Winter Blackberry Pruning

In this video, Christof Bernau, covers the basic growth patterns of blackberries and how to winter prune them to maintain healthy vines and produce good quality fruit.
See also Christof's video "Winter Raspberry Pruning": • Winter Raspberry Pruning

[@bluewaters3100]

Exremely helpful video. This is my third year of pruning tons of wild blackberry bushes around the local school and neighborhood. the amount of hours it has taken each year ..WOW. I wanted kids to be able to get in there and be able to pick easily. I am glad to see that I have been doing it the right way. I am retired so I feel like It is my way of giving back to the community. I also pick up garbage and dog poop!!!

[@ucscagroecology]

Thanks! Glad it was helpful. Good to hear about your tending of the school berries to make it easier for the kids to harvest.

[@chefbrando]

This probably the best video explaining about how to prune it properly. Well done Good job

[@ucscagroecology]

Thanks! Glad it was helpful.

[@billchristopher8892]

Thank you for this video I am new to growing black berries and have watched many videos on pruning and they were confusing and I didn’t get much help from them but your video is very informative and easy to understand look forward to seeing more videos

[@ucscagroecology]

Thanks! Glad it was helpful.

[@anitagriffin2472]

Chris are you saying the little leaf that pops out between the big leaf and stem is not a suckling like a tomato plant but the beginning of a bud stem that will later produce fruit?

[@karineliboiron2886]

I watched 30+ videos on pruning blackberries and yours is the clearest and most helpful of them all. Thank you

[@ucscagroecology]

Glad it was helpful!

[@TheFloatingflower]

Very informative. Thank you!

[@ucscagroecology]

Glad it was helpful.

[@meganconnor5146]

What do you feed your blackberry and raspberries after pruning ?

[@hkkhgffh3613]

Ohh gosh! Caning is not allowed anymore!

[@ucscagroecology]

LOL!

[@conniewindes8830]

I planted a blackberry bush this last Spring. The fruit was on a stem connected to a much larger, thicker stem, so, do I cut just the stem that is connected to the larger thicker stem, OR do I cut to the ground the larger thicker stem to the ground???

[@shannonherb2048]

Well I'm in trouble. Mine have thorns. Great information.

[@stmcgarret]

Thanks for posting this. It was an excellent presentation. I'm now ready to go out and prune my blackberries with confidence.

[@ucscagroecology]

Glad it was helpful!

[@GeorgiasGarden]

Best pruning video I have watched. My blackberries thank you and so do I.

[@ucscagroecology]

Thanks! Glad it was helpful.

[@markhumphrey8894]

Amen to the thornless blackberry not ripping up one's body during pruning! We have an acre of thorn blackberry and my arms get shredded even with long sleeved chamois shirt. Don't wear high tech clothing. Destroyed a shirt and hiking pants. Live and learn. Great video. I'm trying to reclaim a blackberry patch that was neglected for 5 years!! Loppers and hand pruners are working. Gas powered hedge trimmers didn't work too well.

[@ucscagroecology]

Thanks for the kind words. Thornless is the best invention! Yah...hedge trimmers done have the power to cut the canes. You've found the ticket in pruners and loppers.

[@mikeash7428]

Nice. Thanks

[@stuartpinder3807]

This video's helps me heaps thank u

[@ucscagroecology]

Yer welcome!

[@BeautifulOaks]

10 AM Friday, July 28, 2023 Hi, the video is informative and helpful. My floracane blackberry has finished fruiting in southern California. Is it ok to prune the spent canes during the summer? My hope is that more, new canes will grow before next year's budding. Thank you.

[@virginiaridermagazine]

Thank you so much for this video! It's been very informative for this beginner blackberry grower! :) I'm in the coastal region of Virginia & this was our first time planting blackberries. We planted several thornless baby plants in May/June & they've grown nicely with long canes, most over 5 to 6ft, that we have trained on trellis's. It's December now & the leaves have mostly turned a deep reddish color with still many green leaves under those as well. We didn't do any pruning since this is their first year of growing & we have to wait until after it bears fruit which should be next year. I've been told that since they look well established that they do not need a covering since blackberries are a hearty plant.... is this true? It would be sad to have an ice storm or lots of snow this winter which would take out our blackberry beauties. We did mulch the base quite a bit a bit too. For next year, after the plants bear fruit, when do I know that it's time or what month should I prune down the canes that were fruit bearing?

[@dodiLellis]

Thank you! 🙏🏼❤

[@ucscagroecology]

You are so welcome

[@parskaroon-if6id]

What season should prun the blackberries bushes?

[@NarayaniBalakrishnan]

Echoing all others! This is the best demonstration of classification as well as the step-by-step pruning- very clear and concise; you also covered all the questions that will arise once we set out to do the pruning after watching just the primocane and the floricane pruning. Excellent job, Thank you!

[@ucscagroecology]

Glad it was helpful! Best of luck with yer berries!

[@ChristopherMartinez-l3w]

I did not know that Jim Gaffigan took time off from being a stand up comic to play the role of a horticulturist with UC Santa Cruz. Jim knows his way around a stand up routine and around pruning blackberries. So talented.

[@ucscagroecology]

LOL!

[@artbeck]

Such specific and helpful tips. Very efficient. Thank you Christof!

[@ucscagroecology]

Glad it was helpful!

[@loreall.2461]

Fantastic video! Thank you kindly!😊

[@ucscagroecology]

Yer Welccome! Glad it was helpful.

[@loveshoonya388]

The best pruning advice ❤️🙏

[@ucscagroecology]

Thanks! Glad it was helpful.

[@soniarao8700]

Hello Chris! Good to see you! Thanks for this.

[@ucscagroecology]

My pleasure!

[@wemuk5170]

@@ucscagroecology I wonder why you didn’t top/chop off the top of the particularly long cane? I read that if you make a cut of all the long canes, longer than 5ft, to just 5 ft, you thereby make the plant bushier? Is that (cutting the cane short) the correct way to make it bushier with more new laterals? Or, is it cutting the laterals shorter, that make it bushier, which to cut? Cane/lateral pruning for a bushy plant?

[@evilroyslade2491]

Now I know. Thanks

[@ucscagroecology]

Yer welcome!

[@barbarastephenson5353]

I recently moved into a house that has an established thornless blackberry bramble. How can you figure out if the bush is a primacane or a floracane?

[@ucscagroecology]

Here's your reply from Christof - the man in the video: This is a great question and one I get frequently. The short answer is, you have to read the plants and see what they reveal of themselves. If they have been pruned on an annual basis, it should be fairly obvious. If they have not been pruned in recent years, it should also be evident but will take a bit more sleuthing. In either case, look closely at the stand and try to discern the different ages of the canes present. If there are canes that look young, mostly greenish, and show no signs of having laterals and already bearing fruit, then the stand is a Floricane type and you would prune all but these "first year" canes that will be this year's fruit bearing/second year canes. If the entire stand looks as if every cane bore fruit, then you have Primocanes and everything can be cut to the ground. Worst case scenario is that you mis-read the canes, cut everything down, and then you only get first year, non fruit bearing canes this season, that will bear fruit next year, thus losing a year of fruit but not actually harming the plants as a whole. One other note is that there are very few Primocane Blackberry varieties on the market, and most of what you will find are Floricane varieties, whereas many varieties of both Floricane and Primocane varieties are available in the world of Raspberries.