Blackberries are popular with home gardeners because they produce flavorful fruit and require relatively little space. The plants also provide attractive flowers and may serve as a living hedge. Regular pruning helps maintain healthy plants, improves fruit quality, and makes berries easier to harvest (Gao et al., 2019). Gardeners can enjoy fresh blackberries or use blackberry fruits in jams, cobblers, and other desserts. However, maintaining healthy and productive blackberry planting requires regular management. Effective weed control, fertility management, and pest control programs promote vigorous growth and high-quality fruit production (Ellis & Welty, 2010). Proper cane training and pruning throughout the year are also essential for maintaining plant health, maximizing fruit yield, and improving fruit quality (Figure 1).
Proper establishment and management are critical to the long-term success of blackberry plantings. This fact sheet explains the basic principles and practices of pruning erect blackberry varieties. Gardeners unfamiliar with blackberry terminology should refer to the glossary at the end of this publication.
Thorny erect blackberries typically exhibit more vigorous cane growth than thornless varieties, making them more aggressive and potentially more difficult to manage. Thornless erect varieties fill rows more slowly and are often easier to maintain. Regardless of the type grown, proper pruning is necessary to control growth and support consistent fruit production.
When is the best time to prune blackberry plants?
Before pruning, determine whether your blackberry is floricane-fruiting or primocane-fruiting. Floricane-fruiting plants produce berries on second-year canes. Primocane-fruiting plants produce a fall crop on first-year canes and may also produce a second crop the following year if those canes remain. Because blackberry plants are less cold-hardy than many other fruit crops grown in Ohio, dormant pruning should be delayed until late winter or early spring. In most parts of Ohio, late March or early April is an appropriate time for dormant pruning. Floricane-fruiting cultivars may suffer winter injury, and delaying pruning allows gardeners to accurately assess winter damage before removing canes.
Primocane-fruiting blackberries, such as Prime-Ark® 45 and Prime-Ark® Freedom, produce fruit on current-season canes. This differs from traditional floricane-fruiting cultivars, which bear fruit on canes produced the previous year. After harvest is complete and late-season frost occurs in autumn, all fruiting primocanes may be mowed or cut to the ground. Alternatively, canes can be removed in early spring before new growth begins.
Why is it important to prune blackberries?
Without annual pruning, blackberry plantings can quickly become dense, tangled, and difficult to manage. Unpruned bushes will increase disease and insect pressure, and lead to the production of inferior fruits. In addition, it is more difficult to find and harvest fruits.
Planting blackberry bushes in a row and regular pruning improves air circulation, makes berries easier to harvest, and enhances fruit quality (Figure 3).
Pruning also helps confine blackberry plants to their designated growing area. If left unmanaged, blackberries can spread beyond the planting site by producing new shoots throughout the garden and landscape.
What steps should be followed to successfully prune floricane-fruiting erect blackberries?
Blackberries have a biennial cane-growth habit. During the first year, plants produce primocanes, which are vegetative shoots. In the second year, these canes become floricanes, which typically produce fruit and then die after harvest. Some blackberry varieties can also bear fruit on primocanes during the fall.
Untipped primocanes can grow several feet tall. Proper management of these canes encourages branching, increases fruiting potential, and improves plant structure.
After fruit harvest, floricanes will naturally decline and die. Removing spent floricanes promptly creates additional space and resources for new primocane growth.
Follow these steps to maintain productive blackberry plants:
- Carefully inspect the planting and identify canes that require pruning.
- During late June and July: Tip new developing primocanes when they reach approximately 48 inches in height (Figure 4). Allow lateral shoots to develop throughout the growing season.
- In the following spring, shorten lateral shoots to about 18 inches to reduce the risk of winter injury and improve plant structure.
- Do not remove healthy floricanes before the fruiting season unless they are damaged or diseased.
- After harvest: Use loppers to remove spent floricanes at the crown, near ground level
- Late winter or early spring: Remove dead or winter-injured canes and shorten lateral branches to about 18 inches.
- Remove and discard all pruned plant materials from the planting area each time a pruning is done.
Are there different pruning systems for thorny and thornless varieties?
Thorny and thornless erect blackberries are pruned using the same principles and techniques. However, thorny varieties require extra caution during pruning and harvesting. Gardeners should wear gloves and long-sleeved clothing to protect themselves from thorns.
Thorny blackberry cultivars often produce more canes and denser growth than thornless cultivars. Despite these differences, the annual pruning procedures remain the same.
How should blackberries be tipped to maximize fruit production?
With floricane-bearing varieties, as new canes grow 4-5 feet in height, 2”-4” of the growing tips should be removed (Figure 4). This practice, known as tipping, encourages the formation of side shoots and aka laterals. Flowers and fruits will arise from these side shoots or laterals next year.
The resulting lateral growth increases the fruiting surface area of the plant and can significantly improve yield (Figure 5). In extremely vigorous cultivars, lateral branches may also require tipping to control plant size and maintain manageable growth.
Removal of fruit canes after harvest
The fruited canes of the primocane-bearing varieties should be removed immediately after harvest. This will help reduce disease and insect pressure.
Two strategies can be used to remove fruited canes with primocane-bearing varieties. One is to prune off the top portion of the fruited canes where the fruits were produced in March and let the remaining portion of the canes produce a late spring or early summer crop. Another option is to cut all canes slightly above the soil line, allowing all fruit to grow from the primocanes.
What tools are used for pruning?
Hand pruners and loppers are the primary tools used for blackberry pruning. Hand pruners are well suited for removing shoot tips and smaller canes, while loppers are preferred for removing multiple or larger canes (Figure 6).
Always maintain pruning tools in good condition. Sharp tools make cleaner cuts, reduce stress on plants, and improve pruning efficiency. Clean and sanitize tools regularly with a 10% bleach solution (1 part household bleach to 9 parts water) or 70% isopropyl alcohol to minimize the spread of plant diseases.
Summary
Pruning blackberries is an art and a science that improves with experience. Annual pruning helps maintain plant size and shape, maximizes fruit production, improves fruit quality, and keeps plantings manageable.
For current recommendations, contact your local Ohio State University Extension office. Gardeners are also encouraged to consult the Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 940, Midwest Home Fruit Production Guide (extensionpubs.osu.edu/midwest-home-fruit-production-guide/).
Glossary of pruning terms
Floricane. A fruit-producing cane that developed from a primocane during the previous growing season.
Lateral Shoot. A leafy side branch that develops from lateral buds. Lateral shoots grow rapidly after the main cane is tipped.
Node. The thickened portion of a cane where a leaf, bud, or branch originates.
Primocane. The first-year cane produced by a blackberry plant. Primocanes mature and become woody by late fall.
Primocane Fruiting. The ability of certain blackberry cultivars to produce fruit on first-year canes during the fall.
Pruning. The selective removal of plant parts to maintain size, shape, productivity, and overall plant health.
References
Ellis, M. A., & Welty, C. (2010). Controlling diseases and insects in home fruit plantings (Bulletin 780). The Ohio State University Extension.
extensionpubs.osu.edu/controlling-diseases-and-insects-in-home-fruit-plantings
Gao, G., Becker, R., Brown, M., Ellis, M., Prochaska, S., Welty, C., & Williams, R. (2019). Midwest home fruit production guide (Bulletin 940). Ohio State University Extension.
extensionpubs.osu.edu/midwest-home-fruit-production-guide
Revised January 12, 2017, by Gary Y. Gao, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Small-Fruit Extension Specialist, OSU South Centers and Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, The Ohio State University; Maurus Brown, Ph.D. Associate Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University; and Ryan Slaughter, Research Assistant, OSU South Centers.
Revised by Gary Y. Gao, Professor and Small Fruit Specialist, Agriculture and Natural Resources and South Centers, Ohio State University Extension; Courtesy Professor, Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, CFAES, The Ohio State University; Ryan Slaughter, Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ohio State University Extension, Ross County; and Mike Estadt, Assistant Professor, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ohio State University Extension, Pickaway County.
