Pruning blackberry bushes not only helps keep the plants healthy, but can also contribute to a larger harvest. Pruning blackberry bushes is easy if you know the steps. Below you will learn how to prune blackberries in spring.
When to cut blackberries?
There are two different types of blackberry pruning that should be done at different times of the year. In early spring, cut back the tips of the bushes. You have to clean out the blackberries in late summer.You should in the springmake a top cut to your plants. Top pruning is exactly what it sounds like: cutting off the tops of blackberry bushes. This forces the blackberry vines to branch out, creating more wood for the fruit to grow and therefore more fruit.
What are Primocanes and Floricanes?
In order to prune properly, you must first know how these shrubs grow and bear fruit. But first a brief overview of their growth habit and structure. Although blackberries are perennial, the individual canes are biennial, meaning they grow and fruit in a two-year cycle. In most varieties, the fruits form on the two-year-old canes. Once a stick has borne fruit, it no longer produces any more berries.
We call the shoots of the first year primocane. These shoots grow vigorously, with dense green foliage, and develop buds late in the season. If left uncut, they can grow to be several meters high. Floricanes are the second year shoots. These woodier canes bloom in spring and produce fruit in mid-summer, which dies after harvest.
A mature onePlant shouldSimultaneously have Primocanes and Floricanes, each of which has different requirements for cutting and the right time. Pruning annual primocanes in late winter and spring promotes healthy plant growth and improves fruit production. And fall pruning of second-year floricanes is useful for tidying up the garden and encouraging new growth next spring.
For blackberry top pruning, which you do in spring, use sharp, clean pruning shears and cut the blackberry canes back to about 60cm. If the canes are shorter than 60 cm, simply cut off the top 2.5 cm of the cane. When trimming the tops, you can also cut off diseased or dead canes. In summer, when the blackberries no longer bear fruit, you need to repair the cut. The plants only bear fruit on two-year-old canes. So once a stick has borne berries, it will never bear berries again.
Cutting these spent canes from the blackberry bush encourages the plant to produce more annual canes, which in turn means more fruit-bearing canes next year.If you have blackberry bushesFor cleaning purposes, use sharp, clean pruning shears and cut off any branches that have borne fruit this year (biennial branches) at ground level. Now that you know how to prune blackberry bushes and when to prune them, you can help your plants grow better and bear more fruit.
In winter or early spring you should thin out the annual canes to four to six per plant and be sure to remove any damaged or diseased canes. Also cut off the tops of the primocanes when they have grown a few feet tall.Do this in the springbefore flowering begins. This encourages lateral branching, resulting in higher fruit yields the following season. This also creates stronger canes that are less likely to tip over when loaded with fruit and leaves.
Take a clean, sharp pair of pruning shears and cut the canes back to about three feet tall. You can also cut back the side shoots to about one meter. For those that are already shorter than a meter, you should only cut them back about an inch to force them to branch.
