I planted this thornless blackerry plant in my yard, and around the same time a wild, thorny variety of blackberry bush started coming up on it’s own in a different part of my yard and I happily encouraged its growth. The first year I didn’t get any berries on either plant. Last year I got a bunch of berries on the thornless plant but they were all super hard and the diluted reddish color you see in the picture. They seemed to go through all the normal stages of ripening, but never got soft and their color never darkened. I didn’t harvest them and eventually they were all either eaten by birds or they just fell off and rotted. I figured it was a fluke and just part of the plant developing- espescially because the thorny bush was only producing a handful of tiny green berries that didn’t really ripen either.
This year both the thorny and thornless bushes are covered with fruit- but once again the ones on the thornless bush are hard and discolored. The birds don’t even seem to want them. A google search suggested that the problem could be dehydration but this bush sits in a part of my yard that typically has moist soil, the leaves on the bush look healthy and don’t have any droop or crispiness, and the plant itself is spreading all along the fenceline like a weed. I’m half convinced that I’m just being impatient and they’ll soften as they get ripe- but that’s what I thought last year, too.
TL/DR why won’t my berries get soft? And are they supposed to be that color or is something up?
NotscumbagJ
Give them time.
CaprioPeter
They take a while
fuzzyslippers33
It could be sun scald. If mine get too much direct sunlight, they will turn sort of cloudy and opaque compared to dark and shiny like you would expect. The leaves look great, no curl, discoloration, pest pressure, or tip burning, so I think you are doing ok with that. In general, blackberries take a few years to settle in then there’s no stopping them. I wouldn’t worry just yet, but I would keep an eye on the amount of sunlight they are getting.
4 Comments
I planted this thornless blackerry plant in my yard, and around the same time a wild, thorny variety of blackberry bush started coming up on it’s own in a different part of my yard and I happily encouraged its growth. The first year I didn’t get any berries on either plant. Last year I got a bunch of berries on the thornless plant but they were all super hard and the diluted reddish color you see in the picture. They seemed to go through all the normal stages of ripening, but never got soft and their color never darkened. I didn’t harvest them and eventually they were all either eaten by birds or they just fell off and rotted. I figured it was a fluke and just part of the plant developing- espescially because the thorny bush was only producing a handful of tiny green berries that didn’t really ripen either.
This year both the thorny and thornless bushes are covered with fruit- but once again the ones on the thornless bush are hard and discolored. The birds don’t even seem to want them. A google search suggested that the problem could be dehydration but this bush sits in a part of my yard that typically has moist soil, the leaves on the bush look healthy and don’t have any droop or crispiness, and the plant itself is spreading all along the fenceline like a weed. I’m half convinced that I’m just being impatient and they’ll soften as they get ripe- but that’s what I thought last year, too.
TL/DR why won’t my berries get soft? And are they supposed to be that color or is something up?
Give them time.
They take a while
It could be sun scald. If mine get too much direct sunlight, they will turn sort of cloudy and opaque compared to dark and shiny like you would expect. The leaves look great, no curl, discoloration, pest pressure, or tip burning, so I think you are doing ok with that. In general, blackberries take a few years to settle in then there’s no stopping them. I wouldn’t worry just yet, but I would keep an eye on the amount of sunlight they are getting.