Blackberry's

[Ridgerunner]

Zone 8A should not be a problem at all for blackberries. I planted mine where I can mow around them and keep them contained. I can be pretty ruthless with the mowing.

You might want to contact your county extension office, in the phone book under county government, to see what varieties they recommend for your area, but I expect most varieties will do OK for you.

 

[trunkman]

ummmm, my wife bought me two plants for my B-day, the thornless kind, what am I getting into.... :/

 

[sparkles2307]

I'll have to look himalayan blackberry up

http://lakewhatcom.wsu.edu/gardenkit/unwantedpests/Blackberry.htm
http://www.kingcounty.gov/environme...ous-weeds/weed-identification/blackberry.aspx
http://www.co.thurston.wa.us/tcweeds/documents/blackberry.pdf

It is a noxious weed, unwanted pest, etc.... but it grew everywhere when I lived in WA as a child, and the berries are prolific and delicious. My mom kept our HUGE fenc eating bush trimmed back fairly well, and made SO many wonderful food with those berries. I'm almost talking myself into doing something very naughty.....

 

[silkiechicken]

Silkiechicken! row

You don't know how lucky you are to have so many Blackberries!

I know they can turn into a total all out confounded jungle. Whatcha do is get some volunteers who want some for pies, (heck, even have some pie recipes printed up for them. Officianados like to brag about ultra flaky crust using real lard, stuff like that...) and offer them to pick all they want. Even have coffee cans with strings attached to carry for them. But tell them they have to use the machetes to clear the paths, and tell them part of the bargain is they have to clear the whole mess.

What you will have is the whole area cleared out to start all new. Then, next spring when the plants start popping back up, dig the small ones up, pot them, and sell them at a garage sale!

I'm fairly certain they bear fruit on 2nd year canes.... so we do keep a few walls of canes at property edges (good deterrent to squatters and trespassers)... but dang that stuff grows. And if I were going to sell any of these to anyone, I might have to drive out of the state to somewhere where they do not grow everywhere. Over passes, road sides, parks, planters... anywhere a wild bird may have trod. LOL Nobody would buy a thorny invasive blackberry in a pot here.

They are not invasive in all areas, some areas they can't be kept alive for the life of the botanist. They are just terrible up here. They aren't nearly as bad (or delicious) in oregon so far as I've tasted. But nothings better than home!

The domestic farmed/thornless varieties will probably take some work to keep alive and happy, so don't think you'd have to worry about them taking over your yard.

 

[897tgigvib]

So far so good with my little thornless Blackberry. Held most of its leaves through the winter. I have an extremely thorny wild friend for it to grow together with, and will try to keep them growing even. Now I want to add a Boysenberry to my little patch, and a Golden Raspberry...

 

[ducks4you]

I wonder if location and fertilizer has anything to do with it. I received 2 blackberries as a gift in 2010. They sat in pots outside, I wintered them in the basement by a north-facing window, then planted in the corners of the bed just south of my garage where's it's pretty sunny. I cleared out the plant debri last weekend and took a good look at them. The one on the east side is 3x larger than the one on the west. I had overwintered some plants in pots winter, 2010-2011 and had piled on horse stall debris to keep everybody warm, so that got LOTS of fertilizer.

Here's a picture of this, March 28, 2012
Bed with the smaller on the end.

Larger Blackberry, along with a pink mini-rose and clematis.

 

[dragonlaurel]

I have a "volunteer" blackberry coming up already. I want the plant, but not in that location. I actually want to try growing it in a big pot. Will that work?