Dewberry cultivation??
I have been so focused on establishing a garden in my front yard (I just bought my house 1 year ago) that the back I have mostly let go to meadow. Interesting to see what comes up. Well, Saturday I tackled mowing parts of it, being careful to steer around clumps of wild aster and spiderwart I want to keep. It dawned on me that I have quite a bit of dewberry vines sprinkled about over a fourth or more of the yard.
I already had plans for a boysenberry patch in my side yard--ordered already to arrive and be planted this fall. Dewberries are essentially a sprawling groundcover sort of close cousin to the blackberry (smaller and sweeter berries), and it grows wild over much of the south. Like blackberries, they produce fruit only on two year old vines. Most of what you find in yards has been mowed and recovered from that, so a lot is 1st year growth. I think I am going to get in there with gloves and long sleeves and weed out competing plants and see how much actual dewberry growth I have. By next May, I should have berries. Wish me luck!
BTW, does anyone here have experience growing these? I found plenty of articles on picking them wild but none on purposeful cultivation. I am wondering if they can transplant. They tend to grow where they feel like it. 
5
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
6 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I was going to add that I had encountered dewberry while hiking in the Sierra Nevada Mountainsin California, but I believe they were thimbleberries instead. The USDA site shows dewberries ib the Eastern US, and the thimble variety in the west. I have no idea how similar the two may be.
As for boysenberries, my experience is that they grow like weeds. I loved them except they were difficult to contain and they have endless little thorns all over - just like most bramble berries. Good luck with your dewberries. I'll be interestex in hearing hoe they work out for you.
RussRAB
Level 8
May 28, 2019
1
Wow! Thimbleberries. That is another I had not heard of.
As for boysenberries, I am excited just anticipating planting them. It is nostalgic for me. My grandfather used to grow tons of them, along with many other things from his amazing intensively cultivate 1/3 acre garden. Grandma would can them and make all kinds of wonderful desserts with them. If you were to mix blackberries with raspberries and stir thoroughly, that is pretty much suggestive of the flavor. They are wonderful, but you never see them fresh in stores, because they don't keep well enough to ship. They do, however, freeze just fine, which is how I plan to keep them.
@MikeInBatonRouge - Blackberries have the nostalgic connection with my grandparents. They had 24 acres southwest of Akron, Ohio. Blackberries grew wild on their property and surrounding areas. When the blackberries were ripe, my grandfather would outfit us kids with rubber boots to cover out long pants and with long sleeve shirts. He insisted we wear a hat too. Then he would lead us through a rather swampy area some of it thick with maple and oak trees. The area we trekked to was along the backside of a drive-in movie theater and the whole parking area was bordered with blackberries. We pick berries and each about as many as we collected (at least us kids did). What we brought back, my grandma would either bake into a pie, or she would cook it into a syrup we poured ovèr ice cream.
My grandparents also had a row of raspberries, but for some reason, he kept mowing the over with his brush hog. Grandma would get so mad at him.
Another year, we discovered elderberries growing wild in the back of their property. They were as tasty as the blackberries in a pie and ice cream syrup.
@RussRAB oh yeah, raspberries! My mom used to grow those. Mom and Dad sold our house when I was eight. The people who bought it from us chopped down the fantastically productive pear tree and turned the raspberry patch into a dog run. What is WRONG with people?!? 
Kind of reminds me of the differences between rhodadendrons and azaleas. So dewberries have more slender vines, bright red color and fuzzy. And the berries look like blackberries, but only half the size. They also appear on individual stems along the vine, as opposed to blackberries, which cluster. And dewberries ripen in late spring, well before blackberries.
MikeInBatonRouge
Level 8
May 27, 2019
0
Interesting, have never heard of that here in the PNW! Like JackP, our constant battles are with blackberries, though it can be so nice to have an establishment of them nearby to harvest.
tinkercreek
Level 8
May 27, 2019
2
I grew up in Olympia, WA and attended high school on the Kitsap Penninsula across the water from Seattle. Blackberries were abundant. Fond childhood memories picking them for cobbler. Mmm
@MissKathleen vacant lots are especialy great places for blackberries to take over, anywhere not shaded by trees. What surprises me about these dewberry vines is that they are under oak trees. But they "dew" manage to get a few hours of sun a day.
Dew berries will do well if given something to climb, think in terms of a fence row, they will easily top a fence 3-4 feet, they spread from roots, so by mowing 2 feet out from your row, you can stop the spread and still have the berries. fertilize as you would for blackberries.
glennlab
Level 10
May 27, 2019
2
Thanks! Helpful idea. I am thinking some simple T stakes and either baling wire or chicken wire mesh. I do already have some chain link fencing that some of the plants will be close enough to be trained to.
@MikeInBatonRouge They climb barber wire fences, so baling wire at 12 in intervals should more than suffice. I would allow 2-4 feet of wild on each side for maximum growth. adequate water supply during the growing season will give you the most lucious fruit.
We have a native blackberry here and it is a pain. It competes with the invasive Himalayan blackberry. I looked up the Dewberry and it seems similar to our native ones in that it is a thin, thorny vine that is a groundcover. It grows especially well during our period of drought (May - Sept). It is everywhere and 2 years ago I was using my outside shower and accidentally stepped on one. It was only a tiny prick but it broke the skin. The water was collected water and some bacteria got into the wound and my foot swelled up like a balloon and I needed antibiotics. I learned to use only tap or boiled water after that.
JackPedigo
Level 9
May 27, 2019
3
Recent Visitors 25
RussRAB
TX, USA
MikeInBatonRouge
Baton Rouge,
MissKathleen
SouthwesternArizonaUSA,
JackPedigo
Lopez Island,
tinkercreek
Portland Burb,
Photos 5,418 More
Posted by FrostyJim...I have enough room for a few good people.
Posted by glennlabMy heavenly Blue Morning Glories have finally gotten their color.
Posted by glennlabMy heavenly Blue Morning Glories have finally gotten their color.
Posted by FernappleIts that season again, blue sky and golden leaves, nature is the greatest designer, a Ginkgo in my garden. Also posted in photography.
Posted by Diaco Black Sapote - The chocolate pudding tropical fruit! (2 videos) [youtube.com] [youtube.com]
Posted by Diaco Black Sapote - The chocolate pudding tropical fruit! (2 videos) [youtube.com] [youtube.com]
Posted by Diaco Black Sapote - The chocolate pudding tropical fruit! (2 videos) [youtube.com] [youtube.com]
Posted by Diaco Black Sapote - The chocolate pudding tropical fruit! (2 videos) [youtube.com] [youtube.com]
Posted by FrostyJimMaking my last batch of 2024 oven roasted tomato sauce on Oct. 10 ready to start filling jars.
Posted by FrostyJimMaking my last batch of 2024 oven roasted tomato sauce on Oct. 10 ready to start filling jars.
Posted by FrostyJimMaking my last batch of 2024 oven roasted tomato sauce on Oct. 10 ready to start filling jars.
Posted by FrostyJimI needed to preserve my bell peppers so I made Indian chutney last night.
Posted by FrostyJimI needed to preserve my bell peppers so I made Indian chutney last night.
Posted by FrostyJimMoose family munchin' on my Raspberries right now at about 8:30 on Tuesday night!
Posted by FrostyJim3 giants total over 3 lbs! Bush Early Girl hybrid grown in my Wasilla Alaska zone 4b greenhouse...
Posted by FrostyJim.