Planting Blackberry's

18 years ago

I am a newbee to growing Blackberries - as I understand it they are agressive and easy to grow - however the (4) plants I bought are only about 6 inches tall (very young). I live near Magic Mountain in southern California and this time of year we will get high desert like chilly nights and some wind. I am afraid they will not make the transition well from whatever hothouse type of nursery they were started at. Suggestions - planting, soil, watering, protection from wind etc.

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Comments (8)

futureblues
18 years ago
well i grow blackberry and raspberry plants in santa monica.ca.......its best to plant them when they are dormant around dec/feb.....if they dont survive then go to home depot around jan and buy some plants....it takes 2years for them to bare fruit.....mine will be 2 this spring...jim
Mikey
18 years ago
I'm certainly no Blackberry expert but here are a couple of thoughts.

When selecting fruiting plants, trees, bushes or vines, you have to pay attention to the required number of chilling hours to make the plant bare fruit. Since you are in zone 10, you should look for black berry varieties that have a low chilling requirement. Big box stores frequently don't pay attention to chilling hours of the plants they sale and if you are not careful you may purchase something requiring 500 hours of chill hours (45 degrees or lower) when your specific location may only get 300 hours of chill hours.

I purchased two low chill ÂOlallieÂ blackberry plants in one gallon containers last spring. They produced only a handfull of berries their first year but they should produce much more next year.

Give the plants regular water so they don't dry out. Good luck - Mike
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berry_good
18 years ago
Hello all,
Funny, I also live in Santa Monica and grow blackberries and raspberries. I guess it's the ridiculous prices and poor quality of what's available in the markets that drives us all to the same result? Anyway, half_eaten_thumb, are you sure you live in zone 10? I don't think Santa Clarita area is zone 10 but I could be wrong. And futureblues, you have competition for the best berry patch in Santa Monica (although my raspberries are really struggling)! Which varieties do you grow?
futureblues
18 years ago
my blackberry plants are still growing....not dormant yet....guess i will have to wait until dec/jan to give some away....jim
gardenpig
13 years ago
I am new to gardening and my black berries died. I bought it in a pot from Home Depot about October or November of last year and planted it in the ground in a full sun area and now the plant is brown and I think dead... I read somewhere that they need shade but that they could grow in full sun. So, I guess next time I will try partial sun area. hmm...
luvdaytimeactivities
13 years ago
According to the folks on an edible container garden list I'm on, you can grow blackberries(rasberries and strawberries) in a pot and they will fruit well and flourish. My questions are:
1). How big, and how many years mature does a plant have to be before it will bear fruit? My impression is the bigger and more mature the plant is when you get it, the sooner it will fruit, is this true?
2). I get one of the varieties of blackberry plant that has the lowest chilling requirement, --will it really not grow if I get 1 sometime this month, use the best kind of potting materials, and plant it on my east faced balcony which has sun from early morn til 10:45am, then indirect light rest of day?

3). Does anyone know where near West LA I can get a large mature plant?

4). I want to grow Thimbleberries as well( even more!)anyone have any experience with that, plus also where I can find near West LA?

Thank you!
~Diana(310)936-3150
Thank you, best wishes,
~Diana(310)936-3150
p.s. when I typed the name of the list I'm on here they asked me not to share it, said sharing of lists is spam, otherwise I would have shared it
kristincarol
13 years ago
This nursery appears to have what you want as well as the wonderful salmon berry, too:
http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/producttype.cfm?producttype=RASP
luvdaytimeactivities
13 years ago
Does anyone know where I can get some organic Blackberry plants in or near Santa Monica? I am willing to buy them, or I can trade Pitaya(Dragon Fruit) magenta or white fleshed plant cuttings for them. I'd like to get the largest most mature plant I can buy( not a tiny thing from an internet nursery; although maybe some of them sell large plants?).

Also, can I plant them now in a pot, -- I have a balcony, east facing( direct light til 10:45am, indirect light after) near Bundy and Santa Monica Blvd( on the border of Santa Monica and West LA).

Thank you,
~Diana(310)936-3150
p.s. Thank you stil kris for taking the time to post the thimbleberry link; I had found that 1 and they're not delivering til 2011