How to Train Blackberry Bushes

Erect Varieties

• 1

  Plant erect varieties so that they will be self-supportive without the need for a trellis, like trailing varieties. Plant the erect varieties in rows, which will encourage the canes to form a network of supportive hedgerows.

• 2

  Prune the erect canes to ensure tidy growth and structural support. Prune the vertical, non-fruit producing canes or "primocanes," after they are 30 inches high, during the summer. They will become the fruit producers in the next growing season.

• 3

  After the bushes have finished producing fruit for the season, trim back the fruit producing lateral vines, or "floricanes," back to the central vertical cane.

• 4

  Thin out the erect canes during the winter, removing weaker canes so that there are five canes per every foot of a row.

Trailing Varieties

• 5

  Drive an 8-foot pole 2 feet into the ground at either end of a row of trailing blackberries using a post driver.

• 6

  Install wire fencing stakes as supports every 5 feet along the wire, if necessary.

• 7

  String three lines of fencing wire between the end posts and support stakes, starting the lower string 3 feet from the ground and the second two 4 feet and 5 feet from the ground.

• 8

  Train the established vertical primocanes to grow up through the wires, weaving in and out of the wires for support. Wrap fruit-bearing floricanes along the wires so they grow horizontally. Train new primocane growth to grow along the ground in its first, non-fruit bearing season, placing U-shaped wire stakes over the top of the canes to keep them in a line along the ground.