Bareroot Berry Season at Sarvodaya Farms 2023/4

Bareroot Berry season is here!

What is bareroot season? What is a bareroot plant?

Bareroot season is the time of the year when plants are available in the nursery trade with "bare roots", meaning plants come without soil or a pot. During this season, certain plants go "dormant" and can be shipped and transported easily.

In bareroot season, these plants are available at much, much lower prices because they are much, much more compact with any soil or pot. Our bareroot plants are 1/4 to 1/3 of the price they will be once we pot them up, so we encourage you to order larger quantities NOW and save $$$$.

At Sarvodaya Farms, we offer a special selection of bareroot berry plants during this season, which we have tested and grown at our own farm, and selected for taste, productivity, and easy of growing.

What should I know when ordering?

Bareroot plants are small and "look dead" to the inexperienced gardener. They are NOT DEAD. They are sleeping and will wake back up and grow very quickly when weather warms.

All plants listed below are currently for PREORDER. We expect for plants to be ready to ship by the first week of February. Order now to reserve your plants (we will SELL OUT), and we will ship your plants as soon as they are ready.

When you receive your plants, come back to the this page and follow the Bareroot Planting Instructions below.

Bareroot Planting Instructions

Our BAREROOT Selection for 2024/5

Our most popular plants are THORNLESS Prime Ark Freedom Blackberry and Mara des Bois Strawberry. They are easy to grow, very productive and will fruit in the first season.

Our blueberry trio will set you up for growing blueberries for years to come. Fruit will start coming in heavier in year 2. Our variety selection is for CALIFORNIA and other warm climates.

New introductions this year are our THORNLESS Raspberries: Joan J Red and Tahi. We trialed Joan J Red on our farm last year, and it did exceptionally well. No thorns means its so easy to pick, and the fruit is large, sweet and juicy. Tahi is a new introduction that we have not trialed, but heard does similarly well in warm climates. Its the FIRST EVER thornless black raspberry. We are excited to see how it does and hoping some of you are willing to experiment too!

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Bareroot Berry Planting Instructions

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Yay! Thank you for ordering Bareroot Berries from us. We appreciate your support and we're so excited for you to enjoy the absolutely delight that is homegrown berries.Before you get to planting, let us answer some of your Frequently Asked Questions:

#1. My plants look dead! Are they dead?????

No you're plants are not dead. They are dormant, meaning they've gone to sleep for the winter. That's the whole idea behind bareroot plants. Because they are asleep, we can move them around without soil or water, and they are fine! Once the weather warms up, they will sprout and start growing quickly!

#2. Okay I've received my plants, when should I plant them out???

You can plant your bareroots as soon as your last frost date. If you don't know your last frost date, you probably don't live in an area with frost (we're looking at your most of California), and can plant immediately!

#3. I'm not ready to plant yet. How do I store my plants?

Store your plants in a pot with any potting soil, and just keep the potting soil moist until you are ready to plant. If you are in a cold climate, store your pot of bareroots in a garage or sheltered environment.

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Caneberry (Blackberry & Raspberry)
Growing Instructions

Caneberries are easy to plant and grow! They can be grown in-ground or in a pot.

Our Prime Ark Freedom variety makes most insanely large blackberry you've ever seen, and will fruit multiple times in areas with long summers. If plants are treated well, you can expect a small late summer harvest your first year, and larger harvests in subsequent years. Once plants are established, you should see 2 to 4 harvests in subsequent years depending on the length of your summer.

Joan J Red and Tahi will also fruit in their first year, with a small late summer harvest if they are healthy. Expect larger harvests in subsequent years.

Choosing a location

Prime Ark Freedom Blackberries can grow in full sun, and prefer a long sunny day (about 8 hours of light). They will still grow and fruit with less light as well (about 5-6 hours). Choose the sunniest location you have available.

Joan J Red and Tahi Raspberries prefer less sun and less intense sun. Preferred planting areas would have full morning sun, then mottled daylight, followed by shade from the harsh afternoon sun. If that is hard to accomplish in your yard, consider planting in a pot, and moving the plants to a shady spot for the mid-summer hot season when the sun's rays becomes too intense.

Container Planting Instructions

For potting caneberries, you'll need a 15 gallon size or larger pot. One plant will go in each pot. We recommend using fabric pots for all potted plants as they prevent root circling and allow better airflow into the roots.

Prepare enough potting mix for to fill each pot. You can use any commercial organic potting mix for this, or make your own. Our potting mix recipe is simple: 1 part compost to 1 part coconut fiber to 1 part perlite. All of those ingredients should be available at your local nursery (including at Sarvodaya Farms).

Once each pot is filled, plant your bareroot plant, and water well.

Add a LARGE SIZE tomato cage around your plant to provide support as it grows tall. Your caneberry will grow long branches that can get about 8 to 12 feet long (though you'll prune them off once they get to about 6 feet long).

That's all! Head to care instructions below.

In-ground Planting Instructions

Prepare you planting area by clearing out any other plants. Caneberries need about 3ft of space to grow.

If you have never amended your soil before, add 3-4 inches of compost to the top of your soil in a 3ft diameter and 1 cup of slow release sea mineral organic fertilizer.

If you have amended your soil before, a half inch of compost should do you fine. Caneberries don't need a ton of fertility.

Plant your bareroots into the soil and water them in. See trellising option below.

Trellising Options

For just a few plants (3 or less)

Support each plant individually with a LARGE tomato cage. These are available at most nurseries. Get the tallest size available, as these blackberries will grow tall quickly.

For Multiple (4+) Plants

A two strand trellis like the one pictured will work well for multiple plants. You can make these quite long and support lots of plants well. As the plants grow up, guide their branches above the lower and upper strand.

Care Instructions

Caneberries don't need much care. They are vigorous and resilient all on their own. Pruning is the #1 task to encourage more fruiting on these.

To prune your blackberries:
As your plants grow, they will send up 3-4 canes (aka branches) from the ground. When each cane reaches 4-5ft, cut the tip (the last 2 inches of the cane) off. This will encourage the plant to make more branches, and more branches will mean more fruit. You can continue to pinch the tips off of branches that get 4-5 ft long throughout the growing season to encourage more fruiting.

If you'd like to encourage extra abundant fruiting, there are a few steps you can take, especially if you live in California, where Prime Ark Freedom can fruit 4x per year.

Dress the soil with 1/4 inch of compost after every flowering/fruiting.

Spray the leaves of the plants with a liquid organic fertilizer like Neptunes Harvest Fish & Seaweed once a month.

While blackberries are establishing, water them whenever the top 4 inches of your soil has dried. Once caneberries are established (after 1 year of growth), water when the top 9 inches of your soil has dried.

Strawberry Growing Instructions

Strawberries are the best garden snack. Both Seascape and Mara du Bois are Everbearing varieties, meaning they will produce fruit all summer long while temperatures are moderate.

Choosing a Location

Strawberries prefer long days of gentle sunlight; think of mid-day sun on the coast of CA.

Choose an area that best replicates this type of location. The ideal location gets full morning sun, mottled mid-day sun, and full evening sun.

Planting in full sun is just fine too, just expect your berries to slow or stop fruit production during the middle of summer when temperatures reach above 95 degrees. If planting in full sun, consider putting shade cloth over strawberries during the hottest part of summer.