How to Plant an Ebony King Blackberry Bush

Blackberries provide you with succulent fruit in mid- to late summer, after many other berries are long gone. Because they must be very ripe to be sweet, you'll get the best flavor by growing your own. Ebony King is an erect, rust-resistant variety with large berries and canes that usually reaches about 5 feet in height. Although blackberry plants are perennial, their canes are biennial, producing fruit only in the second year. New canes will sprout from the crown of the plant. Ebony King performs best in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 to 9.

Composted manure
Rototiller
Shovel
Pruning shears
Watering can or hose
10-10-10 chemical or 5-5-5 organic granular fertilizer
Chopped bark, sawdust or straw

Instructions

- 1
  Acquire 12- to 15-inch Ebony King blackberry bushes in mid-spring, about one month before the date of the usual last frost in your area. Select a location for them in either full sun or partial shade, with well-drained and slightly acidic sandy soil. To avoid verticillium wilt, don't plant them in a site where raspberries, strawberries or plants from the solanum family -- such as potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants -- have recently grown.
- 2
  Spread composted manure over the site at a rate of 2 bushels per 100 square feet. Till the compost into the soil.
- 3
  Plant your Ebony King blackberry bushes 6 feet apart and at the same height they grew in their containers. Cut them back to 6 inches. Water them well, and make sure they continue to get at least 1 inch of water per week during the summer months.
- 4
  Fertilize the berries about a month after you plant them. Scatter 4 ounces of a 10-10-10 chemical granular fertilizer or 8 ounces of a 5-5-5 organic granular fertilizer around the base of each plant. Scratch it into the soil, and mulch the plants with 4 inches of chopped bark, sawdust or straw.
- 5
  Snip off the top 6 inches of each cane after the canes have grown to 3 feet, to encourage them to branch out.

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