I used to think that because I
lived in a small garden space, maybe even in a warm climate, that I
couldn't grow beautiful blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.
And in this video, I'm going to show you
why that is not true. Kevin Espiritu here from Epic Gardening, where it's my goal to help you grow a
greener thumb. So what I have here is, I've got actually some
established blueberries, and we've talked about blueberries before
here on the Epic Gardening channel. But I haven't talked about raspberries
or blackberries before, in containers. So in this video, we're going to take these beautiful
varieties from Bushel and Berry, who are the sponsors of the
video, we're going to pot them up. We'll talk about soil, lighting, any sort of tips I have for
growing them in containers. So cultivate that Like button
for beautiful, bountiful, blackberries and blueberries and
raspberries. And let's get into the video. Let's talk about raspberries first,
then blackberries, then blueberries. Raspberries and blackberries
grow in much the same way. Although there are some
important distinctions. So let's just imagine this is our
raspberry plant. It's in the ground, for example, and it'll grow
with roots underground. Those roots actually
can send a rhizome out. And that's how they sort of spread all
over the place because that rhizome will go underground and then it'll
pop up and throw out some canes. And the canes really are the
interesting thing about these plants. So the first canes to emerge are
called primocanes. They're green, they're tender, they're
young. And sometimes they're
going to produce the fruit. Then as they mature, that next
year, they get a little browner. They get a little more dense and woody
and then they become floricanes or second year canes. And a lot of the times you're going
to get a raspberry or blackberry that produces off of the floricanes. So it'll have a floricane come up and
then you'll get these fruiting lateral stems that come out. And that's
where all the fruit comes from. So the first important thing to know
when you're growing raspberries and blackberries is, which
variety do you have? Does it produce off the primocanes or
does it produce off the floricanes? In the world of raspberries, you have
two main growth habits or growth styles. You have your summer bearing ones, which it's kind of like a June bearing
strawberry in the sense that that's pretty much when you're getting
your fruit, June and July. And it's going to bear
off of overwintered canes, which we now know are
the floricanes. Next, you have your everbearing and those are
going to produce off of the primocanes that come up in the summer. So you're
going to get one flush, the biggest flush, late summer/early fall off those
primocanes. They'll overwinter, they're still really a primocane cause
they're still very young and it hasn't been over a year yet. And then they'll produce on the lower
part of those primocanes the next summer. Let's mix up some soil for
our container raspberries. What I have in front of me here
is just your standard potting mix, whatever you can find locally, probably
a little bit on that higher end. So it's going to have more organic matter
cause they're a heavy feeding crop. The other thing I'm going to add,
one I think is a pretty good idea. The other one is definitely
optional, especially at the start. Is an acid lovers mix. So
blueberries really like acidic soil, really acidic soil. Raspberries, blackberries - they want it to be a
little bit more acidic than your average vegetable crop. And so I'm going to add about 10%
of this mix in to try to lower that pH just slightly. So
maybe about that much or so. I wouldn't say this is mandatory but I
do think it's probably going to be a good idea. The other thing I'm going to
add, just we'll fertilize it lightly. Remember this is optional, at the start your organic potting mix
is going to have some fertility in it. But I'm adding Espoma's Berry-Tone
because it's specifically formulated for berries. And I rather just do it now and well
incorporate it into the soil before I put it in there. So I'm not very
precious about the amounts. Here. I just kind of lay some down and I'll
mix it in on this tarp and we'll get it going. So I'm going to take this raspberry,
raspberry shortcake, from Bushel & Berry. I'm going to put it in this back
one right here. While I shovel, let's talk a little bit about the general
care that your raspberry is going to want. You're going to want to
give it full sun, if you can. It can tolerate some shade, it would just
rather not. Decent amount of airflow. And the real killer here is super
high heat it's just not going to like, it's just not what it's used to growing
in. So you'll want to avoid that. And then the other thing that's really
going to hamper your success with raspberries is if you have it
a little too wet in the pot. So, you know, in my native soil here
in San Diego, it's very heavy in clay. Not really ideal to grow raspberries,
which makes these containers really nice. In we go with our raspberry,
nothing too fancy here. You just want to match the soil surface
of the pot to the soil surface of the pot that you're putting it into. Ooh,
I've got some little pincher bugs in here. I'm actually going to brush them off
because I have a big problem with those in my climate and I don't want to introduce
any into the pot if I can avoid it. But nice looking root system here. We're
just going to break it up slightly, not get too wild with it. Just
give it a nice little rustle. What this does is it just helps
the roots reset their growth. So if they're used to kind of
spiraling around a little bit, you're going to help reset that a little
bit and you can be a little more rough than you think you could. A lot of
us are very sensitive. You know, we might prune our tops of our plants
like crazy and then we think that we can't even dare touch the roots. And you
certainly can with most plants. So I wouldn't worry about that too much. I just want to make sure that I'm not
getting any root circling at all once I put it in here. So in we go. We're going to match the pot surface and
then I've got a little bit of room to backfill. The last thing I'm going to do for
container prep on this raspberry, before we give it a nice water
in, I'm going to mulch the top. I like to use straw mulch for
a lot of my annual vegetables, but for something like this raspberry, I actually really prefer
some kind of woody material. So I'm using micro bark here. It's just a ground up bark that
comes in maybe like a, I dunno, like a fruity pebble-sized chunk. It looks really nice and also that's
the natural mulch that a raspberry in the wild would have covering it, is some sort of woody material that's
fallen down and started to rot away. So it's going to be a really nice mulch
cover. No more than about an inch or so. The only thing, again, you want to watch out for is if it
starts holding on to too much moisture, which is why we're going to
talk about watering right now. If you're going to run into an issue
that has to do with your care for a container raspberry, it's probably going to be overwatering
or the soil holding on to too much moisture. Because the roots
really don't like to sit in water. So I'm going to come through, I'm
going to give it one initial water. But I would say as a
general rule of thumb, it's better to water this
deeply and less often, rather than hitting it every single day
and keeping that soil perfectly moist all the time. Raspberry just
seems to not like that as much. And it can cause root rot. It can
cause all sorts of fungal diseases, not a great idea. Besides that, you're not going to run into too many
issues caring for a container raspberry. You'll have your standard
issues with pests for fruit. The best way to prevent from dealing
with pests like birds, leaf miners, fruit flies, that kind of thing is to come through
and actually pick the fruit when it's ripe. Don't delay, because then the
pests are going to start coming and say, hey, if you're not taking
it I'll definitely take it. And I'll have a little snack. Besides
that really, not a whole lot of issues. It's a heavy feeding plant. So you can come in with a
liquid or granular organic
fertilizer pretty regularly and give it that. And it'll really,
really appreciate that. But besides that, we don't have too much more to say, so
let's move on to blackberries. Well, berry corner is filling in here
and we're onto blackberries next. They kind of look the same
as raspberries, don't they? They kind of grow very similarly. However, there are some key differences
in their care. So right here, I've got a great container variety. You really do have to get a variety
specific to containers if you want to grow it in containers, otherwise the
growth habit can just be insane. This is baby cakes, aptly named from
Bushel and Berry. Really nice one. But what you have to remember about
blackberries is that, unlike raspberries, they do want soil that's a little
bit more consistently moist, especially as they're going
through the fruiting season. So you want to keep
that more well-watered, maybe more on an even schedule
than you would your raspberries. They're going to appreciate
that. The other thing is, depending on the cultivar
or variety you choose, they can thrive in extreme heat. They
can thrive in quite cold temperatures. So no matter where you are, you can grow
blackberries successfully. Soil wise, it's pretty much the same thing. So let's talk about the different growth
habits of blackberries while I shovel it in to the pot. The cool thing about blackberry growth
habits is that you're going to have one that suits pretty much any
growing condition that you want. So you have your erect style
blackberries. Those, as the name implies, the canes stand up and they're relatively
sturdy and they can pretty much support their own weight. So something like your traditional
blackberry is going to be an erect cultivar. Otherwise you
have a trailing cultivar, which really the canes are a little
bit less able to support themselves. They're a little flimsier and you
probably are going to want some kind of blackberry trellis. Now of course, we're talking about some of the more
traditional varieties that aren't grown in containers here. Nevertheless, I
still think it's kind of important. So things like your boysenberry
or your marionberry, those are going to be
your trailing varieties. And then those original
"oh gee" blackberries, those are more of the erect variety. So in another video actually do how
to build a trellis for blackberries. Cause I do want to put some in ground
here at the Homestead and it's going to be really cool to have a nice
tidy blackberry trellis. But let's pot this one up right now. The important thing to remember with
whatever type of blackberry that you grow, they are all floricane style blackberries. So they're going to fruit off
the second year of the cane. So that's something very important
because if you prune off the primocanes, then you won't actually
ever get blackberries. Because you've killed it before it
can actually produce the floricane, which is going to produce
the blackberry. So again, just making sure that I don't get
this rootbound before it even starts. Being a little rough, being a little
bit, you know, abrasive to these roots, but it is way better than putting it
in and having spiraling roots from the start. The other thing to think
about with blackberries is, you know, really choose varieties, whether
it's in a container or not, that will be well suited to your zone.
So you want to look up the chill hours, which we'll talk about a little bit more
in the blueberries because I find it it's a lot more important when
you're growing the blueberries. But you do want to select a cultivar
that will work really well in your zone. Of course, these container varieties are specifically
suited to do well in containers and pretty tolerant to many different
growing zones. So they'll do fine, but if you do want to put some in the
ground, then I do think that is a highly, highly advisable idea. See, I mean, look at just how much
I got out of this root. Really didn't damage it much at all, but I just loosened it up and I got it
ready to be in its forever home here in the pot. Top it off with a little mulch and we
will move on to one that has given many gardeners problems. And that would be growing blueberries
in containers effectively. Next up, we have probably the most popular berry
to grow in a container and that would be blueberries. Although maybe strawberries
is even more popular. But nevertheless, I actually thought I couldn't
grow blueberries both in
my climate and the amount of space I had, for a few
different reasons. Number
one, didn't have the space, thought I couldn't put it in
the ground. But number two, blueberries really like an acidic
soil. I'm talking a 4.5 to 5 pH soil. I don't have that in my climate. And I also don't really have the type of
soil in general that blueberries like. So I thought, okay, well
containers are my only reason. The third thing I'll say is, you want something that has the chill
hour requirement that matches to your growing zone. For those
of you who don't know, chill hours are just the amount of
hours under a certain temperature that a particular plant needs to accumulate
to produce a reliable harvest. So these ones right here,
this is blueberry jelly
bean from Bushel and Berry, they have an a thousand chill
hour requirement. So they
need a thousand or more. In my zone I like to grow
ones that are two, three, 400 chill hours because I'm in zone
10b. I don't get a lot of chill hours. So these ones are going to be really good
for a growing zone that's a little bit lower. The four or five, six, seven, eight growing zone is a
fantastic recommendation. But now we have to talk about the soil
mix that I've personally had a lot of success in and it is a custom mix. So we know blueberries
like a really acidic mix. So how do actually do that effectively?
Well, like the raspberries, we are going to use acid
lover mix, but we use. Way more of it. So the ratio here is going to be 60% of an acid. Loving mix. Sometimes it's sold
as a camellia and azalea mix. 60%. So I'm going to do two bags
here. Then you need to have. Some kind of organic matter. So I'm going to go with pure compost
from a couple of different sources. We've got some Espoma organic
mushroom compost here. That'll be a great addition. And then we're also going to add some
other composts that I just have laying around. Another fantastic addition here. But the final ingredient is actually
going to be that in micro bark mulch we used on top of our
raspberries and blackberries. We're going to mix it in to our
soil here at roughly about 10%. So 60% acid lover, 30% compost, and then a little dollop of that
micro bark mulch at about 10%. And you know what? I'm going to add. Some Espoma Berry-Tone at the
same time. Why not? Why not. Add a little extra fertility
in at the start here? It might seem weird to
mix in the micro bark. I've had fantastic results
with it personally. I know everyone has their own sort of
favorite mix for certain types of crops. I've had a lot of success. And if you think about how
blueberries grow in the wild, it does make a lot of sense. I was
in Maine a couple of years ago, foraging wild blueberries
up at Acadia National Park. I was in Alaska in that same year
foraging off the side of the road, blueberries. And pretty much they're growing on
a lot of dead decaying forest type material. So if they do
really well in that situation, probably makes sense to
mimic it in our gardens. Why not just copy mother nature, right? So this is the mix that I've
had a ton of success with. Let's get our jelly bean
blubes all potted up, and we'll talk a little bit about care. I do have a couple of articles and
videos about blueberry care already. But the biggest problem people run into
I think, is a pest problem actually. So when the blueberry starts
to ripen up, trust me, you're not going to be
the only one that notices. You're going to have probably
birds as your number one pest. Now I fortunately haven't run into
that yet here at the Epic Homestead, but I know it's just a matter of time. Because I've been slowly
establishing my property here. Maybe a lot of the native wildlife hasn't
quite noticed that I've been getting my game on here. What you're going to
want to do for birds, unfortunately, is net your blueberries. It's one of the only ways to reliably
prevent birds from getting in. And the reason is simple. You
can't do much else. I mean, you could use these flashing type of
products. They don't work that well. You just need to physically
prevent a bird from getting on. But the mistake a lot of people will make
when they're getting bird pressure on their blueberries is they'll just put
netting and they'll kind of drape it right over the blueberry. Birds are
smarter than that, my friends. They are going to come in. Ooh,
I got a lot of earwigs on this. We'll get that out of there.
Don't want them in my new pot. Let's get that guy out
too. I'm sorry, guys. You are not allowed in my blueberry pot. At least not that many of you. All right. With the netting, you have to make sure that you build
sort of a frame around it and keep it off the blueberry. Otherwise the birds will just land
on the netting and eat right through. So if I was going to net
this whole thing off, I might put some stakes in the ground
and drape netting over the whole thing, about 12 inches offset. And that would be a great way to
prevent not only the blueberries, but also the blackberries, maybe
even the strawberries up over here, off the screen. Just like our
raspberries and blackberries, we're going to finish it off with a
nice top dressing of this micro bark. It really looks nice, besides the fact that it provides the
blueberry with exactly what it needs to protect that soil that we just
customized for our blubes. With watering, sunlight, all that kind of stuff - really they're
simple in a container like this, provided you get a good variety. Because there are massive,
massive blueberries. You have these high bush
blueberry varieties. All. These different types, which we do go into in a completely
different Epic Gardening video. But you're going to want to
give it maybe one or two inches. Of water per week. You can just move
the mulch aside, give it a quick test. Of course, the type of container you put it in
will start to change that a little bit. That's why you can never
answer the question, how often to water a certain plant. And you can only give basic
recommendations because, you know, where. Did you put the plant? What kind
of pot are you using? If you're. Using a plastic pot, you're going to have to water way less
than a terracotta pot, for example, right? How big is the
pot? The bigger the pot, the less often you're going to
have to water because there's more. Soil in there retaining more moisture. Relative to the size of the plant. And
so that's why these sorts of questions, it's not really what I like
to do here on Epic Gardening. I like to teach you how
to become a gardener, how to think like a gardener instead
of just sort of being like this Google. Search engine on YouTube. For your answers. You have to learn the skills to
actually think like a gardener, learn how the plant grows. With
blueberries, these are going to do really, really well. Not a lot of
pruning required on these, especially for the container varieties. So let's water them in
and we'll wrap it up. I threw a fresh coat of
mulch on the ground as well,
just to tidy up this space. I think it's looking really nice. This is the berry corner
of the Epic Homestead. We've got the dragonfruits behind me. But two new berries into the
mix - raspberry, blackberry. The baby cakes blackberry, the
raspberry shortcake raspberry. Great container varieties. And then
the three blueberry jelly beans. The thing I'll say is, there is a lot
to say about blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, as far as pruning and
trellising goes, but not in containers. And that's the whole point
of these particular cultivars
from Bushel and Berry. You don't really have to
worry about a lot of that. I actually see a ripe blueberry right
here. I'm going to enjoy that. That it's so good. It's so good! And berries are some of the best things
that you can actually eat in the world of fruit. I'm certainly
not a health expert, but they are my favorite thing to eat. Full of antioxidants and
beautiful and easy to grow. So hopefully this was a good primer
on growing blueberries, blackberries, raspberries in containers. If you have
any questions, drop them in the Comments. Huge thanks to Bushel and
Berry for sponsoring the video. Their varieties are amazing
for container growers. So if you really want to get into it, I highly recommend you check out
their varieties. And until next time, good luck in the garden
and keep on growing.
