How to prune Thornless Blackberries

Winter is the perfect time to prune thornless blackberry canes and tie in green wood to a trellis. This perennial fruit is one of the easiest to grow in your home vegetable garden. All the care it needs each year is a top dressing of compost/manure and taking out of the dead wood once a year.

True to their name, thornless blackberries don't have thorns. That makes them very easy to handle and to harvest from. Most varieties won't send up runners either so they won't take over your garden like their wild cousin, the bramble blackberry, will do. Best of all, their fruit is big, juicy, and delicious.

Thornless blackberries are floricane -- meaning the berries grow only on second year wood. The first year the canes will be lush and covered with leaves. They'll overwinter and then the following year they'll put out flowers, and then berries. After the second year the cane will die and needs to be taken out to make space for newer wood.

➤ If you enjoyed this video please give it a thumbs up and subscribe (thank you!)

➤ Have a question or comment? Please leave them below -- I love to hear from you!

➤ Remember to TURN ON notifications to know when new videos are out

ABOUT LOVELY GREENS

#blackberries #backyardgardening #gardening

[vladimpaler]

I just started growing thornless blackberries, raspberries and strawberries last year and this video really helped a lot. Thank you very much

[broncoman]

I planted a blackberry bush a couple years ago and it produced at least a couple hundred berries and I must say they were the best I have ever tasted.

[grady]

You are so right. Plant them once and you'll have them forever. Due to an accident last year I was unable to tend to our garden. Our Triple Crown berries fruited out anyway but the rest of the story is that they have run all over the garden plot. Looks like they propagate by sending ground runners that pop up new plants out of nowhere and almost every hanging cane that was in ground contact rooted to form new spin-off plants. This is indeed a welcome, if somewhat unruly consequence of not maintaining our plants for one growing season. Triple Crown Blackberries are the hardiest, most consistent and most bountiful thing one can place in a garden. They are also much like mint or rhubarb in that unless you tell them what you want them to do, they will assume full control of your space! I agree with you though that this is a very rewarding addition to any garden. so long as you are willing to do the maintenance. And boy are they delicious!!

[jayday]

This is my second season, I chose a cattle panel to grow them on. I’ve got a ton of berries just starting to grow. I’m super excited

[friendayors]

Best video I've seen regarding pruning blackberries. Thank you!

[jamesjenkins]

Just finished pruning my triple cross thornless blackberry's. 50-foot row on cattle fencing. Looks very similar to your finished prune. Thanks for the video!

[Shaolin]

Thank you Lovely Greens! That's one of the best, most professional garden videos I've seen in a very long time> We have blackberries, and love them!

[annamitchell]

Your instructions are so clear; thank you

[rubygray]

You make it seem so simple! And you get a marvellous crop. You have invigorated my resolve to get stuck into my neglected (very thorny) youngberries.

[renekok]

Great video, very clear and precise explanation. And a very pretty too

[simplifygardening]

A great episode Tanya. I love soft fruit it so nice just to go pick what you need for the fridge or a recipe your making. I have blackberries at the plot only around 4 plants so do need to propagate some more this year

[Gigi-fvky]

Out here in the PacNW, the very thorny Himalayan Blackberry is the biggest thug you can imagine. They nearly ate my home and yard, climbing more than 20 feet up into trees, etc, u till I finally got a grip on it. I still have to fight them multiple times a year and probably will have to as long as I am here because they still fill the areas around my property and the birds and other critters spread the seed. That said, the flavor is amazing and I swear that just eating a few actually makes me instantly feel better in a way that nothing else, even medicine, does. :) so, I probably won't plant any, but if I did, thornless would be the way to go.

[nygardenguru]

Great idea to bend the long canes horizontally like that

[carolcurley]

Thanks for this. This is exactly what I was looking for. Could not believe it when I saw the title.

[maryaevins]

Hello Tanya. Great video. I have (so far) successfully grown my 1st Blackberry bush. Meaning ... it's still alive and have new leaves. YOU described new wood to me in a way that I understood. First time EVER!!!! And I've looked at video after video, after video. I don't know what a primacane is (don'tevenknowif I'm spelling or pronouncing it right). I've heard "last year's something and ... whatever... but watching and listening to A light 💡 came on. God opened my understanding, and I'm ready to cut back now. I'm in S.C and it's going to be in the 20s tonight but warm tomorrow. So I can play with my bbs. Yeah. God bless you.

[kenmitchell]

Thanks I two blackberry and for the first time I understand how to cut them back

[jimstormcrow]

Excellent advice, just what I was looking for.

[behappyyogakingston]

Hi your video is very helpful thank you I hadn't thought about a two yearly fruit cycle and not sure if my plants do that. They weren't labelled.

[brianwalker]

Many Thanks, Just what I Need as I have four Thornless Blackberry plants in large tubs, with three wires for support and the berries are just developing now. We have had a pretty wet Spring and Summer so far. Here's hoping for a nice Autumn crop. Best Wishes from the Emerald Isle

[-livingjesusever-]

Great video!! This is our favorite but it’s gone crazy and we will absolutely use your tips for trimming them. Love your hat, too! I can’t find that style with the rim visor part anywhere. Do you have a website link I can find one at? Blessings!