The Challenge
Raspberries and blackberries have always been grown outdoors, at the mercy of weather, pests, and short seasonal windows. Working with Hortifrut, we’ve spent the past several growing seasons testing what it takes to grow both crops as a viable greenhouse commodity, one that could give growers a steadier, more controllable path to market.
Why Greenhouse Berries
Field-grown berries come with real limits. Growers are locked into a single outdoor season and are exposed to unpredictable weather. Moving raspberries and blackberries into a greenhouse setting opens the door to longer harvest windows, more consistent quality, and better protection against the pressures that hit open fields hardest. But greenhouse growing isn’t a simple swap. Ideal growing conditions need to be tested from the ground up.
What We’re Testing
Our trial covers three connected pieces:
- Substrate. We compared multiple growing substrates side by side to see which gives raspberry and blackberry plants the strongest start and the healthiest root systems.
- Variety. Not every variety bred for field growing performs the same way indoors. We’re trialing several raspberry varieties and a blackberry variety to identify which ones adapt best to greenhouse conditions.
- Technique. Beyond substrate and variety, we’re also refining the systems around the plants themselves: lighting schedules, irrigation timing, and the day-to-day growing practices that shape how well each variety performs.
What We’re Finding
The raspberries have been encouraging. Across the substrates we tested, we saw consistent establishment and productive harvest windows, giving us real confidence that raspberries can perform well as a greenhouse crop.
Blackberries have been a tougher nut to crack. One early batch didn’t take root well enough to produce a harvest at all, while a later batch in a different substrate performed considerably better. Rather than treat that as a dead end, we’re using it to sharpen our approach heading into the next phase.
What’s Next
We’re already several months into our next trial phase, testing a new growing medium across an expanded set of berry varieties, building directly on what we’ve learned so far. It’s all part of answering the bigger question: can berries move from the field to the greenhouse, and do it well?
Interested in our greenhouse trials? Explore.
