How to Prune Blackberries For Big Yields & Healthy Plants

Pruning blackberries can be daunting, but it’s actually very simple. They are a bramble, so many people treat them like raspberries but they can’t be. In this video I will show you how to prune blackberries for larger yields, bigger healthier plants, and a managable plant that won’t take over your garden.

[rherman]

Hi Luke. I would like to share a few tips, having learned about growing blackberries for a couple years now. It is recommended to summer prune erect and semi-erect blackberries when the primocane is 36in to 48in tall. This will encourage lateral branches to develop for increased yields next year. If you don't summer prune, you'll have one very long cane. Then in late winter or early spring, when the plant is dormant, cut back the laterals to between 12in and 18in to produce good fruit size and make the fruit easier to pick. You can wait to cut down spent floricanes until you prune the laterals in late winter or early spring because there is evidence to support the spent floricanes return sugar to the roots which supports the new primocane growth next growing season.

[tomm]

10 years ago I tossed out some back of fridge moldy blackberries along the back fence. I now have 25 feet of producing berry bushes. Much to my neighbors chagrin. We all have more berries than we can eat. So I gather up those end of season dried berries...and sow them when I am out hunting and hiking. ;') Berries for the critters. Best

[cherylcapelety]

I used a cattle panel arch to trellis mine in the summer of 2021. This last summer they had gone from one side of the trellis to the other side, set down roots, and started coming back over to the original side I had put 2 plants on. I don't remember exactly how many berries I got this year, but it was somewhere between 6 and 7 gallon size zip lock bags.

[micahreynolds]

Also good to note that the old growth, which will not produce next year, needs to be cut out not only to enhance aeration but to thwart disease. Old growth can and will produce cane blight.
Another good tip is that during the summer month, on new shoots that have grown 3-5 feet, pinch off the tips. This will encourage the stem to bush out and greatly increase the production of fruit the next year.

[beckywebb]

Thanks for the information on how to prune raspberry vines! My husband has one and we didn’t know how to prune it before this.

[deecooper]

This was Very helpful! I planted 3 blackberries in VERY large tubs.. I live in the desert fullll of sand 😢… and have been wondering about pruning. Thank goodness I saw this cuz I probably would have cut them down low lol. Always inspiring & teach us many things.
Nevada z 5/6 here. 👵🏻👩‍🌾❣️

[gardeninggal]

I stuck the healthy twigs from pruning when they were dormant in the soil and they rooted! Great way to expand without having to buy more bushes!

[jasperine]

I çhopped all the branches off so just the main stalk remained then it grew through the trellis so I trained the branches to go left and right and I tied them against the fence to support them then branches grew from them and supported them with rows of string vertically then trained to go horizontal too and had masses of berries.

[jamestboehm]

My friend grows her's on a half section of cattle panel. Makes pruning a little harder but it keeps her plant neat and orderly.

[heathertaylor-willockx]

Luke, I just want you to know that your video was way more informative and helpful than the Michigan State University $30 online class that they offer frequently. The information in the class was very scientific, but explained very little for the common gardener. Your video here just filled in all the gaps that class was missing, translating a lot of the concepts into actionable steps - and now I can see that it's not that complicated! Thank you so much. It was very very helpful.

[urphunny]

Yes I been treating my blackberries as I do my raspberries! So helpful, Thank You for this info share.

[lindsayder]

Living in the PNW, I found this topic hilarious because blackberries are highly invasive here and I would never purposefully plant and grow one. They will literally grow anywhere and everywhere on their own: parking lots, railway tracks, in ditches, alongside swamps/bogs, seawalls, at the beach, etc. You can just go pick the blackberries for free. It is impossible to get rid of the plants, they have dedicated teams trying to remove them from the local parks. Lol.

[bnkwupt]

Thanks for the video! My parents have a blackberry patch along the roadside that’s on a steep slope and measures about 80 feet by 10 feet. It’s mostly a barrier, with fruit production being a nice bonus.

After several years of doing basically nothing to maintain it, they had a company cut it all to the ground as a reset. The patch had added new layers to its top every year, with the old shoots dying underneath, causing it to get taller and taller.

After the reset, the patch grew back like wild and even produced some fruit this past summer. I’ll go through and prune according to your 2:1 method (what I can reach, at least - remember, steep slope) and see how next year turns out. Maybe we’ll end up getting an enormous yield!

[suebar]

Blackberries come in 3 cane types: erect, trailing, and semi-erect. Growth and pruning is therefore varied.🌞

[rolandneier]

Intresting. The way I manage the plant is that almost all that has given fruit gets cut. The new growth I cut the "head" so it will favor more growth

[lime]

Yessss I’ve been waiting for another blackberry upload as this year I finally began to grow boysenberry !!! Thanks!

[cindys.w.]

We've had unsupported 12 feet straight up growth from on blackberries. We've learned to cut them, the new growth about 3 feet to 4 feet early on and then the lateral growth takes over. Like growing grape vines on horizontal wires. Several stakes and wires at different heights make for WAY EASY picking as those thorns love bare skin!

[chelseapidgeon]

Just planted blackberries and raspberries this year so this was very helpful for me not to make those mistakes! Your videos are always very helpful and knowledgeable. Thank you

[WickedAwesomeGardening]

Very good to know! I haven’t been able to grow either yet but plan to do both in the future! This probably saved me a ton from my future blackberry harvests!

[YasuTaniina]

You actually answered a raspberry question I had. My mom has always told me over and over how my grandma would prune raspberries all the way back, but my neighbors keep pruning more like blackberries and I've wondered for a while which method is better. I also appreciate seeing the visual of the new cane vs old cane