Ready for your best harvest ever? Learning how to prune blackberry bushes is an important part of growing a successful crop.
In addition to keeping berry brambles from becoming overgrown and unmanageable, pruning improves yields and creates healthier, stronger plants.
Blackberries are perennials, which means once you establish a patch, you can have a berry harvest every year!
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But if you don’t prune them regularly, blackberry brambles can quickly get out of control, creating a mess of unruly thorns, and ultimately, fewer fruits.
Luckily, all it takes is a bit of annual maintenance to keep them happy. Continue reading to learn how and when to trim blackberry bushes.
What Are Primocanes and Floricanes?
To prune correctly, it is important to first understand how these shrubs grow and set fruit. You can read all about planting and growing blackberries in our guide.
But I’ll begin with a quick recap here on their habit and structure.
While blackberries are perennials, the individual canes are biennial, meaning they grow and fruit over a two-year cycle.
For most varieties, fruit is produced on the two-year-old canes. Once a cane has set fruit, it will not produce berries again.
The first-year shoots are called primocanes. These shoots grow vigorously with thick green foliage, developing buds late in the season. Unpruned, these can grow several feet tall.
Floricanes are the second-year shoots. These woodier canes blossom in the spring and set fruit during midsummer, dying back after harvest.
A mature plant should have both primocanes and floricanes at the same time, each with different
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