pruning back blackberries early season...

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

thanks for this! though i don't have many blackberries still left on the property i could use this for my black raspberries. i'd love to get those in check sometime this year or maybe the next. they had been allowed to grow unchecked for too many years and really could use one of those nice trellises you have! i have tons of berries on the canes this year so they'll need a little cleaning up after they're done.

 

[jomoncon]

pruning for air flow
will prune all lower runners on the floricanes from the ground to around 15" up the cane.
this is will help in deterring pests and diseases, since you have done this it's a good time to sprinkle a little sevin dust around the crown<thats up to you>
mc...

What a timely post for me! I planted my first blackberries last fall (Apache & Ouachita) and I thought I had read up a lot about them, but I have a question/problem that maybe you can help with. The original canes are doing fine and are producing blackberries. Since this is the first year, I wasn't expecting too many berries but I am surprised that I'm getting so many. I'm mostly concerned with the new canes for next year. There just seems to be so many of them! I cut off the growing tips of the new canes when they were about 24" and 48" tall to encourage branching, but now it looks like a jungle!

Should I prune all new the canes back to 15"?



Jo-Ann

 

[majorcatfish]

pruning for air flow
will prune all lower runners on the floricanes from the ground to around 15" up the cane.
this is will help in deterring pests and diseases, since you have done this it's a good time to sprinkle a little sevin dust around the crown<thats up to you>
mc...

What a timely post for me! I planted my first blackberries last fall (Apache & Ouachita) and I thought I had read up a lot about them, but I have a question/problem that maybe you can help with. The original canes are doing fine and are producing blackberries. Since this is the first year, I wasn't expecting too many berries but I am surprised that I'm getting so many. I'm mostly concerned with the new canes for next year. There just seems to be so many of them! I cut off the growing tips of the new canes when they were about 24" and 48" tall to encourage branching, but now it looks like a jungle!

Should I prune all new the canes back to 15"?

[url]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/jomoncon/Posted/IMG_0157_zpsbaa5d0f6.jpg[/url]

Jo-Ann

saw your post while eating lunch today at work. had a good laugh, till one of the air compressor's died< thank goodness for warranties>

anyway..hehehe you need to do some pruning on your primocanes ....
trust me you cannot kill them, all you are going to do make them more productive next year..

in the center of the picture you can see where i topped the primocane.


once you top the primocane, starting at the top. at each leaf it will produce a lateral runners.< more on this in a bit>

and will start producing runners lower down slowly as well.<more on this in a bit>


pruning your lateral runners
with the trellis system i use here will let them grow around 5-7' and then snip off the tip.< wow sounds like a bobbit joke>
but though the season you will need to prune out the lower runners<more later>

now with that said while looking at your lateral runners you are going to see leafs growing at this spot, this is where next year's buds and the berry bearing shoots are going to pop out next spring.
more of these,the more bearing shoots you are going to have..

had to use a stand in for the second part.

once you have removed the lateral runners off the primocanes that you do not wish to keep, next year you should get a bearing shoot develope at this spot on your floricane in the spring. do not remove it...it will produce some of the sweetest berries.


so in closing trim them back to whatever fits your trelles system, but at least have 2-4 lateral runners going in each direction.

in your case joanne would at least prune out all the lower lateral runners..
and definitely prune back this years floricanes as soon as they are done producing...........

i will do more on the pruning needs later this summer.. and again you can not kill them.. < ok within reason>.

 

[wsmoak]

How wide are the rows? (That is, how long is that piece of metal attached to the posts, that the wire is running through?)

I have blackberries trellised on a cattle panel, but that means I end up with espaliered vines, when they could be allowed to grow thicker between the two supporting wires.

Thanks,
Wendy

 

[majorcatfish]

How wide are the rows? (That is, how long is that piece of metal attached to the posts, that the wire is running through?)

I have blackberries trellised on a cattle panel, but that means I end up with espaliered vines, when they could be allowed to grow thicker between the two supporting wires.

Thanks,
Wendy

for ease of picking from both sides they are 2'
next spring thinking of going with 3' with the new berry trellis system

growing on wire rope it is very easy to remove the old floricanes once done. more on this later this summer

 

[baymule]

This is majorly educational Mr. Majorcatfish! For those who have blackberries, this is awesome. For us un-blackberried, it makes (me at least) drool over your tutorial and WANT blackberries!

I just gotta ask, what do you do with all of them? Do you sell any or use them yourself?

 

[skeeter9]

Thanks so much for posting this, Major! This is soooo helpful. I know it took you some time to put this together - much appreciated!!

 

[majorcatfish]

This is majorly educational Mr. Majorcatfish! For those who have blackberries, this is awesome. For us un-blackberried, it makes (me at least) drool over your tutorial and WANT blackberries!

I just gotta ask, what do you do with all of them? Do you sell any or use them yourself?

we will eat a few, freeze gallons of them, and the rest we sell..
already have orders for 8 gallons....

 

[MontyJ]

This is really well done Major! There aren't many stickies on TEG, but this deserves one. You have put together a fantastic tutorial here.

 

[the1honeycomb]

Don't forget me Major will need to get a few gallons from you! hope to see you soon!