Welcome to my Food Forest, where I grow several fruits in the Bee Better Teaching Garden. Information in this fruit series is based on the knowledge I’ve gained growing in hardiness zone 7b, Raleigh, North Carolina. Helen Yoest

Kind:

Latin Name: Rubus fruticosus 'Apache' PP11865

Common Name: ‘Apache’ Blackberry

Type: Bramble

Height: 5 to 8 feet; pinched back to keep height to five feet and branching

Spread: 4 to 8 feet; kept with a range of a two-foot wide trellis system

Pollination: ‘Apache’ cultivar is self-pollinating.

Fruit Health Benefits: They're packed with vitamin C. Just one cup of raw blackberries has 30.2 milligrams of vitamin C. ...

• They're high in fiber. Most people don't get enough fiber in their diet

• Great source of vitamin K

• High in manganese

• May boost brain health

• Helps support oral health

Wildlife Benefits: Black bears, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, opossums, voles, and mice readily consume berries. Gamebirds, songbirds, and woodpeckers all feed on the berries.

Origin of species: North America, but blackberries are native to several continents, including Asia, Europe, and South America.

Cultivars: ‘Apache,’ is an erect, early harvest, thornless, medium size, somewhat irregular shape. This post is specific to ‘Apache’.

Culture Information:

Sun: Full sun

Water: Medium, well-drained soils. If soil conditions aren’t ideal. plant in a raised bed. Grows well in 5-gallon buckets.

Zone: 5 to 9

Years to bear fruit: 2nd year

Harvest Time: June

Care:

Plant: Prepare an easy-to-access location for your blackberries a year before planting. Blackberries need full sun and plenty of room to grow. The soil should be a well-drained sandy loam; otherwise amend with organic matter or grow in raised beds.

Fertilizer/pH: 5.5 to 6.5.

Mulch: Mulch heavily with organic matter, particularly under non-irrigated conditions.

Groom/Prune: Once the canes have reached the trellis top wire, remove the tips to encourage branching. After the fruit is harvested, prune out fruiting canes, they will not fruit again.

Pest/Disease Control: I’ve never experienced any pest or disease, but they could be affected by:

Anthracnose Elsinoe veneta.

• Blackberry rosette (Double blossom) Cercosporella rubi.

• Botrytis fruit rot Botrytis cinerea.

• Cane and Leaf Rust Kuehneola uredinis.

• Orange rust Gymnoconia peckiana.

• Powdery mildew Podosphaera macularis.

Propagation: Through leafy stem cuttings as well as root cuttings.

Comments:

If. you ever see a car or two pulled over the side of the road and people picking something, it’s likely blackberries. You might even see me around Raleigh doing the same.

Wild blackberries are highly variable depending on their genetic strain and growing conditions. It doesn’t get any better than finally finding a good patch or growing your own.

Brambles such as blackberries and raspberries Rubus pedals and Rubus idaeus respectively, as well as hybrids, including loganberry and boysenberry, are also considered cane fruits since they are commonly grown with supports such as wines and canes. The black raspberry, Rubus occidentalis, grows in disturbed areas especially margins of woodlands, ravines, fields and thickets. Very similar to the blackberry and just as tasty.

Check out this LINK for more information on other types of blackberries and how their care.

In November 2022, I redid one of my blackberry beds. What I thought was a great location, between the guava, next to the house, had all the right conditions—soil type, sun, and close to a water source. As they matured, they grew to close to the house and I was only able to access fruit from one side of the trellis.

At the time, I used a one row trellis where I attached the vine to the wires. For the renovation, I put in a double trellis system, two parallel rows about two-feet apart. The canes are planted in the middle of this trellis system.

Blackberries are easy to transplant so I wasn’t worried about not having success.