PlantSowGrow
How to plant and care for Boysenberry (Thornless)
Rubus ursinus × idaeus
Large, juicy, deep-maroon berries with a rich, tangy blackberry–raspberry flavour, in July and August. The thornless form is easy to train.
At a glance: harvest in July.
When to plant and care for it
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Boysenberry (Thornless): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water well while fruit swells
- Soil
- Fertile, well-drained soil
- Spacing
- 2.5 m
- Height
- 2 m
- In pots
- Only in large containers
- Feeding
- Sulphate of potash in late winter; mulch with compost
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 5–9
Step by step
- On planting day
Plant
Plant 2.5 m apart in weed-free, well-prepared soil enriched with compost, and water in well.
- 0–3 days after “Plant”
Put Up Support Wires
Stretch wires at 45 cm intervals between two posts (or along a fence) to tie the canes to.
- 7–21 days after “Put Up Support Wires”
Mulch
Spread 5 cm of compost or bark around the plants to keep moisture in and weeds down.
Every year
- MarchMulch and Feed
Feed with a general fertiliser and mulch with compost.
- JuneTie In New Canes
Tie this year's new canes to the top wires, away from the fruiting canes.
- JulyPick the Berries
Pick when almost black and soft; they do not keep, so eat or freeze them the same day.
Starts from year 2.
- AugustCut Out Fruited Canes
Cut the canes that fruited this year to the ground and tie in the new ones for next year.
Starts from year 2.
