Thornless Blackberries (Rubus fruticosus)
Exposure: Full sun to light shade. Zones 5 to 9.
Soil: Acidic to circumneutral average garden soils.
Growth Habits: Depending upon variety, thornless blackberries are upright to vining, easy-to-grow herbaceous perennials. They flower late, on the previous season?s growth, thus avoiding late frost damage and fruit in mid to late summer. Thornless blackberries are bred for large fruit size.
Landscape Uses: For home use, thornless blackberries are best grown in 6-foot tall, two-wire trellised rows on the border of your vegetable garden or along fences. They are also a good choice for berry farming.
Usefulness: The new shoots are edible. Blackberry leaf and root tea is astringent and is used for diarrhea, coughs, colds, TB, rheumatism, and as an eyewash. The ripe fruit is very high in available antioxidants and high in Vitamin C, b-complex, and folic acid. Blackberries are the highest fruit in LDL(low density lipoprotein) cholesterol inhibition effect, thus helping to prevent stroke, heart disease and arteriosclerosis.
Videos:
- Taking care of blackberries
- Shorter version of Taking care of blackberries
- Taking care of blackberries (follow up)
Blackberry reference page (pdf)
Available varieties
'Apache' - Resistant, large fruited, high quality, very productive, upright. $17/2 gal.
'Triple Crown' - Highly productive, large sweet fruits, semi-erect canes. $17/2 gal.
'Oachita' - Vigorous, upright growing, yield better than Apache, less than Triple Crown. $17/2 gal.