5 Navaho Thornless Blackberry Starter Plug Live Plant

Overview

Bring the joy of fresh, homegrown fruit to your garden with the Navaho blackberry live plant. This offering includes 5 healthy starter plugs of the highly acclaimed Rubus ‘Navaho’ variety. Renowned for being the world’s first thornless blackberry with a naturally upright, self-supporting growth habit, the Navaho eliminates the common need for trellises, making it an excellent choice for both experienced gardeners and beginners. Developed by the University of Arkansas, this cultivar is celebrated for producing a heavy crop of exceptionally sweet and firm berries late in the summer season, providing a delightful harvest when many other berry varieties have finished.

The Navaho blackberry live plant is a low-maintenance, erect-growing shrub that thrives in various garden settings. Its vigorous growth and abundant fruit production make it a rewarding addition to edible landscapes, backyard orchards, or even large container gardens. Imagine plucking juicy, ripe blackberries directly from your own plants, free from thorns, ready for snacking, baking, or preserving. This robust plant offers both ornamental appeal with its lush green foliage and the practical benefit of a bountiful fruit harvest.

If you’re looking to enjoy delicious, high-quality berries with minimal fuss, the thornless blackberry plant is an ideal solution. These starter plugs provide a convenient way to establish a productive blackberry patch, ensuring you’ll have plenty of sweet fruit for years to come. The ‘Navaho’ variety is a reliable performer, known for its consistent yields and disease resistance, making it a fantastic investment for any home gardener.

Key Benefits

The Navaho blackberry live plant offers a multitude of advantages that make it a top choice for home gardeners:

• Thornless Canes: Enjoy harvesting your berries without the pain of thorns. This key feature makes picking much more pleasant and accessible for everyone, including children, and simplifies pruning and maintenance tasks.
• Erect, Self-Supporting Growth: Unlike many other blackberry varieties, the ‘Navaho’ has a naturally upright growth habit. This often eliminates the need for cumbersome trellises or extensive support systems, saving you time and effort in the garden.
• Exceptionally Sweet & Firm Berries: The fruit produced by the Navaho blackberry live plant is highly prized for its delicious, sweet flavor and firm texture, making it perfect for fresh eating, pies, jams, and freezing.
• Heavy Crop Production: This cultivar is known for its prolific fruiting, yielding a generous harvest of berries late in the summer season. You can expect a bountiful supply of fresh fruit for an extended period.
• Low Maintenance: The robust nature and self-supporting growth habit of the thornless blackberry plant contribute to its low-maintenance profile, making it suitable for gardeners with varying levels of experience.
• Developed for Reliability: Originating from the University of Arkansas breeding program, the ‘Navaho’ is a well-researched and proven variety known for its reliability, disease resistance, and consistent performance.
• Versatile Use: Beyond fresh eating, these berries are excellent for a wide range of culinary applications, from smoothies and desserts to homemade preserves, offering versatility in your kitchen.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Caring for your Navaho blackberry live plant is straightforward, ensuring a rewarding harvest with proper attention. Blackberries generally thrive in full sun, meaning they require at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day to produce the sweetest and most abundant fruit. While they can tolerate partial shade, fruit production may be reduced. Choose a location in your garden that receives ample sunlight throughout the day, ideally with some protection from strong winds.

These plants prefer well-draining, slightly acidic soil with a pH between 6.0 and 6.5. Incorporating organic matter such as compost or aged manure into the planting site will improve soil structure, fertility, and drainage. When planting your growing blackberries starter plugs, ensure the root ball is level with the soil surface and space plants about 3-4 feet apart to allow for proper air circulation and growth. Water thoroughly after planting.

Consistent moisture is crucial, especially during the fruiting period. Water deeply once or twice a week, or more frequently during hot, dry spells, ensuring the soil remains evenly moist but not waterlogged. Avoid overhead watering to minimize fungal diseases. Fertilize in early spring with a balanced slow-release fertilizer or a granular fertilizer formulated for berries. Pruning is essential for maximizing fruit production and maintaining plant health. ‘Navaho’ blackberries fruit on second-year canes (floricanes). After harvesting, prune out the old floricanes at ground level. New canes (primocanes) will emerge and produce fruit the following year. The erect blackberry cultivar typically benefits from light pruning to shape and manage its growth, though extensive trellising is often unnecessary. This attention to care will ensure your sweet blackberry variety yields consistently year after year.

Size & Details

You will receive 5 Navaho blackberry live plant starter plugs, ready for transplanting into your garden. These young plants are carefully nurtured to ensure a strong start and vigorous growth upon arrival. The ‘Navaho’ variety is an erect-growing shrub that typically reaches a mature height of 5-7 feet with a spread of 3-4 feet, forming a compact and manageable bush. Its upright habit means it often doesn’t require extensive trellising, a significant advantage for home gardeners. Expect a moderate to fast growth rate, with plants beginning to produce fruit in their second year after planting.

The fruit of this thornless blackberry plant ripens late in the summer season, usually from mid-July through August, depending on your specific climate and growing conditions. Each berry is known for its medium-large size, firm texture, and exceptional sweetness, making it a favorite for fresh consumption and various culinary uses. Plant these plugs in a sunny location with well-draining soil, and within a couple of seasons, you’ll be enjoying abundant harvests from your very own growing blackberries patch. The robust nature of this erect blackberry cultivar ensures a reliable and productive addition to your edible landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big will the Navaho blackberry plant get? A: The Navaho blackberry live plant typically grows to a mature height of 5-7 feet with a spread of 3-4 feet. Its erect growth habit makes it quite manageable and often eliminates the need for trellising.
• Q: How much sunlight does the Navaho blackberry need? A: This thornless blackberry plant thrives in full sun, requiring at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day for optimal fruit production and sweetness. A sunny location is key to a bountiful harvest.
• Q: Is this plant easy to care for? A: Yes, the ‘Navaho’ is considered a low-maintenance blackberry variety due to its thornless canes and naturally upright growth habit. Consistent watering, annual fertilization, and proper pruning will ensure a healthy and productive plant.
• Q: What condition will the starter plugs arrive in? A: Your 5 Navaho blackberry live plant starter plugs will arrive healthy and ready for planting. They are carefully packaged to ensure they withstand transit and are in good condition for immediate transplanting.
• Q: When is the best time to plant Navaho blackberries? A: The best time to plant these growing blackberries is in early spring after the last frost. This allows the plants to establish a strong root system before the heat of summer.
• Q: Will the ‘Navaho’ blackberry survive winter in my zone? A: The ‘Navaho’ blackberry is generally hardy in USDA Zones 5-8. If you are in a colder zone, consider providing winter protection or growing in containers that can be moved indoors.
• Q: How long until I can harvest berries from my Navaho plant? A: You can typically expect to harvest your first significant crop of berries from the sweet blackberry variety in the second year after planting. Fruit ripens late in the summer season, usually mid-July through August.
• Q: Can I grow this erect blackberry cultivar in a container? A: Yes, ‘Navaho’ blackberries can be grown successfully in large containers (at least 15-20 gallons) with good drainage. Ensure adequate watering and fertilization for container-grown plants.
• Q: What makes the ‘Navaho’ different from other blackberries? A: The ‘Navaho’ is unique as it was the first thornless blackberry with a naturally erect, self-supporting growth habit, meaning it typically doesn’t need trellising, unlike many other varieties. It also produces exceptionally sweet and firm fruit.
• Q: Do I need more than one Navaho plant for pollination? A: The ‘Navaho’ blackberry is self-pollinating, meaning you only need one plant to produce fruit. However, planting multiple plants can often lead to a larger overall harvest.