A Comprehensive Guide to Pruning & Training Blackberries.

Many folks find growing blackberries intimidating: they can make a giant tangle of canes and spread to form a large mass of brambles if not properly trained.

Let’s take all the worry out of blackberries: when we understand the growth habit of blackberries, we can implement a simple and effective system to contain our blackberries and keep them producing large yields year after year.

Join me as I rehab my neglected blackberry patch and talk you through every step so you’re empowered to grow abundant crops of blackberries with ease.

Ways to support our work:

[amyjones]

That’s the best explanation of pruning blackberries that I’ve seen. I understand why I’ve only been getting fruit every few years. I’ve been pruning the wrong canes off.

[jameskniskern]

I love thornless blackberries!
I use the wire trellis method. Wire is supported by T posts, and my blackberries are in a very long line. I just tie the primocanes to the wire, and weave them in as we go. Cutting out the dead florocanes in the fall is a bit more challenging, but not so much.
Another thing: producing a yield of brand new berry plants could help out when they are shared/sold for $4 to $6 a plant. I figure I have over 50 plants ready to be snipped off from their tips, and shared out this spring. :) And all that without reducing my berry harvest at all.
And... I purposefully pinch the ends of the primocanes in the summer, to encourage those laterals. More flowers are produced off of those pinched primocanes, which produce more berries the following year. :)

[cathrinpeets]

OMG, I finally get it! Watched several videos on pruning canes which left me bewildered before watching yours. Thank you!!

[journal.revival]

Oh my goodness! After watching numerous blackberry pruning vids, this one makes my brain so very happy(I don’t know how else to describe it, haha).Thank you, thank you!

[jacquiedeseive]

Thanks Angela! I have an understanding of what to do now. My husband did the majority of the gardening and especially pruning and trimming himself. He tried to teach me the last winter and spring season we could be out in the yard together. The berries weren't part of those tutorials. So I'm thankful for this video.

[patfromamboy]

Parkrose? Howdy neighbor! I’m Patrick living in Yacolt Washington across the Columbia. I have plants, bees and chickens too. Great video. I just planted 65 more Boysenberry, Marionberry, Tayberry, Loganberry, Pink Lemonade Blueberry and strawberry plants. My patch needed to be enlarged and weeded. Wild Himalayan blackberry plants had taken over.

[darthfiende]

This was wonderful! If you don't have one already, I'd love to see a video on how you plan/pace out your garden chores throughout the year to ensure everything gets tended to on time, at least under ideal circumstances.

[lwjenson]

This video is amazing! It is the most clear video on blackberry pruning I have ever watched and I have watched quite a few at this point. (I just planted blackberries late spring and looking forward to fruit next year!)

[gtromble]

Great training idea that I would not have thought of.

[ellens]

Great info and love to actual witness what and how you are doing it and the diff it makes. Will try your idea of creating bundles of primos and florals.

[davidfrancis]

all the other videos ive seen confused me as a noob but this has explained everything. i now understand how the plant grows and how to prune it. ive just planted 7 cuttings from the forest behind my house and hope 3 will grow. thank you angela

[rschiwal]

Thank you. This is exactly the video I needed to see.

[laneeacannon]

I ordered 2 thornless blackberry plants, so this comes at a perfect time for me because I've never grown them before. I was just thinking I need to buy a saw. Thanks!

[MyHumbleNest]

It is 9 degrees here in Idaho, I am so jealous of your ability to be outside. I am here to live vicariously through you!!

[darlenecameron]

Oh wow! This is great, now I get what I should have been doing! And will start doing, I just hope I haven’t killed by small planting of blackberries and can go forward from here. Thank you so much, you are a great teacher❣️

[marisasanchez]

I love this method of sorting the canes. Thanks for sharing 🙏🏼

[roosterillusion]

Thank you so much. I can't wait to plant blackberries in our garden this year.

[permiebird]

I am still working on the Himalayan Blackberries, or Luther Burbank's curse, that covered over half my yard when we bought our house, and after years of on and off health problems, I am still working to eradicate them. I find using long armed loppers for blackberry canes easier than pruners or pruning saws. I like the leverage they give me on cutting through the thick canes, and the ability to reach into the canes with fewer scratches. My other weapon beyond the 4 horsepower brush cutter, is a billhook, which is like a machete with the sharp side of the blade that ends in a hook, that is great for carving into dense stands of canes. It's an important tool for hedge laying too.

How I wish Burbank had released thornless blackberries in the Pacific Northwest.

[sherirae]

I like that idea. Hoping this will work with raspberries too.

[aurorawhite]

Very informative. Cant wait to try out that method at the end