Blackberries

It’s hard to believe that I haven’t touched on one of my favorite summer fruits!

Today we’ll cover blackberries and hopefully give you information on how to find and grow them!

Plant Profile:

Scientific Name: Rubus allegheniensis, R. armeniacus, R. argutus, R. bifrons, R. canadensis, R. caesius, R. cuneifolius, R. flagellaris, R. geoides, R. hispidus, R. laciniatus, R. loganobaccus, R. pensilvanicus, R. trivialis, R. ursinus and others

Preferred Habitat: Brambles in general will grow in a wide variety of soils from rich forest edges to depleted urban lots.

Edible Parts: Fruits, leaves

Distribution: You will find a blackberry species in nearly every state or province in North America (no map since this is a huge range of species!)

Harvest Season: Mid to late summer depending on species and cultivar

Key Identifiers: Distinct black berries made of several drupes.

Toxic Look-Alikes: I don’t know of any bramble berry that has any known toxic look alikes!

Nutrition:

• Vitamin C (30.2mg per cup, or 50% of daily intake)

• High in fiber

• High in vitamin K (30% of daily intake)

• Very high in manganese (nearly 50% of daily intake)

• High in antioxidants

• Some antiinflammatory properties

• Some antibacterial properties

Use

On top of the obvious culinary uses, (desserts, ferments, juices, jams, sauces, smoothies, salads, lemonade, in oatmeal, in pancakes etc) blackberries are also packed with nutrition.

A lesser-known property is using their leaves which have a lot of additional health benefits (like derivatives of kaempferol and quercetin, phenolic acids, triterpenes, mineral salts and vitamin C) in teas and tinctures.

One tip with blackberry harvesting is to remember to pick them once they go from shiny black to a more dull matte black or you'll get hit with that unpleasant tart/bitter taste.

Growth Habits

Brambles in general can be difficult to group simply because of how closely related they are to each other, and how easily they hybridize with each other!

While the differences between red raspberries and blackberries is obvious, the differences between them and dewberries, loganberries, tayberries, and marionberries are more subtle.

For the purposes of this article I'll generally group those together even though they are distinct fruits!

With brambles you have “primocane” varieties (those that fruit on first year canes) and “floricane” varieties (ones that fruit on second year branches). While primocanes can produce on first year branches, generally that first yield is so low that I don't think it's worth going with a primocane only for a faster first yield.

Blackberries can spread very quickly like most brambles and come in both “upright” and “trailing” forms, as well as “semi-erect” (in between) and depending on the type, you may have to prune them differently!

Uprights will get much taller but may be fine without trellises, trailing types will probably need trellises but won’t tower tall enough to shade other things out.

If you find a bramble in the wild that you'd like to grow at home, you're in luck because they are easily propagated! The best method by far is known as “tip layering” (weighing the end of a branch down on the soil and waiting for it to form roots).

Hybridization 

There are many bramble hybrids! When you consider that there are already dozens of blackberry and raspberry species in North America and in Europe alone, it's not hard to see why there are tons of hybrids that exist!

Let's go over a few common blackberry-adjacent hybrids and relatives (many of which are commonly referred to as “blackberries”):

• Dewberry: there are a handful of dewberry species in North America, many of them taste like blackberries although I find the European dewberry to taste more like a blueberry.

• Tayberry: A hybrid between red raspberries and blackberries (R. fruticosus x R. idaeus)

• Loganberry: A hybrid between European red raspberries and North American blackberries (R. ursinus x R. idaeus)

• Boysenberry: A cross between European raspberry (Rubus idaeus), European blackberry (Rubus fruticosus), American dewberry (Rubus aboriginum), and loganberry.

• Youngberry: A complex cross between a cultivar of Loganberry and a cultivar of dewberry.

• Ollalieberry: A cross between a cultivar of blackberry and the youngberry.

So, as you can see, there's a lot going on here!

(There's a lot going on with raspberries as well!)

Cultivars

As far as cultivars go, there are a TON of good ones. Here are a handful that could add a lot to your garden:

• Stark®️ Black Gem®️: This variety is a Stark Bro’s original from what I know. This is the one I planted for my grandma, and it is a very solid blackberry! Good yields, good flavor. (Also, thornless)

• Kiowa: This is one of the biggest blackberry cultivars in existence. 3” fruit with thorny branches, floricane type.

• Snowbank: A white blackberry (white berry?) bred by legend Luther Burbank! His intention was to breed a non-staining blackberry for the ladies of the era who enjoyed blackberry tarts but also wore white gloves. Highly vigorous, heavy yields, and apparently very good flavor! (Not to mention a great novelty!)

• Marionberry: An incredible cultivar from the west coast known for exceptional flavor! It has thorns but is widely considered one of the best blackberries around.

• Chester: A thornless type that is a good classic blackberry that happens to do very well in the Midwest. I actually have this one but I haven't had it long enough to get fruit yet. It seems to tolerate heat and humidity very well, and the flavor is supposed to have very little tartness at all.

• Babycakes®️: A small blackberry bred for container growing! I got my brother this variety for his birthday and have yet to taste it myself, but it's perfect for patio gardens or those limited in space!

• Loganberry: A good cross between blackberries and raspberries with a dark red color and a good complex flavor! This is a trailing type so trellises help keep fruit off the ground!

• Boysenberry: A complex hybrid (as mentioned above) with a solid blackberry-raspberry flavor. Vine-like thorny canes, good flavor that is sweeter than blackberries!

• Tayberry: An “improved” version of the loganberry but one that has a unique flavor profile. These take after raspberries with their delicate fruit, but are definitely worth adding to your collection!

Check out all these and more at these shops that I trust (they aren’t affiliate links, I just like them!)

Stark Brother's 

OneGreenWorld

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