Picking Blackberries
When to harvest blackberries depends very drastically upon what kind of climate they’re growing in. Blackberries are very heat and frost tolerant, and as a result, they can be grown virtually all over. Their ripening time varies based on their location.
In the southern United States, prime blackberry harvesting time is usually in spring or early summer. In the Pacific Northwest, it’s late in the summer through the first frost of autumn. Throughout most of the rest of the United States, however, prime blackberry season is July and August.
Some varieties of blackberry are also known as ever-bearing and they produce one crop on their old growth canes in the summer and a second crop on their new growth canes in the fall.
Blackberry Harvesting
Blackberry harvesting needs to be done by hand. The berries must be picked when they’re ripe (when the color has changed from red to black). The fruit will only last about a day after it is picked, so either refrigerate or eat it as soon as possible. Never pick wet blackberries, as this will encourage them to mold or squish. The season for harvesting blackberry plants usually lasts about three weeks, during which time they should be picked 2 to 3 times per week. Depending upon the variety, a single plant can produce between 4 and 55 pounds (2 to 25 kg.) of fruit.
