Who doesn’t love berries? They’re luscious, plump, juicy, and lower carb than many other fruits — and when you grow them yourself, you can avoid the spendy experience of buying organic fruit at the grocery store.
The problem for many gardeners is that lots of berry plants are also spiny, thorny, and prickly — definitely not the most friendly of plants work with. But what if you could grow thornless berries? You can. All the delicious taste with none of the skin-gouging maintenance.
Here’s a rundown of the most popular thornless berries for the home gardener.
Thornless Berry Varieties:
Raspberries
Try Bushel and Berry™ Raspberry Shortcake™. Light red berries with a sweet hint-of-vanilla taste that melts in your mouth — all on a naturally mounding plant with sturdy, thornless canes (great for containers, by the way). These self-pollinating raspberries enjoy full sun, and grow to 2-3’ tall and wide with a late June – early July harvest. USDA Hardiness Zones 5-9.
Other thornless raspberries: Encore, Joan Jane Primocane Red
Blackberries
Consider Apache Thornless with its large, glossy black fruit and upright, no-stick growth. It grows up to 5-8’ tall and 3-4’ wide in full sun and well-drained, slightly acidic soil. Harvest the juicy berries in mid – late June — just in time for summer pie season. USDA Hardiness Zones 5-9.
Other thornless blackberries: Black Satin, Chester, Natchez, Triple Crown
Boysenberries
If you’ve never heard of loganberries, then boysenberries have probably escaped your attention, too. Boysenberries are a cross between blackberries, raspberries, and loganberries. While they look very similar to blackberries, they are larger and more rounded in shape, while blackberries are smaller, blacker, sweeter, and cone-shaped. So, that all being said, what’s a good thornless boysenberry to try? Well, a plant literally called “thornless boysenberry” – a 5-6’ tall and wide variety that demands full sun, regular water, and well-drained soil. Berries ripen in mid-summer. USDA Hardiness Zones 5-9.
Other thornless boysenberries: Captivator
Gooseberries
Captivator is a great thornless gooseberry to try (and not to be confused with the boysenberry ‘Captivator’ above). And, to be precise, Captivator is described as “mostly thornless,” but we’ll take that. Clusters of sweet pinkish-red, teardrop-shaped berries grow on nearly thornless canes — but harvest them consistently, because their fruit tends to drop off the cane when it’s ripe. Give it full sun and well-drained soil. USDA Hardiness Zones 3-8.
**Only available in AZ, CA, HI, NV, UT. For a comparable product outside these states click here.
Naturally Thornless Berries
You know how when you’re at the grocery store, and you see a food with a label that says “Gluten-Free!” and you think to yourself, “That’s dumb — all bananas are gluten-free.” Yes, that. The same is true for berries. There are some berry plants that are naturally thornless, so putting a label on them as “thornless” is somewhat misleading.
Here’s a list of naturally thornless berries to add to your garden (oh, and they are gluten-free as well):
- Blueberries
- Mulberries
- Strawberries
- Elderberries
- Jostaberries
- Currants
- Loganberries (Although, curiously, there actually is an edible plant called “thornless loganberry” even though all loganberries are said to be thornless. Go figure.)
Growing Tip: Many berry varieties appreciate a little extra food to keep producing — Organic Plus Fruit Tree Fertilizer is a slow release fertilizer, ensuring your berry plants get what they need all season long.
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After reading a little more, I m wondering if my blackberries are diseased, since they re flowering now but not producing berries. How can I know for sure?
We are sorry to hear that your blackberry plant isn’t doing well. There could be quite a few reasons why your blackberry plant isn’t fruiting. Is this a new blackberry plant, has it fruited before, is it planted in a container or the ground? If your plant is young, a blackberry plant can take 1-2 years to produce fruit. If you are growing your blackberries in a container, they need room to grow. Blackberry roots grow out not down so a 5 gallon container or larger is necessary. In containers, blackberry plants need to be watered more, water when the top inch of soil gets dry. The blackberry plant will also deplete the soil of nutrients you need to regularly fertilize. If none of those apply and you are not seeing signs of pests or disease, like mildew, spotted leaves, purple blotch, cane cankers, or other discoloration it could be a virus. Here is some information on viruses: https://ipm.illinois.edu/diseases/rpds/711.pdf
AGM – thornless, relatively compact upright growth, good for smaller gardens. Large, attractive, firm, glossy-black, conical fruit with good flavour when well ripened.