Blackberry Season

Fresh blackberries have a short window in Australia. Supply runs mostly from November through to February, with Tasmania and Victoria carrying the bulk. Outside of that you're looking at frozen stock or nothing at all, so when they do appear at the market it's worth getting in quick.

Blackberries are primarily a summer crop in Australia.

Commercial blackberries are grown on canes trained along wires. As Agriculture Victoria describes, canes are biennial. First-year primocanes don't fruit. Second-year floricanes carry the berries from late November to February before dying back. Most commercial cultivars are thornless hybrids derived from North American Rubus crosses. Sustainable Macleod notes Chester (Rubus ulmifolius) as one of the better-known thornless varieties for home and small commercial use. Adequate water during fruiting is critical. Juiciness is directly related to moisture availability. Berries Australia notes that undercover growing has expanded across southern states to extend and protect the season.

As the Department of Environment and Primary Industries Victoria (2000) notes, commercial cultivars are hybrid Rubus plants (subgenus Eubatus) of North American ancestry, only distantly related to the weedy Rubus fruticosus aggregate that arrived with European settlers and spread across every higher-rainfall region. The European blackberry is now a declared noxious weed. Agriculture Victoria regionally controls it under catchment management authority regulations, and SA Environment lists 15 weed species sprayed in national parks. The wild berries on a bushwalk are likely the weed species, worth noting if spraying programmes are active. Berries Australia places commercial growing in the Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Valley (VIC), the Northern Midlands of Tasmania and Corindi (NSW). Tasmania accounts for around 47.8% of total tonnage, Victoria 35%, with WA (7.2%), NSW (6.3%) and SA (2.9%) making up most of the rest.