About Blackberry Bushes
‘Arapaho’ is an early-ripening, thornless blackberry developed by the University of Arkansas. Its smooth, thorn-free canes make harvesting easier and more enjoyable for the whole family, including young berry pickers. It has an erect growth habit and produces firm, medium-sized berries with excellent flavor. Its main crop develops on canes that grew during the previous season and survived the winter.
What to Do When Your Blackberry Plant Arrives
Open the shipping box promptly after delivery and carefully remove the plant and packing materials. Handle the plant by the container or root area rather than pulling it by the canes. Inspect the soil, crown, stems, and foliage. A few bent leaves, broken tips, or dropped leaves may occur during shipping and do not necessarily indicate that the plant is unhealthy.
Blackberries are deciduous. Plants shipped during late fall, winter, or early spring may arrive with bare-looking canes, swelling buds, or little visible foliage. This is normal. Plants shipped during the growing season may arrive fully leafed out.
Check the soil before watering and if it feels dry approximately one inch below the surface, water slowly and thoroughly. If it is already moist, allow the plant to drain and wait before watering again.
Place actively growing plants in a bright, sheltered outdoor location for the first few days. Gradually increase their exposure to full sunlight over approximately one week. Then, plant as soon as practical, but avoid working in frozen, saturated, or extremely muddy soil. If planting must be delayed briefly, keep the roots protected and the soil evenly moist.
When to Plant Blackberry Bushes
Plant in spring after the ground has thawed and the soil can be worked but before summer heat arrives. Spring planting gives the roots and crown time to establish before the plant must support vigorous cane growth and fruit development.
Fall planting can also be successful. Plant early enough for the roots to begin establishing before the ground freezes. If the ground begins to freeze it’s not automatically too late to plant. If the soil is still workable, plant immediately and mulch well. If the ground is already frozen and cannot be properly worked, protect the dormant plant in a cold, sheltered location and plant it as soon as the soil becomes workable in spring.
Container-grown plants may be planted during the growing season, but blackberries installed during warm weather require closer attention to watering. Avoid planting during extreme heat, hard freezes, prolonged heavy rain, or periods when the soil is saturated.
Where to Plant Blackberry Bushes
Choose a full sun location with fertile, well-drained soil, consistent access to moisture, and good air circulation. Test the soil before planting whenever possible. A soil pH between approximately 6.0 and 6.5 is generally suitable. A soil test can identify pH problems and determine whether lime, sulfur, phosphorus, potassium, or other amendments are needed. Prepare the entire planting row rather than improving only the individual planting hole. Blackberry roots spread outward and require suitable soil beyond the original root ball.
How to Plant Blackberry Bushes
Dig a hole about twice as wide as the root ball and no deeper. Remove the plant from its container, gently loosen circling roots, and plant at the same depth it was growing. Backfill with the prepared native soil, firm gently, and water thoroughly. Apply two to three inches of organic mulch over the root zone, keeping it away from the crown and canes.
How to Care for Blackberry Bushes
Blackberries have relatively shallow roots and require consistent moisture, but do not keep the soil constantly saturated. Established plants generally need approximately one to two inches of water per week from rainfall and irrigation. More may be necessary during hot, dry, or windy weather. Use of a drip system is best to water deeply enough to moisten the soil approximately 6 to 12 inches below the surface. Frequent shallow watering may wet only the mulch and upper soil while leaving much of the root zone dry.
Wait until a newly planted blackberry begins producing healthy growth before fertilizing. Use a balanced garden fertilizer or one formulated for berry plants and follow the label directions carefully.
Established, properly tipped canes are generally capable of remaining upright without the need for a trellis. However, light support can be helpful during the first few seasons, in windy locations, or when a heavy crop causes fruiting laterals to lean.
Understanding Blackberry Canes
The roots and crown of a blackberry plant are perennial, but each cane normally follows a two-year life cycle.
A primocane is a first-year cane. It emerges from the crown or roots during spring and is usually green, flexible, and vigorous. These new green canes must be preserved because they will become the following year’s fruiting canes.
After surviving winter, that same cane becomes a floricane. Floricanes produce flowers and berries during their second growing season and then die.
Our Thornless Blackberry is a floricane-fruiting cultivar. Cutting every cane to the ground during winter would remove the following summer’s crop.
How to Prune your Blackberry Plant
On established plants, tip vigorous new primocanes during early summer when they reach approximately 40 to 42 inches tall. Remove only the soft growing tip. Tipping limits excessive height and encourages the cane to produce strong side branches that will carry the following year’s flowers and berries. The plant may produce new shoots at different times, so tipping may need to be repeated as individual canes reach the desired height.
The fruit ripens early in the blackberry season, often beginning in early June in warmer regions. A ripe berry should release from the plant with a gentle pull. If it resists, leave it for another day. After harvest, remove the floricanes that produced fruit. Cut them close to the ground and take them out of the planting. They can usually be identified by their browner or grayish bark, old fruiting stems, and declining foliage.
Do not remove the new green or burgundy primocanes. Those are the following year’s crop.
Shorten long side branches by approximately one-third to one-half. The goal is a manageable, open plant with strong fruiting wood rather than an exact measurement on every branch.
Thin crowded growth so sunlight and air can move through the planting. A smaller number of strong, well-positioned canes generally produces better fruit than a dense mass of weak shoots.