You can grow a few caneberries in large containers.  If you train them carefully along a fence or trellis and keep them pruned, they won’t take very much space.

When planted in the garden, caneberries will perform best in full sun.  Six hours of direct sun would be a minimum.  Amend the soil as needed with organic plant material such as Gold Rush, Bumper Crop or similar.  The soil should be kept moist, but not soggy.  Let the top 2 to 3 inches dry out before watering again.  It is better to underwater caneberries than to overwater them because of their susceptibility to root rots.

Blackberries

Blackberries are planted 4 to 6 feet apart.  Clip the canes to 6 inch stubs and plant to the soil level visible on the stubs.  When new growth appears, remove and destroy any stubs which have not sprouted.  Stiff caned blackberries need no support, but can be confined between two wires to save space.  Blackberries bear fruit on canes that grew the previous season.  When 2 year old canes are fruiting, new shoots are sprouting from the base.  They bear the following year.  Canes fruit only once.  The object of pruning is to remove fruited canes and to select strong new canes.  Trailing blackberries should be cut to the ground after fruiting.  New growth that sprouts during the last part of summer will fruit the following year.  Many gardeners will train trailing blackberries on a wire or trellis to get them off the ground.

 Raspberries

Raspberries require the same growing conditions as blackberries.

One crop (single crop) raspberries produce fruit on canes that grew the previous year.  Two crop (ever-bearing) raspberries produce some fruit at the top of current season canes in fall and then produce a second crop on the rest of the cane, the following year.  After fruiting in the second season, the canes die and can be cut to the ground.  New canes start as shoots from the base of an old cane or as suckers from root-like underground stems.

As with all other trees and shrubs, mulch yearly or as needed with 3 to 4 inches of Gold Rush, Forest Blend or fir bark.  Experts differ on a fertilizer schedule so we will recommend the same as for deciduous fruit trees; Master Nursery Fruit Tree and Vine Food about Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Caneberries are relatively free of insect pests.  If mites become a problem, spray with a sulfur solution such as Safer Brand Fungicide or prepare a solution from sulfur powder.  Unfortunately, caneberries are very susceptible to Verticillium Wilt for which there is no cure.  Therefore, do not plant them near tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant or other members of the nightshade family or within 500 feet of plants which have died from Verticillium Wilt.

Among caneberries normally available are:

Everbearing Raspberries:   Heritage and Indian Summer

Upright Blackberries:           Brazos, Black Satin and Black Satin, thornless.

Trailing Blackberries:          Ollalie, Boysenberry. thornless Boysenberry

and thornless Loganberry.

 All of these caneberries have been selected to grow and produce well in our area.