Growing Boysenberry in AZ

[@LibertyBooksAZ]

I'm in southern AZ, never had success with any fruit trees, but your channel came along at the right time cuz I planted my first 2 fig trees last week! Looking forward to watching your adventures! Thanks for the excellent video & audio quality.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey LibertyBooks! Thanks for the comment and good choice on fig trees. They grow just about anywhere as long as you give them a little love (I.E. water, mulch and fertilize 3X/year). Even without that you will probably have success with them!

[@reddevil331]

Garden grove! Bought a boysenberry bush from them today at there festival for boysenberrys.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Sean. You should have a much better harvest in So Cal growing these than we do out here. Just a little jealous, because these berries taste amazing!

[@carlschnackel3051]

I read that the boysenberry was developed by Rudolph Boysen. Walter Knott happened into a badly overgrown field of them and nursed some plants back to health. Knott was the one who popularized them, but they were developed by Rudolph Boysen.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Well, that definitely makes more sense given the name!

[@AMothersTouchOfSoul]

I too have fond memories of Knotts Berry Farm & because if my love of the boysenberry pie. I purchased my 1st thornless boysenberry plant today. Thank you for sharing & I’ll be sure to install a trellis so they can grow up on it

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Larry! Good choice on the thornless variety. That's definitely the way to go!

[@ashleyrocha1028]

I bought a thornless boysenberry offline a few months ago and as it’s been growing it has thorns on it now. 😬

[@bigbad9583]

How long did it take you to figure out boysenberrys aren't a ground cover? ..you have to trelles them from the get go.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Big Bad. We had plans to do just that and well, just got lazy I suppose. No good excuse really!

[@bigbad9583]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I guess as long as you're getting the awesome Berry's it doesn't matter.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@bigbad9583 True, but it sure will make a difference trying to get to the fruit that's behind other thorny branches!

[@MildredGlutz]

Loved Knott’s Berry Farm as a kid, too. Will always remember the smell of the eucalyptus trees there. Will soon be planting some boysenberries here in the CA high desert and thinking of the Knotts.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Oh yes, the Eucalyptus tree smell was amazing. Mixed with the smell of berries and the wooden structures it's really a unique memory. Good luck with your berries!

[@ultragrampa]

Sir: I tuned in to get information on how to grow these berries, get some tips and strategies for a bigger, better crop. What I saw was you harvesting a few berries and letting us know which ones were tasty and which ones you should waited to picked this coming Thursday. Any chance you can give us some actual pointers on how to enhance OUR crops? I'm in the Huachuca Mountains of southeast Arizona, have great looking plants but fewer buds and less fruit than I'd like. Thank you.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hello Glenn. This is a great question. We didn't have a particularly good harvest from this bush and we don't currently have plans to include it on our new property, however there are a couple of things we could have done to improve. The first would be trellising. These are heavy vine bushes that need trellising. Thorn vs. thornless - we didn't prune this bush to encourage fruiting because of the thorns and dealing with the trimmings. My understanding is there are thorn less varieties and if we try this again we'll opt for one of those. Pruning - berry bushes need to be pruned in order to push new growth and hence additional fruiting. Bird protection - You'll need to net this bush in order to keep the birds from eating your harvest. This was probably our biggest mistake as most of our harvest went to the birds. Lastly would be irrigation - these bushes need regular watering so they do not dry out. Our harsh dry climate is not ideal for this, so you'll need to do what you can to increase the moisture and humidity around the vine. Hope this helps!

[@carlosestrada51]

I love boysenberries and I love Knott’s Berry Farm! I have a pass! I’m currently in the process of growing boysenberries in my backyard, and I have a trellis that’s soon going to be finished being put together and I will soon be putting in some chicken manure to help them grow, prune them, and I can’t wait to hopefully harvest them next year!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Carlos! Man, just a little jealous of that season pass, not gonna lie. You'll have to send us pics of your vines once you have them in place. Would love to see how they do for you.

[@sunshinedayz2172]

where can I get some of these boysenberry plants?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We bought this one from Stark Brothers nursery online. Here's a link to their website and it looks like they have them in stock. www.starkbros.com/products/berry-plants/hybrid-berry-plants/boysenberry

[@popsthemachine247]

I’m here in quarantine and bought a thornless boysenberry at Lowe’s so I can have Boysenberry jam , pie, etc just like Knotts Berry Farm. I miss the boysenberry festival and can’t wait for this COVID-19 to be over. I have a annual pass and can’t wait to go back to Knotts

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Great choice on a thornless variety. Hopefully you'll get a great harvest from it that will bring Knott's to you!

[@pizzacheez7]

Someone who knows could you let me kmow if these are easy to grow, im going to try growing these and it would be the first thing i grow

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey pizzacheez. If you're here in AZ they're not too difficult to grow, but you'll want to make sure you have a good spot picked out for them. They have a tendency to overtake the area where you plant them with their runners and the thorned version (like we have here) can be very difficult to deal with when you're harvesting and also when you prune it. Honestly, we prefer the Prime Ark or Triple Crown blackberry over these here in AZ. Much easier to harvest, very productive and no thorns! The Triple Crown sends out runners, but the Prime Ark does not. As for taste, the Triple Crown is closer to a boysenberry, but that boysenberry flavor is hard to beat! Hope this helps.

[@pizzacheez7]

Thank you for the advice i decided on boysenberries because they're not available in stores it was between them and pineberries and i have dogs would you suggest placing a fence around the garden area. And yes I'm in Phoenix

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@pizzacheez7 with dogs you may want to keep them out, especially if they're diggers and you wind up with the thorned variety!

[@sunnycaldreamer]

I just purchase a couple thornless boysenberry plants. I can't wait to get them in the ground this winter and get some fruit next year. Thank you for your videos.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

You're going to love those berries!

[@dorisrorick2324]

I've never seen them for sale. Darn

[@vivektube123]

Does it not need trellis or any kind of support to grow vertical.. I am new in gardening

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey there Vivek, great question. Boysenberries do MUCH better when they are trellised. This one was fairly young at the time and we didn't have the time to get that in place, but they really should be grown vertically.

[@beckyrose4004]

This berry is a big part of my childhood. My grandma has one in her yard in California and I would love to have one in my yard. Would love to see more on how you plant/grow boysenberries. When is a good time to plant, what to put in the soil and more info to help me plant my own in AZ. Maybe could I grow one from a clipping of her bush? And how would I go about doing that? Thanks for any advice

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Becky. Glad to hear I'm not the only one with fond memories of these berries! As for your prep. You will want a raised bed that you can amend with 50% native soil and 50% compost (the red and white bag that says garden soil at Home Depot will work just fine). Our beds are about 4'X4' which is plenty. We bought our plant online and I don't have any experience with cuttings on these, so I'm not too sure on that one. You'll want to plant this in the spring on or about March 1. It needs regular deep watering (we use drip irrigation) and some shade will help during the summer. You can use shade cloth or put it under a larger tree. Fertilize it 3X/year in February, May and September after the first 6 months. For the first 6 months we like to use diluted fish emulsion (there are instructions on the bottle at Home Depot) and fertilize once a month to help get it growing strong. Hope this helps!

[@beckyrose4004]

Thanks so much for all this information. I will definitely be planting my own this year. I hope all goes well. I’m so excited I can already taste the berries.

[@jimtullier5709]

@@beckyrose4004 I have 15 boysenberry plants going that I started from just 2 small plugs. Of all the fruit and berry plants I have, boysenberry is by far the easiest to propagate. What I do is take one of the longer canes and position a 6" flower pot filled with potting poil in a way that the cane tip can be planted into the pot. Make a hole in the center of the soil, place the cane tip into the hole and gently pack the soil. Within 2 weeks you will get a brand new plant. I gently pull the tip out of the pot to verify. Then the tip propagation can be cut a foot or so from the tip and your new plant is now ready for its new location.

[@pizzacheez7]

Its a few months away but do i have to take any special precautions for winter

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

No, they will do just fine in the winter (they go mostly dormant during the winter).

[@michaelagibbs9695]

Love the endings of your videos they always make me laugh. I have a boysenberry in a pot that I bought in April and its put on a lot of growth. So excited after seeing this video, I haven't tried them before but I don't think you can go wrong with berries 😊

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Michaela. I'm sure if the pot is big enough you'll get some fruit from it next year. I think they do much better in afternoon shade, but this one is doing really well in full sun as it sits right between our 2 large mulberry trees and misses out on the shade they provide to our other berry bushes. And yes, hard to go wrong with berries!

[@mareematic3268]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm TX

[@martiallaw3487]

I bought my boysenberry plant from Knott's Berry Farm a couple of years ago when I went back home to visit, plant grows good but ain't seeing any flowers and didn't get any berries last year. Any suggestions? Anxious to make them Boysenberry funnel cakes!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Oh man, straight from the source you would think you should be in good shape. As for the lack of flowering, not too sure. Obviously you should be good as far as variety getting it from the source. We're diligent on the fertilizing and watering for our berries, so that may be part of it. Also, did you amend the soil at all? Assuming you're here in AZ btw...

[@martiallaw3487]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm not sure what amend is

[@martiallaw3487]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I'm in western Colorado

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@martiallaw3487 by amending you're adding some type of additional soil or compost to the existing soil to add fertility. We like to use the Kellogg garden soil or potting soil from Home Depot. Also, saw your clarification on where you're at and maybe that has something to do with it. In So Cal and also here in AZ we get cold, but not down much below 20-30 degrees and only for very short periods of time in the winter when the vines are dormant. It may be that the weather isn't warm enough or it's too cold at night. It might be worth trying to build some type of small tunnel to regulate the night time temps??

[@pizzacheez7]

What are signs of overwatering or too much sun on these

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We have yet to over water one, so not sure on that. They do get a bit sunburned in the middle of summer, but we always add extra water to ensure they can push through. Mulching heavy really makes a difference for any of the fruit trees, but blackberries/boysenberries in particular seem to really need that consistent soil moisture.

[@pizzacheez7]

Do these do well in Arizona summer are any extra steps needed to protect them

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That's a great question. They survive the summer, but they do get very stressed in the extreme heat. This bush you see here never had shade cloth or the protection of the trees we planted next to them and yet we had fruit set starting the 2nd year. If you're able to give it afternoon shade I don't think it would hurt the fruit production and may give you better growth. Definitely worth a try.

[@pizzacheez7]

Do you also have a video or advice on keeping bugs away

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@pizzacheez7 It depends on the bugs I suppose, but we don't spray our trees with anything as we're trying to see if we can develop the soil enough so the tree can defend itself against them. I know Neem oil is used, especially in the off season to help deter bugs. Also removing any diseased branching will help with disease control.

[@annetill12]

Are boysenberries as invasive as other blackberry type plants?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Anne! Yes, they definitely send out strong runners. We had new sprouts all around the bed after the first year, so you'll want to give these plenty of space.

[@ourcommonancestry6025]

52 yo with the Boysenberry and KBF memories from birth... still better than Disneyland, the Angels, the Rams, and almost Dodgers.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Our Common Ancestry, It's so true! Haven't been there in about 10 years, but the ghost town and most of the old rides were still there.

[@pizzacheez7]

Also are monsoons or heavy rains a danger to them

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

No, actually once the monsoons set in it actually helps these get through the summer months.

[@edstimator1]

hate to burst your bubble but that crop is pathetic. I have thornless boysenberries that produce mass quantities and no stickers.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad to hear you're having success. Berries are a new venture for us and we're still trying to learn what we can successfully grow out here in the desert.