WILDCRAFTING BLACKBERRY AND RASPBERRY BUSHES

Wild berries are the sweetest.  And it seems, the more thorns the better the berry, but that is not a proven fact.  It is fairly easy to transplant small bushes from the wild following a few simple guidelines:

  The first rule in wildcrafting is to always make sure you have permission from the owner of the land.  The second is to not take enough plants from one site so that their absence is noticed.  You must always leave enough for them to continue growing where you found them, and lastly, harm no other plants in your zeal to dig up a prize.  So you have found a site, what now?

WHICH SWITCHES ARE WHICH?

The fruiting canes of both raspberries and blackberries are fast-growing biennial croppers, while their roots are perennial.  This means, the plant will grow every year, but not every cane will bear fruit.  It takes practice to tell blackberry and raspberry canes apart; the only differences are that the raspberry canes are a little greener and more slender, while the blackberry canes are somewhat stouter and browner, and have ridges along the stem.  . Blackberries and raspberries are seldom found together in the same bramble thicket. Raspberries can host  anthracnose ,  a blight which isn't fatal to the raspberry carrier, but which might destroy nearby blackberries. 
Both of these wild berry species can be dug up in the spring, while still dormant, but raspberry can also successfully be transplanted in the fall.

 You should know that telling the primocanes (canes produced during the previous season, which will bear fruit during the coming summer) from the floricanes (those that bore last season and will soon be either dead or unproductive) is not easy. To the unpracticed eye, they'll all look alike, but-on closer inspection-you'll discover that the primocanes are smaller, and of a brighter color, than are the floricanes. (It's best to simply tag the primocanes during the summer fruiting season, prior to your planned spring digging.)

YOU WILL NEED GOOD GLOVES AND A SHARP SHOVEL

Blackberry brambles were once called lawyers because once you fall in their clutches its hard to get back out again.

Choose smaller bushes which are offshoots of larger bushes and begin digging about 8" away from the stalk, carefully until you feel which direction the roots are growing, then follow them as far as you can, being careful not to cut or break them off.  Do not allow them to dry out.  I always carry wet newspapers in a tote in  the trunk of my car to wrap around roots.

BACK IN YOUR OWN GARDEN

Choose a sunny spot in rich soil away from crops such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, potato, apple and maple trees.  This is to control the spread of leaf curl and orange rust,  which may be transmitted from infected berry bushes.  You can control this by spraying derris and copper fungicide in June.

Dig a hole two to three times as long and three times as wide as your roots and dress with shredded compost.  I do not recommend potting soil with fertilizer as it is too rich and may shock the plants.   Plant the bushes one inch deeper than they were in the wild, and water well.

Cut your planted blackberry and raspberry canes back to the roots . . . and allow about 30 inches between plants, and six to ten feet between rows, to lessen the chance of fungus contagion. Cultivate or use mulch to keep weeds down and help the plants give higher yields.