Ta
Blackberry Facts
This Has Been a Bad Year for
Blackberries
v Usually Second
fruit of the season
v Fruit produced
from the middle of May until Mid July
v 52 five hundred
foot rows
v 5 miles of
Blackberries!
v 10 acres of
production area
v Thorny variety –
Kiowa - fruits 4 to 5 weeks starting
the middle of May
v Thornless varieties – Ouchita and Apache -
fruit for approximately
6 weeks
v All canes are
trellised (vines tied to wires) several
times a year so that
even the thorny bushes can be
picked with a minimum of
“sticks” (by the thorns)
v Blackberries are produced on two-year-old canes.
v After harvest we cut all the canes that fruited to
leave ample
room for the new canes.
Picking
hints
v Best time to pick – May 20 through June 15
v Pick berries when jet black and very plump. The
little “pockets
that make up the berry are called
“drupelets”. Make sure
these are plump and
bursting with
juice when you pick them.
v Blackberries will not ripen after picking.
v Berries produced
on thorny bushes are tarter and
hold their flavor
better in cooking.
v Berries produced
on thornless bushes are normally
sweeter.
v You may want to
wear gloves when picking
blackberries
to avoid stickers.
Stay Tuned……We have planted a variety that
produces in the
fall. We don’t know yet if it will
be
this fall