Fruits collected from wild blackberries in the forest often grow in surprisingly large numbers, even without human intervention. On the other hand, blackberries cultivated in the garden not only need to be looked after, but also fertilized regularly.
How should you fertilize blackberries in the garden?
To fertilize blackberries in the garden, a special berry fertilizer with a high potassium content is recommended in spring and before ripening. Alternatively, organic fertilizers such as compost, cow, chicken or horse manure, and grass clippings mulch can be used and lightly incorporated into the soil.
Berries generally require regular fertilizer applications
Many berry bushes often produce an astonishing yield in the garden, considering their height. To do this, they also have to absorb a corresponding amount of water and nutrients from the soil through their roots. If the fruits on blackberry vines do not ripen as desired, this can not only indicate an illness, but also an insufficient supply of certain nutrients and minerals. When adding fertilizer, the pH value of the soil should not be ignored. For blackberries, this should be around a value of 5 and tend to be slightly acidic.
The needs of blackberries on the soil
Blackberries need enough potassium in the soil to produce a rich fruit crop. Special berry fertilizer takes this into account with a correspondingly high potassium content. The high nutrient requirements of blackberries are also explained by the plants' high annual growth performance. Since fruit only develops on two-year-old wood, harvested tendrils are cut off near the ground in autumn, whereupon new shoots form. Chemical fertilizer such as the popular Blaukorn (€34.00 on Amazon) should be sprinkled around the plants in modest doses, especially in spring and possibly again before they ripen. The grains then usually dissolve within about two weeks due to the rain and continuously release their ingredients into the soil and the blackberry roots.
Organic alternatives for fertilizing blackberries
If blackberries are to ripen in the garden according to organic cultivation criteria, chemical fertilizer mixtures must be avoided. In addition to the classic garden compost, there are now many green alternatives to blue grain. These primarily include the following biological fertilizers:
- Cow dung in pellet form
- Chicken manure
- Horse manure
- Mulch from lawn clippings
Fresh manure should be stored for a few weeks before being used as fertilizer. You should also work any organic fertilizer into the soil around the blackberry roots by hand.
Tips & Tricks
When planting young blackberries in one location, some compost or manure should always be added to the excavation hole to give the plant a jump start.
