Unlike many fruit crops, blackberries can be grown with little to no pesticide use in the home garden and require less inputs in commercial production. Wide adaptation to soil type is found with blackberries. The preferred soil pH is 5.5 to 6.5.
Good drainage is required.
Plants should not be grown in sites where water stands for long periods. The most limiting factor in blackberry production in the northern United States is winter hardiness, or resistance to winter injury to the canes. The Arkansas varieties lack hardiness in the upper Midwest and northward. The Arkansas varieties have been shown to be adapted statewide. They are upright in growth habit and should be grown in a hedgerow-type system.