Blackberries

[Jessie]

I'm talking about the fruit not the phone.
When we moved into our house in 2005 we found a patch of blackberries growing on the edge of the yard.
I love blackberries so we cut out a couple of poplar saplings and reduced it to a bed about 30' x 3'.
We've had bumper crops for 6 or 7 yrs.
2 yrs ago my wife decided to fertilize them.
Now we have tall field grass and a half dozen varieties of weeds and bushes that have taken over the bed.
Are there any horticulturists here? Did the fertilizer spell the doom to them?
I'm thinking they do fine without it but the weeds smelled a smorgasbord.
Maybe I'm wrong and they coincidentally lived their life cycle out about the time she fertilized?
I have my suspicions.

 

[Bkreutz]

If you love blackberries, you should move to the Pacific NW, everybody here spends all their free time trying to kill them. When I moved into my house in 1985, 1/3 of the lot was covered in berries, when we finished cutting them down, we found 2 apple trees, a fountain, and an old toilet. It's been a never ending battle since then. What kind of fertilizer did you use, maybe I can try that.

 

[wbraswell]

Jessie, I can't help you. I do know that when I was a boy, my Mother's blackberry jelly was the best stuff in the world to put on toast or a biscuit.

 

[Jessie]

If you love blackberries, you should move to the Pacific NW, everybody here spends all their free time trying to kill them. When I moved into my house in 1985, 1/3 of the lot was covered in berries, when we finished cutting them down, we found 2 apple trees, a fountain, and an old toilet. It's been a never ending battle since then. What kind of fertilizer did you use, maybe I can try that.

I'd for sure rather have blackberries than toilets in my yard!
Believe me, you don't want these weeds.

 

[msinc]

Well, you do understand that you have to cut them back some every year???? Not like a banana tree and cut level with the ground...just trimmed back some. Brambles {sticker bushes that produce incredibly good to eat berries} only make fruit on new wood. They also work a lot better if you provide them with something to climb and grow upwards. Not like a grape arbor though, like a high fence.

 

[Bkreutz]

I'd for sure rather have blackberries than toilets in my yard!
Believe me, you don't want these weeds.

Blackberry bushes is where people around here throw junk they don't feel like taking to the dump. I've seen cars inside BB bushes.

 

[Jessie]

Well, you do understand that you have to cut them back some every year???? Not like a banana tree and cut level with the ground...just trimmed back some. Brambles {sticker bushes that produce incredibly good to eat berries} only make fruit on new wood. They also work a lot better if you provide them with something to climb and grow upwards. Not like a grape arbor though, like a high fence.

Yes, cut the producing limbs and leave the non producing limbs alone for next year.
This was a sudden takeover by weeds and bushes within a year.

 

[Jessie]

Blackberry bushes is where people around here throw junk they don't feel like taking to the dump. I've seen cars inside BB bushes.

I understand but this was a small plot for pies and such.
Believe me, I know they grow VERY well on their own and even more than desired usually.

 

[arjay]

Too much nitrogen?

 

[vytoland]

growing up in the 40's, 50's we had blackberry bushes in the back yard...never had to do anything with them but eat those big sweet treats right off the bush

 

[Grip_Maker's_Wife]

Fertilizer makes most things grow so it is probable the fertilizer helped spawn things, but I wouldn't say it caused the problem. Weeds sprout up everywhere thanks to wind and birds. Maybe you had some better rain this year. I don't fertilize anything in my yard and I get weeds all the time in my planters and all kinds of plants try to grow in the backyard lawn, including a blackberry stub I can't seem to dig down deep enough to kill the root. I would drop the fertilizer and you'll likely have to weed the area frequently to keep it clear for a while. These are hearty plants that do not require much. If they needed a lot of TLC they wouldn't have so many thorns.

 

[Grip_Maker's_Wife]

If you love blackberries, you should move to the Pacific NW, everybody here spends all their free time trying to kill them. When I moved into my house in 1985, 1/3 of the lot was covered in berries, when we finished cutting them down, we found 2 apple trees, a fountain, and an old toilet. It's been a never ending battle since then. What kind of fertilizer did you use, maybe I can try that.

What you found in your yard under the blackberries, reminds me of Tom Robbins novels like Still Life with Woodpecker where he writes of the blackberries overgrowing everything and causing small children and dogs to disappear.

 

[LedFowl]

I'm talking about the fruit not the phone.

Like Bkruetz said, they're an invasive specie out here that will grow in any unused area. Himalayan blackberries. They're difficult to kill. The berries are good eatin', though.

I wonder if what we call blackberries here are different than what you have in your area. Here they grow in long runners covered in thorns.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

They grow wild here, and we gather them from public land and make pie.

 

[Ogandydancer]

If you love blackberries, you should move to the Pacific NW, everybody here spends all their free time trying to kill them. When I moved into my house in 1985, 1/3 of the lot was covered in berries, when we finished cutting them down, we found 2 apple trees, a fountain, and an old toilet. It's been a never ending battle since then. What kind of fertilizer did you use, maybe I can try that.

If they are that plentiful, it makes me wonder why a jar of Blackberry jelly or jam cost's you out the wazoo?

 

[Bkreutz]

If they are that plentiful, it makes me wonder why a jar of Blackberry jelly or jam cost's you out the wazoo?

Because people will pay the price. It's called free market economics. I like BB jelly as well, I just don't like it taking over my yard. It kinda reminds me of Kudzu during the 4 years I lived in Georgia. (thankfully BB don't grow as fast as Kudzu).

 

[Jst1mr]

If they are that plentiful, it makes me wonder why a jar of Blackberry jelly or jam cost's you out the wazoo?

Because if you're willing to brave those thorns, you should get paid well for it. I've had some of those half inch thick thorn-studded canes nearly pull me out of the tractor seat while just driving by them. I'll settle for blueberries myself.....no seeds to get jammed in the teeth! Yep! -warm piece of blueberry pie with a scoop of the best vanilla bean ice cream you can buy (or make) melting away on top.

Gotta say, though -those blackberries sure add up faster in the pail than do blueberries, especially if they are those big ones half the size of my little finger!

 

[mtgianni]

If they are that plentiful, it makes me wonder why a jar of Blackberry jelly or jam cost's you out the wazoo?

They are tart until ripe and difficult to ship when soft. They also do not ripen or sweeten off the vine.

 

[RobertJ.]

Blackberry bushes is where people around here throw junk they don't feel like taking to the dump. I've seen cars inside BB bushes.

My in-laws (who one could describe as NW hillbillies) have 14 acres, mostly covered with blackberry bushes and old cars. Once I counted 71 vehicles, and among them was a WWII ambulance and an REO Speed Wagon.

When my wife and I first got married, her dad was given a boat that needed some work. We offered to buy it, and he said no, he had plans for it. Well, 20 years later, there it is, out in the blackberry bushes!

 

[Krell1]

I think it's great to make a find like that on your property. I love blackberries and probably would have taken on the chore of keeping the plants, I would think you could use a weed killer to take care of the unwanted growth around the plants. Cut the blackberry plants back to a manageable size and trim them back every year. This will promote the growth of the "new wood" and increase blackberry yield.

I moved into a new house once and found black walnut trees. The only problem I had in getting the walnuts was the squirrel population getting there first. I also found out that you can't plant certain vegetables near a black walnut tree because of what they call "walnut wilt". My tomatoes were doing great one day when I checked on them and the next day they were dead. I asked an agriculture specialist and the first thing he asked was whether there was a walnut tree nearby. I had no other place for a garden and that bummed me out. But I still did have the walnuts.