also known as Chester Thornless
Self-fertile
firm, sweet-tart, holds well — The most cold-hardy thornless semi-erect and very productive; late-ripening. Noted for winter HARDINESS rather than a high chill requirement (cited ~300-500 hrs).
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Also known as APF-153T
Self-fertile
large, sweet, good fresh — First thornless primocane-fruiting blackberry, so tipping canes gives a fall crop even in short-season areas.
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Also known as APF-190T
Self-fertile
firm, sweet, ships and holds well — Thornless primocane type bred for shippable firm fruit, giving a dependable late-season second crop.
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Also known as Marion
Self-fertile
rich, complex, classic blackberry flavor — The benchmark Pacific-Northwest trailing blackberry (USDA/Oregon, 1956) for flavor, but its canes are cold-tender and thorny; chill figure approximate.
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Self-fertile
small to average berries, sweet and low in acid — Arkansas 2013 thornless erect release needing an estimated 350-400 chill hours (NC State caneberry guide), with good flavor and production and uniform drupelet fill. Zone span narrowed to 6-9: the chill source states no zones, nursery listings claim 5-9, but UMD reports thornless blackberries are hardy into zones 8 to 6 with winter injury likely in 6b and colder, and the UA release recorded little injury only to about -8.6F. Zone 5 growers should expect cane damage.
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Also known as Sweet-Ark Ponca
Self-fertile
medium berries (about 6.8 g), the sweetest of the University of Arkansas releases — Arkansas 2019 release needing an estimated 400 chill hours (NC State caneberry guide). Per the University of Arkansas release announcement, first harvest comes with Natchez, two to four days ahead of Caddo and Osage, and the fruit holds up well after picking. Watch it for cane and leaf rust (UMD). Zone span narrowed to 6-9: the chill source states no zones, and UMD reports thornless blackberries are hardy into zones 8 to 6 with winter injury likely in 6b and colder.
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Also known as Sweet-Ark Caddo
Self-fertile
large berries about 8 grams, firm and sweet — Arkansas 2018 release needing an estimated 400 chill hours (NC State caneberry guide); Osage-like flavor on noticeably bigger berries, with high yields and excellent postharvest handling. Zone span narrowed to 6-9: the chill source states no zones, UMD reports thornless blackberries are hardy into zones 8 to 6 with winter injury likely in 6b and colder, and Caddo's tested hardiness showed very limited injury only to a low near 1F. Not a zone 5 plant.
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Self-fertile
medium to large sweet berries, small seeds, low acid — NC State's first thornless release and the best disease package of the bunch; hardy to about -12F and unusually tolerant of wet weather. Its estimated 800 chill hours rule it out in mild-winter regions. Takes two years to reach full yield.
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Also known as Prime-Ark® 45
Self-fertile
large berries, mildly sweet, good shipping quality — Arkansas 2011 primocane-fruiting release needing an estimated 300 chill hours, so it suits the warm South. The canes are thorny, which is the trade for its firmness and yield.
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Also known as Prime-Ark® Horizon
Self-fertile
large, firm berries, light on aroma with some tartness — Arkansas 2020 primocane release with the latest primocane season of the group, which stretches picking furthest into fall. Excellent cold storage. Chill requirement not published, so treat its fit in mild winters as unproven.
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Self-fertile
very firm berries with thick skin and good flavor — Semi-erect thornless type singled out by UMD for storage and shelf life. Chill requirement not published. UMD notes thornless blackberries are typically hardy into zones 8 to 6, with winter injury possible in 6b and colder.
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Sources & plant identity
Rubus fruticosus
Hardiness, size and timing vary with your cultivar, soil and climate.
University extension research, brought together with hands-on growing experience at Story Thyme Farms.
Colorado State University
NC State Extension
Ohio State University
Oregon State University
Penn State
University of Illinois
University of Maryland
University of Missouri
University of New Hampshire
Utah State UniversityPublisher marks identify sources, not sponsorship or endorsement.
Blackberry questions, answered straight.
No — blackberry is self-fertile, so a single plant will set a crop. A second one usually improves yields, but it isn't required.
Blackberry needs roughly 300-600 hours of winter chill (hours between 32–45°F) to break dormancy and set fruit. Mild-winter growers should count their chill hours before planting.
Blackberry is commonly eaten and isn't considered toxic, but "commonly eaten" isn't a guarantee for any particular person or animal — allergies, quantity, and which part you eat all matter. Never eat a plant you haven't positively identified, and check with a vet before letting pets or livestock graze anything new.
Summer.
Where blackberry sits in the library.
Serviceberry / Juneberry
Fig
Elderberry
Raspberry