Does anyone grow Blackberries or rasesberries I am thinking of buying 45 plants. would like to here from homesteaders that have planted them.

Maureen

-- maureen (farmgal15@aol.com), April 23, 2001

Answers

Maureen- I saw some blackberry plants at the garden center last week for $19.95 and was shocked. The people I bought my house from had planted 80 blackberry plants, which were well established when I moved in. The joke of that is- there are WILD blackberries all around the neighborhood! If the plants are equally expensive where you are, I would not buy so many- they reproduce very quickly and you will soon be fighting to keep them contained. Next year I am going to pot up a bunch of the runners and sell them, just to get rid of them. I would start with half a dozen, and plan on expanding each year from the runners.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), April 23, 2001.

Maureen, I have had blackberries for the last 20 years. You just cut out the old canes each year and leave the new ones to produce next year. There are many different ones to choose from now. Mine have been in the same place every since I started them, I Just keep them mulched and composted and they keep producing and multiplying. I tried rasberries but the birds would not let them get ripe.Don

-- DON (dessertmaker2000@hotmail.com), April 23, 2001.

Maureen -

Why so many??? Here's why I ask:

They are incredibly invasive. Raspberries and blackberries can self-propagate not only by spreading roots, but wherever the berries land the will self-seed, and if a branch hits the ground, it will send down roots.

Three plants will feed a family with some to spare - even if you are canning, freezing AND juicing, plus eating raw. So, you will have tons to harvest for market, if that is the aim!! And, I always recommend at least three anyway... Don't know if they are needed for pollination, but the harvests seem to be better for each plant, so maybe.

If you are going to put in that many plants, make sure that they are in an area where they can expand, train them (uh...huh...), or be ready for about a season's worth of work every month or so. Perhaps something underground to keep the roots in check... a little something to keep the birds away... AND, be sure to pick every couple days so that the berries don't drop!

(Maybe see about getting thornless varieties, too...)

I love the blasted things - so I can see where you would want that many plants. Just seems like a lot of work.... unless you plan on selling some.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 23, 2001.

Maureen, I just dug up about 70 raspberry starts from my garden. I must have twice that amount left. I started with 12 plants two years ago....I got goats to eat the blackberries on my property, too. They grow like weeds around here. You will have lots of berries soon!

-- sheepish (WA) (the_original_sheepish@hotmail.com), April 23, 2001.

When we lived in Arkansas, we had several patches that had escaped from our neighbor's. I let the goats clean up all the areas I didn't want and used electric fence to keep the one patch in check. The goats would prune the bushes for me every fall so I didn't have to worry about the bushes' invasive tendency. The berries were wonderfully sweet and as big as the end of your thumb. My neighbor had forgotten the variety and I didn't even think about bringing some when we moved to Missouri.

Point is, be sure you cn keep up with 45 plants.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), April 23, 2001.

I have blackberry vines and a raspberry vine myself. I wanted the thornless type insteady of cutting myself up with the wild variety. Questions: my raspberries didn't even bloom last year so not one raspberry. Why? Next question: my thornless blackberries produce well but are very very sour. Why? Is there something I can do to make them sweeter? I planted these 2 years back so this will be their third season.

-- cindy (jandcpalmer@sierratel.com), April 25, 2001.