Anybody growing blackberries - the trailing or semi-trailing kind?
 

Year before last I bought three itty-bitty blackberry plants. I think the variety is "Triple Crown". Last year was the first year of real growth on them, with canes that are at least 6' long. Over the winter they bent down to the ground, and now I find that the tips have rooted there.

Can I cut those tips, leaving a few inches of "stub" (with a couple of leaf buds) and transport those babies? They're kind of all over the place, and I can only imagine the thicket that will be there next year if I don't impose some order on the patch now.

I've grown erect blackberries before, but not the trailing kind, so this growth habit is new to me.

You need to cut the stems down each year when the season is over so that you can harvest your berries w/o harm to yourself. They grow rapidly and every year you will have a new harvest. Putting eyescrews in a fence behind them is a way to keep them upright and easier to harvest. Of course you have to wait until the stems are long enough to tack up on the fence. If you don't tack them up they will root where they are when they are ready to root.

Blackberries are considered a weed in NW Wash. If they are happy they will grow like crazy. I think that eye screws is one of the best ideas I have ever heard for stem containment.

You do need to prune the bushes back, or they will attack you, and it is NOT pleasant, and it can be hard to get loose. Depending on how long you have Indian Summer ours go until the first hard frost, so that is a lot of growing time.

Mine grow right over the property line (like 20 ft away), and I have to race the critters to get them. All of my berry picking is out the back door or in memory. My sister has a few places in the neighborhood where she can get a couple of dishes for breakfast, and if we're lucky and she gets out early a jar or 2 of jam.

There is nothing like your own fresh berries. Have fun!

I wish I could have the space topt growing them here in the desert. I love & miss them

We tried but it was a battle with the birds to actually get any fruit.

You were helping the natural environment by providing food for the birds. They also reseed by eating and passing the seeds.

There was a blackberry plant at the house we bought 4 yrs ago. I had it taken out last fall and this spring I planted 2 thornless ones. I just noticed the thorn plant is coming back so gotta go dig them out...again...Diannia

I too have a blackberry bush with some of the canes 6 t 7 ft long--didn't know whether to cut them back or not--finally did but will cut them way down next fall. Also have a problem with birds--finally bought a couple yards of nylon net and draped it over the branches and used clip-type clothes pins to keep it on --worked great and we enjoyed the berries.