Growing blackberries

[kk1224kelley]

I live in an apartment and would like to grow blackberries in a container for the purpose of making wine.
I have done some research and can not find a definite answer as to how many pounds of berries 1 plant would produce, if any?
I have seen some say a plant can produce 10 to 20 pounds annually but have been told by others lesser amounts.
So, how many berries could one plant produce in a season?

Thanks.

 

[garymc]

I guess it depends on a lot of factors. I've never weighed mine. Just guessing, I'd think a pound or two would be a lot on 1 plant. But with blackberries, how do you define 1 plant? It's been a long time since I planted any, but let's say your "plant" has one runner or stalk or whatever form it takes. There are upright and trailing types. That won't bear much. The next year that plant will probably have more stalks. Then at some point a few inches or a foot or two away, another "plant" will come up out of the ground. But it's a shoot from your original plant. I don't know if indoors you could get the light, humidity, etc for blackberries to thrive. I would think a bathtub sized pot with a pretty good crowd of "plants" would get you a few pounds of berries after a few years. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I've been growing the wrong variety (thornless.) In my yard, the runners grow anywhere from 3 to 20 feet. You wouldn't want that.

 

[Deezil]

You're in an apartment, I'm assuming you want to grow this on a porch/balcony?

I had a trailing variety of blackberry that did awesome a few years ago, grown in a container; as Sara hinted, the first year you'll only have 1 cane coming from the soil but following years the numbers of canes will increase as the roots spread through the entire bucket. The amount of fruit you can harvest with caneberries (blackberries, raspberries, etc) depends on the size of the bucket; the larger the bucket, the more canes it can support & the more fruit you'll generally get. Pruning can impact yields too.

The variety I had, and am thinking of buying again, is the Black Diamond blackberry. It's a trailing variety, the canes grew 12-15ft for me the first year; there was 2 on my plant. They put off quarter-sized fruit, at about a quart-jar a piece. Had I pruned them like I should have, I could have doubled that. By the 3rd or 4th year, 5lbs, roughly a 1-gallon size ziplock bag full, isn't too hard to imagine per plant/bucket.

I still have raspberries, both red and gold, growing in buckets. And a blackberry too, but it's only a year old so it's not a good representation of what can happen.. But click on PNW Wine Garden in my signature, and there's recent pictures of the yield I have coming on raspberries this year; its the red raspberries 4th year in buckets.

 

[jamesngalveston]

your in houston, and you want to grow blackberries..are you kidding me.
do you not like wild ones.

 

[jamesngalveston]

if you can get about 30 buckets on your patio, and really take care of them, you may have enough for wine in about 3 years.
last year we got maybe 130 are so pounds, this year over 400 lbs, from the same vines. container are not, its all about the weather, especially here.
ike destroyed most of the blackberries, this has been the best crop since ike.

 

[saramc]

I have Triple Crown growing in 5 gallon tubs. They are just starting season 2. I will likely get a quart from each vine this year, maybe. I have buried vines in soil so they root and I can continue to have more vines, which will be planted in ground or maybe more containers. But to be honest, I am getting better growth with black raspberries, Jewel, in containers. Huge container gardener here (figs are awesome container fruits too).

FYI: garymc and saramc are two different people

 

[jamesngalveston]

fig in containers make sense, blackberries do not, you would have to have quite a few vines to harvest enough to make wine, and it is not going to happen in a year are two..
Sara you seem to grow quite a bit of things, as I.

 

[kk1224kelley]

Houston does well with blackberries, though i thought it would be nice to walk out of my door and pick my own.

 

[jamesngalveston]

you are more then welcome to come here in Galveston next year and pick all you can haul in a truck.
we probably let 200 are 300 lbs just rot this year, we just couldnt store them, and not many that were offered them would come get any .
i got into this wine making because we had so many.

 

[kk1224kelley]

Wow. That sounds great.

 

[saramc]

fig in containers make sense, blackberries do not, you would have to have quite a few vines to harvest enough to make wine, and it is not going to happen in a year are two..
Sara you seem to grow quite a bit of things, as I.

I grow berries in containers also to see what kind of yield I will get when compared to inground, and because I love growing things. Container culture is increasing every year. If I eventually get enough berries to make one gallon of wine or a few cobblers from the containers I am fine because I know that I would need MANY well established vines to even try to gather enough for wine production (considering I aim for 8-10#/gallon for wine). I just like the look of things growing, makes me happy.

James...you need to consider looking into a contract for your berries for medicinal purposes. Pharmaceutical side typically struggles to find enough blackberries each year.

 

[Deezil]

Most of my container plantings end up as freezer jam. Some of the off-beat ones, i'll be freezing for multiple years to make small, personal batches... Purple raspberry is one of those..

I keep my caneberries - raspberries, blackberries, etc - confined to buckets/raised beds so that they dont take over the whole yard

 

[jamesngalveston]

saramc, i wish i would have known that...ill check into it..
thanks for the info

 

[jamesngalveston]

i agree with watching things grow.
I grow big tomatoes,cucumbers,bell pepper, and several other varieties.
I grow watermelon,cantaloupe and mangoes.
All the spices that you can name.]
Okra,beans,grapefruit,lemons,tangerines,mandarin oranges
almost anything grows here.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Primocane Jim and Jan might be better bets for your containers, they bear on first year canes, then you cut them down at the end of the year and they grow new ones next year so the canes are not in the way all winter. We also love our Black Jewel raspberries, the only way you can tell ours from the wild ones is ours are bigger, I could see them doing well in a pot, and the one next to it and all the way to the pots on the end of your balcony and eventually all the balconies in your block! Our row started out 1 plant wide and is now about 8 feet wide as I am Forbidden from even thinking about trimming the row back by the wife. We also have one in a pot on our deck but my pit likes to show me how tough he is by eating the spiney branches! WVMJ

 

[Deezil]

Forgot to mention earlier, these plants are easily managed in pots with "tomato hoops".. Just a tidbit