Last spring we made our first attempt at learning to prune blackberries. Honestly, I held out little hope that it would go well because I was so confused by all of the different methods for the different types of blackberries to choose from. Erect, Semi-Erect, Trailing, Semi-Trailing… er.. are the Semi-‘s the same? Which canes are the floricanes or primocanes? We didn’t even know where to start because we hadn’t a clue what type they were!
From examining the habits of the blackberry’s canes, to the color of their flowers, to even looking at the seeds under a microscope because different varieties have differently shaped seeds, I tried everything. I never came to any definitive conclusions. So we made a shot in the dark and did our best.
A year later, and I’m not any closer to determining the variety, nor can I remember what method of pruning we even settled upon (not that it did the brambles any favors for our harvest was incredibly meager.)
So we settled on doing it the way all the Amish in our area prune their thornless blackberries, regardless of cane habit. It is incredibly easy to do (and remember!) And since we had a bumper crop the year we moved in here (when the brambles had been Amish-pruned blackberries), I hoped they would do much better!
Since we first began to prune blackberries using this method, the years where the flowers weren’t weather-damaged we have had fantastic harvests. Last year, I had so many berries I had enough to eat fresh, make into a beautiful jam, and ferment into the most amazing Blackberry Melomel.
How to Prune Blackberries
STEP #1
• Select 4-6 healthy, thick-stemmed canes to keep and then remove the rest. Show above is before of one blackberry plant, below is after where I saved the best 5 canes.
STEP #2
• Remove all laterals between 12-18″ from the ground. (See above photo.)
STEP #3
Shorten the height of long canes by cutting them back to 5-6 feet tall. (Not pictured.) That’s pretty easy. For most of us, we can just trim them back to our body height. Unless you’re over 6 feet tall. Either way, I bet my canes will be shorter than yours.
STEP #4
• Trim back all remaining laterals to 12-18″ long. (Pictured above.) So that would be any and all laterals on each cane that are above that 12-18″ mark in Step #2.
Before
After
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Before
After
Now to get the raspberry pruning figured out…
I love your blog! So practical
How kind of you to say so Mary! I’m so glad you find my posts useful- Thank you 🙂
I love your blog! So practical
Wow, that first picture has my mouth watering! Thanks for this post–so useful! I wonder, would this method be as effective with other caning fruit such as raspberries?
Nice post with useful information. But ~ack~ your hubby disn't have sleeves or gloves with those briars. Whew. He's a better man than me.
Thanks 🙂
They're thornless blackberries. Now, I can't imagine trying to do raspberries without gloves- those things are brutal 🙂
Apparently, there are some types of raspberries you can mow right to the ground to prune & they'll come back next year. How to prune raspberries in one easy step… now that's my kind of pruning 😉
My husband says this is basically what he does with the raspberries here and they do really well.
Good to know! Thanks Amy!
what kind of blackberries are they, and how do you keep the birds out until you can harvest?
We never did figure out what kind they are. We guessed and pruned them according to that guess last year and they did poorly. This way makes for a much better yield. As to the birds, we haven’t had any issues with them taking them, oddly enough. What few we did get last year, the chickens helped themselves to, but I think that by pruning off the bottom 18″ might help take care of that.
Is April when you want to prune blackberries? I didnt know if it was spring or fall when you should prune
We do it the first nice day in spring and shoot for the last few weeks of March. It's important to do it while they're still dormant before plants start budding.
I have thornless plant and I learned a lot on how to trim it. Thank you!
my blackberries only send up one cane a year, it fruits the 2nd year and then dies so in the fall after frost i cut the one that fruited, leaving the new one for next year. i never have a whole cluster of canes like this. and theres only laterals on about the top quarter of the cane. i think if i trimmed them at all i would lose the fruiting part. dont know the variety as they came with the house. they are very large, but only sweeten just before they are about to fall off ripe.
Yes, there are different types of blackberries categorized based on their upright characteristics ( I think it’s trailing, semi-trailing and upright if I’m not mistaken.) And they don’t all necessary get pruned the same way. I read about the variations in The Holistic Orchard which would be quite helpful if you knew which your variety is.
thanks. they are just north of my sister – i should check them out.
3 years ago we bought a blackberry plant and a raspberry plant. It was the end on the season and they were on sale at a farmers market. Not knowing much we planted them in a spot that got a lot of sun. NOW, they are massive and out of control. I had no idea they would grow so quickly and so big, so fast. I love it!!! But they are unruly, the blackberries already have leaves growing so is it to late to prune, and how do i care for the raspberries? i thought they would be like a bush, but I was wrong… Help Learning farmer…
I loved your 4 easy steps of pruning. I was a bit confused how to prune “our little blackberry jungle “.Now I know what to do, and I am heading into the garden again. Thank you so much !!
You’re welcome! So happy it was helpful to you!