Black raspberry

Sun

Full sun for the best crop; tolerates partial shade with fewer berries.

Water

Keep evenly moist, especially during flowering and fruit development; avoid waterlogged ground.

Soil

Fertile, well-drained loam with plenty of organic matter; slightly acidic soil, around pH 5.5-6.5, is ideal.

Height

3-6 ft (0.9-1.8 m)

Spread

3-6 ft (0.9-1.8 m), widening if cane tips root

Flowers

Small white flowers in late spring to early summer.

Foliage

Compound green leaves, usually with three leaflets and conspicuously pale, silvery-white undersides; young canes often have a whitish waxy coating.

Growth

Fast; produces new canes each growing season.

Care needed

Medium

• Pollinators
• Cold hardy
• Wildlife
• Low allergen
• Edible

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Moderate

Toughness

Fairly tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   1.6 ft (0.5 m)

2. After 1 year

   2.5 ft (0.76 m)

3. After 2 years

   3 ft (1 m)

4. After 3 years

   4 ft (1.3 m)

5. After 5 years

   4 ft (1.4 m)

   full size

About 3 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Safe

Native to

the US and Canada

In the garden

Spreads vigorously: plan to contain it.

Growth rate

Fast

• Plant dormant, disease-free stock about 3-4 ft (0.9-1.2 m) apart, with access for picking and pruning.
• Provide about 1 in (2.5 cm) of water weekly during dry weather, watering the soil rather than the leaves.
• Mulch with 2-3 in (5-8 cm) of composted bark or leaf mould, keeping it clear of the cane bases.
• Feed lightly in early spring with a balanced fertiliser; avoid heavy nitrogen feeding.
• Support arching canes on wires and lift or remove tips before they root into nearby beds.

Pruning. After harvest, cut the canes that fruited to ground level, retaining healthy new canes for next year's crop; tip new canes in summer at about 3 ft (0.9 m) to encourage branching. In late winter, remove weak or damaged canes and shorten the retained side branches to about 8-12 in (20-30 cm).

Pick in early to midsummer when the berries are fully black and slip easily from the plant, leaving a hollow centre. Harvest every few days and refrigerate promptly because the berries soften quickly. Expect the first worthwhile crop in the second growing season, with fuller production usually by the third.

Late winter

Thin weak canes, shorten side branches and secure retained canes to their supports.

Early spring

Plant dormant stock, apply a light feed and renew the mulch.

Late spring

Check new growth for disease and maintain even soil moisture as flowers open.

Early summer

Tip vigorous new canes at about 3 ft (0.9 m) and keep them separate from fruiting growth.

Summer

Pick ripe berries frequently and remove spent fruiting canes after harvest.

Autumn

Remove unwanted rooted tips and clear fallen or shrivelled fruit.

• Train in a dedicated row along the edge of a kitchen garden for easy picking.
• Use on a sunny food-forest edge, where its roots receive moisture without deep shade.
• Include in a managed native hedgerow in eastern North America for fruit, flowers and cover.
• Grow against a wire fence behind lower herbs and flowers, keeping prickly growth away from seating and paths.

Garden styles it suits: Potager (kitchen garden), Cottage garden, Wildlife garden, Food forest, Edible landscape and Homestead.

Plant it with: Chives, Thyme, Calendula, Yarrow and Wild bergamot.

Wildlife: Flowers provide nectar and pollen for bees. Birds and mammals eat the berries, and dense canes offer shelter; birds may take much of an unprotected crop.

• Anthracnose causes sunken grey lesions on canes: use clean planting stock, remove affected canes and improve spacing and airflow.
• Orange rust produces bright orange pustules beneath leaves and weak, distorted growth: dig out the whole infected plant, including its roots, because pruning alone will not cure it.
• Spotted wing drosophila can leave larvae in ripening fruit: pick frequently, remove waste fruit and use fine insect mesh after flowering where practical.
• Root rot and declining canes occur in poorly drained soil: improve drainage before planting or use a raised bed; replace severely affected plants in a better-drained site.

Not known to be toxic to people, cats, dogs or horses. Ripe berries are edible; the main physical hazard is the prickly canes, which can scratch skin and injure eyes.

• Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus aggregate)

  A ripe blackberry keeps its central core when picked; a black raspberry slips off the receptacle and is hollow inside.

• Red raspberry (Rubus idaeus)

  Typical red raspberries ripen red rather than black and commonly spread by suckers. Black raspberry usually has strongly arching, whitish-coated canes that spread by rooting at their tips.

Rubus is the Latin name for a bramble, and occidentalis means western, referring to its North American origin relative to Europe.

Propagation. Root a healthy cane tip in a pot or patch of soil in late summer, keeping it moist; detach and transplant once well rooted, usually the following spring. Use only healthy parent plants, since vegetative propagation can carry diseases into the new planting.

Accepted botanical name

Rubus occidentalis

In the US and Canada

Native in Canada and the lower 48 states.

Native range

Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky and Maine.

Measured

Soil pH 5.2 to 7.5. Average height 67 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.