Hello, I am Blackberry Nightshade

Botanical Name

Solanum nigrum

DESCRIBE YOURSELF

I am tall with dark green leaves. As a nightshade I have small white flowers and black or blue berries, which contain the seeds for next year’s crop of weeds. I have a strong root system which can make me hard to remove by hand. Just make sure you dig out my roots and try and do this before I set seed. I am related to potatoes and other members of the nightshade family, but my berries can make you very sick if you eat them before they are ripe. However, my berries create a lovely snack once they are ripe. Just be careful not to confuse them with deadly nightshade! This is easy in Australia as we don’t have deadly nightshade growing here.

WHAT I’M TELLING YOU

As a weed, I am great in taking advantage of the poor condition of your soil. I like to grow in soils that are high in nitrogen but deficient in calcium and phosphorus. And I really love soils that are constantly moist! I can also be telling you that your soils are high in potassium, boron and iron but low in organic matter.

CONTROL OF BLACKBERRY NIGHTSHADE

I am best controlled by listening to what I’m telling you about your soil condition! I like to grow in moist.soils that are high in nitrogen, but deficient in calcium and phosphorus. What I really love are soils that are low in humates. This means you haven’t been adding enough organic matter to your soils. Try adding lots of compost! You can also buy liquid humates to add to your soil. Otherwise try hand weeding. Just make sure you do this before I set seed.

I can also be controlled by using a biodynamic pepper ( see Biodynamic Peppers) However, weed peppers work best when combined with a weed tea. Weed teas take the nutrients I have accumulated in my leaves and feed them back to the soil.

If you must spray, use an organic weed killer comprised of vinegar, salt and soap. Other ways of controlling me include using organic herbicides like Slasher or Iron Sulphate which kills broad-leaf weeds. I can also be boiled alive by pouring boiling water on my leaves. All these actions should be taken before I flower and set seed!