What it is
Thornless Blackberry (Rubus species) is in the Rosaceae (Rose) family. All the blackberry yield without the thorns. Prune out the old canes after they fruit and you're set.
How to grow it
It wants full sun, water it moderate, and give it well-drained soil. Target a soil pH around 5.5–6.5. Space plants about 3–4 ft apart. Expect roughly 2nd-year canes bear. Hardy cane.
How it's used
Thornless Blackberry is used: fresh, jam, frozen.
🔎 How to identify it
- Arching smooth (thornless) canes
- White-backed compound leaves
- White five-petal flowers
Edibility
How to grow & propagate thornless blackberry
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate thornless blackberry
The rose family is where you stop relying on seed. Tree fruit (peach, plum, pear, apple) is grafted onto rootstock because seedlings won't come true to the parent. The brambles (blackberry, raspberry, dewberry) spread by tip-layering and root suckers — bend a cane to the ground, pin it, and it roots. Strawberries throw runners that root themselves into new plants all season.
Growing thornless blackberry in Texas
Give it full sun and well-drained soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
Because it's a perennial, the work is mostly up front. Get it sited and established and it comes back on its own year after year — one of the best returns on effort in the whole garden.
Keep moisture even, especially while it's young — deep, less-frequent soaks build better roots than a daily sprinkle.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly 2nd-year canes bear before you're harvesting. Let fruit ripen on the plant where you can — it's where the sugars finish — and pick gently to avoid bruising what you don't eat right away. The part you're after: ripe fruit.
Making more for free
Save it the easy way — vegetatively. Because you can clone this plant from a cutting, division, or piece of root, you never have to buy it again: keep one healthy mother plant and make all the copies you want.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.