Berry Plants: How Many Years to Bear?
Whether you’re interested in the wide range of health benefits that come from adding something edible to your landscape or garden, or you’re a foodie who loves endless culinary possibilities, growing your own berries is an all-around rewarding endeavor.
After you plant them, berry plants tend to produce their first crops much more quickly than most fruit trees. You could be enjoying fresh berries sooner than you’d think, so it’s important to be prepared by planning ahead. If you’re eager to liven up your summer salads or start sipping on healthy, homemade fruit smoothies, then let’s get started!
Take a look at how many years it takes for berry plants to bear fruit, so that you can plan for your first harvest.
Stark Bro’s Berry Plants & Vines* | Years to Bear Fruit
| Blackberry Plants | 1-2 years |
| Blueberry Plants | 2-3 years |
| Boysenberry Plants | 2-3 years |
| Cranberry Plants | 2-3 years |
| Elderberry Plants | 2-3 years |
| Gooseberry Plants | 3-4 years |
| Grape Vines (including Muscadines) | 2-4 years |
| Hardy Kiwi Vines | 2-3 years |
| Honeyberry Plants | 1-2 years |
| Lingonberry Plants | 2-3 years |
| Loganberry Plants | 2-3 years |
| Raspberry Plants | 1-2 years |
| Strawberry Plants | 1-2 years |
| Goji Berry Plants | 2-3 years |
Maintenance is also important to getting the most out of your berry plants. Some selections like strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries might try to bloom and set fruit the first year you plant them. You will be doing your plants a favor in the long run if you pinch these flowers off to avoid fruit set in their first year with you. Doing so will allow your new plants to devote their energy to becoming established and growing well so that they can support bigger, better crops of berries for years to come!
And don’t forget — there’s more to these plants and vines than just fruit. Even while you’re waiting for them to reach fruiting maturity, they still make beautiful outdoor accents that will add interest to your landscape with gorgeous foliage that is lush during the growing season and turns various colors in the fall.
*Just like in our article, How many years until your tree bears fruit, these time frames may vary, but all begin counting after your new Stark Bro’s berry plants are transplanted into your growing space!
20 comments on “Berry Plants: How Many Years to Bear?”
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The Garden Watchdog
Two questions concerning blueberries and getting acid into the soil: If pine needles are acidic are the pine cones also acidic? How long do oak leaves have to compost before using them for acidic mulch?
Typically, pine needles, pine bark, pine cones, and the area around pines are all good sources for a lower soil pH. Oak leaves tend to break down more slowly than some other organic materials, but if the pile is “hot” (more ‘green’; more nitrogen) it can speed up the process. Another thing you can do to speed up the process is shred the oak leaves before adding them to your pile. Many people opt for using oak leaves as a mulch so that, as it breaks down naturally, it conditions the soil that way.
Here are some helpful resources on composting:
• http://homeguides.sfgate.com/make-oak-leaf-compost-48175.html
• http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/swmp/composting/compost1.htm
I’m thinking of planting the low growing blueberry bushes and some honeyberry bushes around a circular driveway. It’s in full sun except real early mornings and is appx. 20′ from several oaks trees. We previously had two pine trees in this area which were cut down about five years ago. The soil is mostly clay. Do you think I could amend the soil enough for blueberries to grow.
The fact that pines and oaks grow well for you there is a good sign that blueberries should do well, Kathy! Before trying to amend anything, you should check with your local Extension experts to find out the composition of your soil (with a soil test — for a small fee), how well your soil will currently suit blueberries*, and get advice on how, and with what, to amend your soil if it is necessary.
You can find your local Extension’s contact information here: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/
*Note: honeyberries don’t require the low/acidic soil pH that blueberries do
• Recommended Blueberry Plant pH: 4.5-5.5
• Recommended Honeyberry Plant pH: 5.5-7.5
Thank you for the info on the berry timeline. Would it be possible to get the normal fruit bearing timeline on dwarf fruit trees compared to semi-dwarf and standard?
You’re welcome, Nancy! Since the fruit-bearing time for trees depends more on their maturity (which can vary by environment, care, etc.) rather than the size, it’s a bit more difficult to break it down that way.
For estimation’s sake, it would be possible to predict that, if you know the range for apple trees is 2-5 years, dwarf-sized apple trees should mature sooner and production would occur closer to 2 years, while standard-sized apple trees may take longer to mature, and would bear closer to 5 years after planting. Semi-dwarf apple trees would fit somewhere in the middle. Does that make sense?
What about Columnar Apple Trees ? I can’t find alot of info. about them yet. Someone told my husband they live only 1/2 as long as a regular apple tree – is that true? What about their production time? etc.
This article talks about the production time for berry plants and vines, but columnar apple trees take the same amount of time to bear as other apple trees (mentioned in this article) — about 2-5 years.
If the “regular apple tree” that your husband heard about was a standard-sized tree, which tends to take the longest to bear but has a longer overall life, then there may be some truth to what he heard — but even a dwarf or columnar apple tree, with the proper planting site and care, lives/bears for over 20 years.
when grafting apple trees , can you graft reg. size trees to crabapple trees , also can you graft semi-dworth trees to reg. size trees , thanks , mike
Interesting questions for a berry post, Mike!
When fruit trees are grafted, an ideal limb of a variety* is selected, called “scion wood”, and it is grafted to a rootstock, which determines the mature size of the tree.
*Examples of apple varieties are: Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, etc.
If you’re asking about taking a scion from a standard-sized apple tree and grafting it onto a crabapple tree or an existing semi-dwarf sized apple tree, that would work. The rootstock is what determines the size of the tree first, followed by the natural vigor of the variety you’re grafting onto it.
You might want to check to see if the master gardeners, or county extension, or even local garden centers, host any grafting classes where you are. You might really enjoy the hands-on experience!
I have two blueberry plants in pots. I live in AZ (at 5000 ft. in an area of vineyards and fruit production) where the soil pH is mostly alkaline. The potting soil in which these plants live is more neutral and less harmful than our native soil would be. My question regards pruning. These blueberries have many small branches. I can’t seem to find any good instructions about how to prune blueberries, so I am guessing that the best advice would be to thin the branches. Can you help with additional advice?
Good question, Susan! Blueberries tend to send up many shoots in their bush-growing nature. The best method to pruning blueberries is to remove and damaged, dead, or diseased wood first. You will also want to prune to keep the bushes open to light, so if you have any older shoots in those pots (ones that are unproductive), take those out as close to the base as possible.
As for the stems with many small branches: select the ones with the smallest twiggy branches and prune those back. Since blueberries develop fruit at the tips, this allows the longer growth and fruiting wood to have the energy to grow and develop into fruit for you in the future. I hope this helps!
Sarah, I live in zone 6, and have purchased blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. I’m sure they were raised in a grennhouse and I’m going to plant them outside but there is a frost danger here for more than a month. So my questioin is should I plant and cover to protect them from frosty nights and uncover when above freezing during the day or just plant and leave them uncovered?
Thanks
Your blackberries were definitely greenhouse-grown, Patrick. You can tell that products were from our greenhouse if they arrive in pots — our bare-root plants, like the strawberries and most raspberries, will arrive dormant. If you have bare-root berries (no pots, no soil), then they can be planted when they arrive, as long as your soil is workable, since there will be no tender new growth for the frost to zap.
For your berry plants that are in their shipping pots with some soil, once the threat of frost has passed, you should acclimatize them before moving them outdoors. This involves keeping them in their pots and slowly introducing them to the cooler outdoor temperatures, but bringing them back indoors each day.
To start off, place them outside, during the day (not over night), for a couple of hours and then bring them back inside. Increase their time outdoors each day for about a week or so, and then you should be able to plant them in an environment they’ve grown accustomed to. In the meantime, you can leave them in pots and just treat them as potted house plants: giving them light and watering them only when the soil is no longer damp to the touch.
We have more tips on what to do if you need to delay planting in our blog article here: http://www.starkbros.com/blog/how-to-delay-planting/
Hi,
I recently ordered 5 blueberry plants from your nursery (pinklemonade, patriot, elliot, northcountry, and northblue) in the 1 gallon pots (2 year olds). I would like to grow these in smart pot containers on our cedar wood deck. What gallon size smart pot should I purchase for transplantation once they arrive? Would a 15 gallon be too large?
Thanks in advance for your reply,
Lori
Hi Lori! Northcountry and Northblue are naturally smaller varieties that won’t grow quite as large as the rest. These can be kept in smaller Smart Pots, or in the same size as the rest if you want a more uniform look — it’s up to you!
In my research, I have found that growers opt for either the 15-gallon or the 20-gallon Smart Pots in which to grow their blueberry plants. The 15-gallon Smart Pots aren’t too big for the plants as they mature, but they may seem roomy at first. As long as you ensure the soil used has the proper pH for blueberries (4.5-5.5), they will grow to fill the containers you use just fine.
Thank you Sarah!
I will purchase the 15 gallon smart pots then, and see how they do for the next year or two.
I do have a pH meter, and have ordered the netting, fertilizer, pine bark, peat moss and acid based potting soil, so I’m hoping my “old” green thumb won’t kill them. LOL
This will be my first experience in growing blueberries.
Lori
Do yall sell strawberry plants were the strawberrys are large and grow in texas my zipcode is77320 and can you recomend the types of strawberry plants
We do! If you ever wonder if something is recommended for your zone, you can enter your zip code on our website where it asks for one and a check mark will appear on the varieties that should grow well there.
For example, if you go to the Strawberry Plants page, enter 77320, it says you’re in a zone 8B. Now, that’s borderline zone 9, and all of our strawberries are only recommended for zones up to 8. Technically, you can still give these a try, but your summer heat might be a little too intense for these strawberries. If you can construct a shade cloth covering for the plants, this might give them more of a chance to survive and produce for you there.
These are the big, productive, strawberry plants I’d recommend if you are willing to give these a try:
• Allstar Strawberry
• Surecrop Strawberry
There are more heat-tolerant varieties of strawberries out there. I remember there being U-pick strawberry fields when I lived in South Florida, but I can’t name any varieties off-hand. In this case, you might have luck asking local growers to see if anyone can recommend varieties that have worked well for them!
dear sara, and everyone else a starkbros, I have been growing stark trees all my life as my parents and grandparents also did, they are the best trees in the world, anyone can ask and will get that answer, now that I have grown older and grow my own little nurserie on my own little DREAM FARM, guess what? it has a lot of stark trees and are just flat gettin’ with it as we say out here in ky… my grown son is growing stark at his farm just down the lane from me, he got a couple trees from lowes and they aren’t worth a crap ,I told him if you order a stark you’ll get fruit,,, well he did and they are great! he said wow they are better…TOLD YOU SO…George in ky.