If you enjoyed this video, please “Like” and share it to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS here: 0:00 Intro To Growing Blackberry Plants 1:10 Step #1: Blackberry Type Selection 3:27 Blackberry Primocanes VS Floricanes 6:44 My Favorite Blackberry Variety 11:04 Blackberry Taste Test 11:35 Step #2: Selecting A Planting Location 14:11 Step #3: Fertilizing Blackberries 15:52 Step #4: Removing Weeds 17:05 Step #5: Compost And Mulch 20:35 Summer Pruning Blackberries 23:21 Adventures With Dale
Ok beginner here.. I know you have a lot of experience with shade cloths so my question is; if I have a 40% that is way too big for the spot I need to put it over if I fold it in 1/2 will it then become an 80% or does it still act like a 40%? Might be a dumb question but I have zero experience with them. TIA! ❤️
@@JstcountryGirl that is going to depend how the holes line up. Technically, if the holes in the mesh lined up perfectly, there would be no difference. But, if the holes overlapped perfectly, you'd wind up in almost total shade. In reality, it's going to move in the breeze and give you some random amount of % at all times, so the dappled light is going to be constantly shifting. Honestly, if you're concerned about having too much shade, the best thing to do is just buy another smaller shade cloth that fits in the appropriate spot. The smaller shade cloth is usually really inexpensive, and since they'll last for countless seasons, it never hurts to have them on-hand.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you, that’s exactly what I’m going to do, buy the right size, 😁. I thought about trying to cut it to size & just add grommets but I’m scared that it will fray once I cut it.
Hi MG! I bought some prime ark freedom blackberry plants from your Amazon link this spring. When I received them I was worried because they were tiny twigs with one or two microscopic leaves. I thought no way these are gonna survive. Three to four months later they are over six feet tall! I’m so impressed. Thank you so much for the recommendation ❤
I planted two different varieties in my garden this spring so this dropped just at the right time. Can’t wait to watch my kids pluck their own food while playing out in the backyard
My neighbor just gave me a bunch of plants for free Thorny ones …. the ones she gave me I planted two years ago they are loaded with berries this year , now I have the new plants she just gave me lol hers are wild ones she found growing on her cherry farm …..the flavor is awesome …….i don’t find the thornless ones that flavorful compared to the thorny wild ones , just my opinion …..❤❤
I agree about thornless cultivars. They taste like nothing to me! I have an acre of trellised wild blackberries and they are amazing. Know your thorn locations and you wont get hooked into👍🏻
I grew up in the Seattle area, where black berries grow on the side of the road and in vacant lots. When I moved to California (and now NC) I laugh whenever I see them at the store
Bought and planted a thornless primacane for my mom like 30 years ago and it was the most vigorous growing and heavy yielding blackberry plant I have ever seen. Growing up in Northeast NY in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains we used to forage wild blackberries among many other wild edibles. Not sure what variety that thornless was but it was leaps and bounds better than what I foraged in the woods as a kid lol
I respect choice of Prime Ark Freedom, however I suggest having Prime Ark Traveler 😉 in your collection, if you have room. Spreads 8' or better by traveling roots. Good flavor and same large berries, if not larger. Fruits later than Freedom, extends season and harvest
Great information for those. I'm growing blueberries and strawberries for the first time. Wow that really looks super comfy and cooling and relaxing for Dale. I think I would lay there. Lol
Interesting again. Bought them last year in autumn and now they go green here in Netherlands. In a couple weeks the bark of pine is coming, can't wait✌🏼
Growing lots of Arkansas varieties, Arapaho, Ouachita, Caddo, Ponca, Osage, Prime Ark Freedom, Prime Ark 45,Natchez. Then I got my Triple Crown, Von, Chester, Sweetie Pie, all in the same area. My little boys will go outside and devour all the Blackberries, Raspberries and Blueberries from the plants, gotta keep growing my food forest.
Great tips! I've grown blackberries for about 25 years near the Texas Gulf Coast. IMO, the thorned varieties used to have superior fruit. I don't believe that is still the case though. A few things that I learned over the years, the more branches that your plant has, the more fruit you'll get. Tipping the long canes makes them branch and fruit more. Three to four foot long canes are long enough. Thornless plants are much easier to net than thorned ones. A perfectly black, shiny berry, while beautiful, is not ripe. For best flavor, wait and pick your berries once they become dull. Where disease pressure is high, you might not want to mulch the cuttings in place. If you DO mulch on top of your cuttings, you may have some cuttings root, which can be good or bad. P.S. My Apache and Arapaho plants have been producing berries for about a week on the border of 8b/9a.
We just got as a present thornless blackberry and was not sure how to take care of them. I’m still unsure as to which variety. Can’t believe this video just popped up just in time. I ordered netting so thanks for hyperlinks.
Great video! My Blackberries here in Calabash are doing great and keep multipyling! Be careful with some composts and manures. Some are contaminated with Grazon and that will kill your garden.
Wonderful video! Thank you so much! I would love to see more content on these, even some shorts about how you prune it throughout the year and at the end of the year. Most pruning videos focus on the fluoricane bearing, which is understandable but unhelpful. I have Prime Ark Freedom and Travelers in a setup directly copied from you. I will update my spring chore list! FYI, I have discovered that blackberries really don't like containers. I had one plant in a 30 gallon grow bag and it was unhappy. I transferred it to the bed and it immediately took off! Seriously, thank you for posting this!
I explain how I summer prune the Prime Ark Freedom's at the end of the video. That is how I do it year-round. I just top them at around 4 feet and keep them shaped as a bush. You can do that with the primocane-fruiting types, because they fruit on that initial growth. Then, you just remove the canes when they're done fruiting. With the trailing and semi-erect types where you have to trellis them, they require a lot more pruning and maintenance. I can't produce a video on those, because I don't grow those types. They require more effort than I'm willing to give. Prime Ark Freedom's are so easy to maintain.
I understood that the Freedom floricanes fruited in Spring or early Summer and the primocanes fruited in late Summer or early Fall. An expert told me to tip when canes are 3 to 4' tall starting in Spring so they'll produces laterals off the primocanes and fruit late summer. Are you sure those Feedom fruit aren't on the floricanes aka last years primocanes? If you're dead sure you're getting Spring fruit off of primocanes, that's good news I figure.
I live in zone 6 in eastern PA. I have one area that gets full sun. If I plant a trailing thornless blackberry, can I keep it short and still get decent fruiting with appropriate pruning? It was a gift and therefor I don't want to get rid of it. I notice you have your plants all about three feet apart. Can I include the regular thornless one in a row like yours among the prime ark freedoms that I'm going to order.
Also in south east corner nc. I grow ponca, vonn, caddo, triple crown. Triple crown is the one that give me trouble. All others of mine are floricane types and produce like crazy. No issues from heat, rain. Just bids and squirrels which netting prevents if i catch it early enough.
@TheMillennialGardener caddo is the most vigorous and productive but ponca tastes slightly better. Vonn is planted too close to caddo and gets crowded out so I need to move it to give a real opinion
I live near Chicago and have PrimeArk Freedom and PrimeArk Traveler. The Freedom canes die over winter, but I get a huge crop every year. The Traveler survive winter better, but are not as sweet nor as large as the Freedom. Traveler is not as a vigorous grower which I like better.
I have many varieties now, but i purchased some Prime Rk freedom from yours and a few others recommendations, at the end of the fall last year, a radom deer came and ate all the brambles from it down to the roots... Didnt touch any of the other plants just the prime ark freedoms.... Luckily its starting to come back, but i dont think ill see any fruit from it till next year
I read that Blackberry and Raspberry plants should be planted far apart (I think at least 20' or more but don't remember exactly), which is why I planted mine at opposite sides of my backyard. Have you ever heard that? Can they be planted next to each other?
Do the prime ark freedom send out a ton of runners? A lot of people insist that blackberries don't send out as many runners as raspberries, but my garden is being overrun with blackberry runners (even more runners than my raspberries are sending out). I can't remember the varieties i planted (I'll have to check my garden notes) but they're going crazy.
Someone gave me a cutting from a Thornless blackberry 12 years ago and that thing spread like crazy.every time I find a new sprout I doig it up and plant in pots and give away or just start a new plant in a pot to contain it.i also start new plants from the prunes.but my berries are big as your thumb
I’ve been growing blackberries, blueberries and mulberries. I’m done with blackberries. They don’t measure up in sweetness compared to the other two and are harder to maintain.
Hello. I would like to ask you a question about citrus satsuma owari that you grow. Can I grow it in ground in north part of Silesia Poland becouse idk where to find out about it and I dont really want to risk it's life by trying to do it without proper knowledge. If you cant tell me that i understand why. 😊🍊🍊🍊😃
People ask me that, but it's honestly not a lot of food. We just eat seasonally. Blackberries and blueberries are in season, so that's what we eat. We have one of those Ninja Cremi things, so we make "ice cream" out of them for dessert - just berries and milk, and it whips it into low cal ice cream. Same thing with the garden. During tomato season, we eat tomato, basil and cucumber salads every single night. It looks like a lot of food, but when it's all that you eat, a family of 4 can burn through it fast if you stop buying food and eat what you have. 80% of our grocery bill is meat and dairy. We spend very little money on produce and just eat what's in season. When we have excess, we just give it to family or neighbors, but it isn't all that much.
If we don’t know what kind of blackberries we have how do we find out? Bought at big box store a couple years ago. They are thornless but that’s all I know for sure.
The thornless versus thorned debate is nostalgia. I've grown both. The same people who say the old thorned varieties are better are the same kind of people who say outhouses are better than flush toilets.
Umm not true lol I’ve had both but I like the wild variety way better for taste ❤I pulled out my thornless ones but it’s up to each person to decide what they like ❤I don’t judge anyone for the type they decide on !! It’s better to be kind …..
My blackberries are fruiting but the berry turns brown and looks dried up. Do you know what’s wrong? This is the second year I’ve had them but I moved them next to a building and they’re in pots. I have Navaho.
@@TheMillennialGardener I don't know. They are outside and I do see things flying around. Not bees though. Would the berry form if it wasn't pollinated?
Question off topic, my sister wanted a butterfly bush for Mother’s Day. I tried local nurseries to get the one she wanted, I had to order it online ( three colored flowers). It showed up on the 11th. Every thing I have read on them says be careful of overwatering and over fertilizing. The plant that showed up is not one I would have brought home,it was extremely dry and yellowing leafs. I planted it with a little blood meal and bone meal. I watered a little with a water soluble fertilizer. Feeling the water soluble fertilizer would help with the yellowing and start things on the road to recovery while the other things would help the roots establish and provide some nutrients slowly. Rain predicted every day this week to some degree. Any thoughts? It’s her Mother’s Day present so want to do everything I can to get it established ( it was in a pot of soil with the bush bent double down to the pot in a cardboard box).HELP please!!!!!
Have you tried to reach out for a replacement? If the plant looks really unhealthy, it may not recover. Usually, when you receive a plant in the mail, you want to re-pot it, give it a light but even watering, then let it recover in full shade for a few days. They usually perk back up in 2-3 days, and then you can very slowly introduce them to sunlight over the course of the next week. But, if your plant is really banged up, it may take longer. You may need to let it chill out in full shade for a week or so. Be very careful not to over-water it.
@@TheMillennialGardener thank you, I have been careful with it but nervous it’s what see wanted. I reached out but they just say give it time. Which might be all it takes but this is definitely not my first rodeo and I am worried I haven’t tried one of these before.
I was gonna say that too. Ive been growing prime ark for a few years, ive let them get tall and also tipped them at 35-48"s. Ive found tipping them around 35-40" gives me the best production and best cane vigor vs letting them get as tall as they want
@@aUNVACCINATED Texas Prepper 2 is also where I learned the importance of tipping the primocanes. I hope Anthony will find and watch his video about doing this. I about died when I saw him but the bug cane off.
I personally buy my plants from all over the place. Literally dozens of different places, wherever I find the best deals from reputable companies. I placed a link in the video description to the Prime Ark Freedom plants if you want small, inexpensive starts. If you want larger bushes, you'll want to purchase them from online nurseries, but they will cost more since they'll be larger. Blackberries grow *very* quickly, and all mine were grown from small, inexpensive starts.
I grew up in the Seattle area where blackberries grow wild ALL OVER THE PLACE. Great when you’re a kids and your mom gives you a bucket to get you out of her hair for a bit. Folks hire goat herds to ‘mow’ the blackberries down because they are nearly impossible to rid one’s yard of them. I am concerned with these garden variety blackberries possibly becoming a nuisance. I noticed a cane between the plants that you fertilized. Is that a random cane? Do they spread?
I’ve found that the Prime Arc Freedom blackberries you HAVE to give them 1-2 days after you think they are ripe until you pick them. That takes the taste from still fairly tart to wonderful. I have a couple of other floricane varieties which, like your other plant are not showing much early spring production. I have one thorn variety, Black Magic, and it has more berries than the PA Freedom, but I’ve harvested all the Freedom berries and the thorn berries are only just ripening. (Zone 9A, Texas). All are ‘new plants last year. I planted a selection of several varieties to see what did the best. I’ve added some additional Arkansas plants this year. All are currently in pots.
The berries are so large that they take more time to get sweet, but when you get a good one, you know it. Once you figure out when to pick them, they’re really good.
I planted some prime ark freedoms last year. I had a fire get out of control in my yard and burn them up and then the bulldozer came to push a fire line around the woods and ran over them. This year I was walking around my yard and notice both the ones I planted came back up
I grow apache, aparaho, navajo, and thripple crown thornless varieties. All are delicious and they behave a little differently and flower a little offset so I have a longer harvest season. Only remove a cane after its obviously died. I have 2 of each of those kinds and I'm on year 4 of harvest (year 5 of planting). I got GALLONS last year. I'm seeing twice the amount of flowers this year. My original plan was to grow these 4 to pick my favorite, but now I've decided to keep multiples of all of them.
You and James Prigioni are getting me addicted to gardening. I meep seeing the plants at local nurseries and been fighting the temptation (blueberries too)… and it’s only been a few weeks 😅
I’m shocked you didn’t mention that blackberries will spread and take over their roots will go beyond the growing area, I have blackberry shoots coming up in the middle of my yard! Almost as bad as mint lol
Me to! Lol I dig up the small new groups and move them to make a protective area around husbands garage windows so incase anyone thinks of breaking in while I am at work lol
Some of those are probably bird dropping plantings, lol! We have wild florida blackberries and we also have a lot of birds. We never know where they will come up but we do know that we will get a lot of fruit if lawnmower man (hubby) doesn't run them over! 😊 I got 4 quarts this year! They are even growing in my bamboo!
Just wanted to make a small correction. ON your Prime ARk Freedom blackberries, the berries you are picking here in May are actually coming off of last years growth so it is actually floricane berries. The Primocane berries won't deliver until much later in the summer. That was the tall new growth you mentioned. Two crops per season is the incredible thing about Prime ARk Freedom. Never cut your primocanes after the first year you will miss out on early crop next year.
I’m aware. The primocanes fruiting now are from last season. But, you don’t need to maintain them if you don’t want. Overwintering them will give you an earlier harvest, but even if you cut them back to nothing and mowed the whole bushes down, you’d still get fruit the next year. That’s my point. You can’t do that with floricane producers, and they tend to be later.
I have 5 Prime Ark Freedom bushes that are now three years old. This is the first year I have gotten a substantial harvest and have gotten about two and half gallons of berries so far! I am thrilled with them!
I appreciate your advice. I will say that as a boy (long ago a man) who grew up in the PNW as the grandson of berry farmers, that every thorned variety produces berries of a superior flavor to every thornless. I very much miss picking from the ever-abundant thorned bushes that were spread by birds. Never will there be a more flaverfull jam or pie from any thornless variety. The larger the berry, the weaker the flavor per pound. A superior blackberry requires no addition of acid (lemon or otherwise) for any recipe.
I honestly find it hard to believe that *every* thorned variety is better than every single thornless variety, but nevertheless, I've heard people make that claim, so I added that notion to the video. I have not tried enough varieties of blackberries to know, but I can tell you the blackberries I'm growing are much better than what you get in the store, and they're easy to grow. I've only had a handful of varieties, so I don't know blackberry flavors as well as I know something like figs, tomatoes, citrus, etc. where I've had dozens to hundreds of varieties.
I planted one single blackberry plant a few years ago. Since then it has spread all over my one acre lot. And it’s thorny AF, it pretty much tears through my skin when I walk through it. I hate blackberries now.
Here in the PNW the Himalayan blackberry grows faster than weeds. I spend half my time chopping it back from the empty lot next to my garden. So when I want to harvest some, it's easy. 🤣
Great information. I have 2 Prime Ark plants on the way. I've heard that you can also propagate those top clippings to start new plants if you want more. :)
Same here got them on clearance during fall last yr for $6 planted near my chicken run so the girls have a snack, already have new canes coming up. This gives them shade during the hot summer months.
Don't forget to catch those runners or you might be fighting a battle that you're not prepared for. Trailing type blackberries consume the landscape in the Pacific Northwest 😜
That's why I like the erect, primocane fruiting varieties. I just top them when they get about 4 feet long. It makes it easy. Blackberry trellises are very productive, but they require some maintenance.
I left a tangled mess of raspberries & blackberries behind me when I sold my Central Jersey house that I truly feel guilty about. I'd love to grow them again but I want the Primeark Freedom so no nightmares. I'm on the OBX with nothing but sand so please tell me they can grow in containers. Is there a well-behaved thornless raspberry too?
I have a lot of blackberry varieties, all thornless (or spineless) - I use the short spreading varieties as a ground cover and the rambling types in the low-mid level below larger trees, they thrive in the clay soil and do well in shade as well.
I had gotten 100 prime ark 45s. Didn't realize they had thorns. I planted them but left them to die cause I didn't like them, them suckers thrived. So I cleaned them up mulched them an they have grown on me I love them now
It killed me to see you chop 60% of that prima-ark down. If you would have snipped the top off as soon as it reached the desired height, it would send out mulitple flowering shoots instead of just that one tall one. Every flowering shoot makes blackberries. You snip, wait for about 2-4 more shoot to come out & grow to 2-3 foot, and then snip all of those. In the time it took to grow that tall, you could have had 8-12 flowering shoots instead of just cutting it back down & "using for mulch."
I germinated my own blackberry seeds they’re in a plant potter I’ve kept the plant going for three years. No berries. I want to plant these plants in to the ground. I use miracle grow every week mine have thorns. What am I doing wrong I’ve had a prima cane I cut back but I’m so bummed I love blackberries this is why I did what did the store is too expensive. Help me?
Recently planted a variety of vegetables and fruits, golden raspberries being one of them. I've been watching your videos for a while but had one question. When working with compost that contains manure, universities at Idaho, Wisconsin, and my local Penn State advise waiting to harvest after manure is applied anywhere from 30-90 days. This video confuses me on that. Any suggestions or advice?
You are the best!!! We’re in Jacksonville NC and I planted quite a few (12) last yr. I have these giant canes shooting up that have 5 leaves, with no flowers. All the fruiting canes only have 3 leaves. Do I clip the 5 leaf canes? It says they are a wild blackberry. What do you think.
Apache variety blackberries are criminally underrated. I have one plant that has taken over a 14x6 bed in 3 season. Canes as tall as 12ft and the bush is covered in roughly 500 very large berries. Growing in zone 7b east TN
Aren't the fruits you're showing on the PAF floricane berries from last year's canes? Indeed you could prune all primocanes after fruiting on the primocanes but that's not what you have done here. There is no way that your primocanes have enough time to grow, flower and ripen fruit before the floricane variety which are basically ready to flower early in spring. Also primocane berries would be only on the tips of the primocanes (of course multiple tips if you do tipping) but the example berries you're showing on the PAF are growing from lateral buds, which supports the idea that they are actually floricane berries. I'm not an expert, but I'm confused on why you claim that this is an advantage of the primocane varieties. Maybe the advantage here is that the floricane crop on the PAF is earlier than the floricane crop on the Navajo Thornless and that works better for you given your disease and storm pressure later in the year. Having said that your plants are doing awesome!, could you explain why you don't do tipping as is recommended on varieties like PAF to increase the primocane crop and to keep them shorter/bushier? Thanks!
