All About Rubus Berries

Keep low-hanging fruit within easy reach when you cultivate shrubs of the Rubus genus.

By Bruce and Elaine Ingram
Updated on April 21, 2022
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by Adobestock/san_ta

At least one major member of the Rubus genus – blackberry, raspberry, dewberry, and wineberry – lives in every U.S. state. We annually have a goal to pick, can, and freeze 10 gallons of these berries borne by shrubs in the rose family. Our harvest goes into pies, cobblers, jams, pancakes, muffins, smoothies, and other delights we put up for enjoying the rest of the year. But Rubus members do more than supply us with sweet treats. The shrubs also form dense thickets that provide nesting, food, and escape cover for wildlife.

You can create wild berry thickets on your property fairly easily. Trevor Saville, who operates a farm and forestry consulting business in Eagle Rock, Virginia, explains how: “Blackberry and other Rubus family members are often in the seed bank,” he says. “All it takes to activate those seeds is some kind of disturbance. To create this habitat, landowners can make small clear-cuts or gap cuts with a chainsaw, conduct a controlled burn, or bush-hog a section in a field. Rubus species are natural colonizers if they’re present in the seed bank, and songbirds distribute their seeds as well. In short, create some ‘new ground,’ and before long, you’ll have berry patches.”

On our 38 acres, we arranged for several small clear-cut areas a decade or so ago. Since then, we’ve maintained continuous productivity in the berry patches that appeared by removing the tree saplings that periodically pop up.

Songbirds, game birds, and mammals all use berry thickets for food and cover. “What birds and other creatures need are places to breed, feed, and hide,” Saville says. “Berry thickets are ideal for this. Wild creatures can nest in berry thickets, feed on the insects and fruits there, and flee there to escape predators.”

White-eyed vireos, yellow-breasted chats, brown thrashers, gray catbirds, towhees, and numerous species of sparrows are just a few songbirds that will be drawn to the Rubus oases on your land. We’ve observed wild turkey nests in blackberry and wineberry copses, and have watched mother hens bring their poults to feed on berries. Our native bees and butterflies – important pollinators – depend on berry blooms for nourishment.

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