Blackberry..the plant not the phone!

Another plant that are leftover from the project I had with a friend in 2007-2008 is the blackberry. Actually I had a few pots but 2008-2009 was when I was sooo busy with other things, that they died of neglect, along with apple, pear, kiwi and olive trees! So Im left with only 7 mulberry trees, 6 grapevines and 1 blackberry plant. Blackberry originates from the temperate Northern Hemisphere and South America. It is from the Rubus genus of the Rosaceae family. Blackberry is commercially grown in Oregon USA, making it the No.1 blackberry producer in the world.

photo from Wikipedia

Blackberries....almost like the mulberry fruits but the mulberry grow from the stems of the leaves, while the blackberries are growing from its 'canes' as shown in the above photo. They have 2 types, one growing upright like a tree and the other one trailing on the ground. Mine is the latter.

photo from Wikipedia

flowers of the blackberries are white and pale pink, shown here pollinated by the bees

shown here a friend propagating the stem of blackberry

They can be propagated by mature stems or most likely if left tangled on its own the branches will root at the node tips when reaching the ground. So its best if a trellis is built to support the trailing canes, easier to manage as they have thorns just like roses. One way of propagating the stems, dip them in rooting powder, then put the stems in organic soil filled in small plastic bags so that one plant you can have a few plastic bags without cutting the stems from the parent plant. Or you can just cut the mature stems, soak them in water until they start rooting, then plant them.

The thorns of blackberry are hard and sharp, have to be careful when you handle them. But nowadays, they have come up with 'thornless' version where they are commercially produced. The berries can be made into desserts, jams, jellies or wine. They are added to apples to make pies and crumbles.

young leaves of blackberry, see their resemblance to the leaves of roses but the difference is blackberry leaves are coarse to touch while roses leaves are smooth



my lone blackberry plant, have to prune the stems so they will be a bit bushy and compact

Blackberry tolerate poor soil but well-drained. They can thrive in full sunlight or shade but not too much shade or they won't bear fruits. The plant supposed to bear fruits by the second year, with fertilising and care but I guess mine will be longer since I neglected it for so long. Right now Im still pruning the branches to make it bushier and compact and propagating the cut stems at the same time.