Wild Blackberries... how to nurture them??

[eastkygal]

Blackberry winter is on its way out and all the wild blackberries around the cabin have bloomed. I am noticing that most of the bushes are scrawny and getting choked out by other plants. What can I do to nurture them and help them to flourish?... the obvious being clear some space around them and doing it without getting copperhead bit.

[cristeen]

Depending on how choked the area is, and how many brambles there are, the easiest thing may be to go in and chop everything to the ground (and get rid of it - burn it, chip it, whatever). It won't really hurt the blackberries, although it will mean no crop this year and possibly next. Then as things start coming back up, identify what is blackberry and what isn't - and start pulling what isn't and training what is.

If you don't want to do that, then start by clearing as much of the excess stuff as you can. If there are dead brambles, clear those out. Once the brambles are flowering, you can cut the older canes that don't have flowers down to the ground - canes only produce for one year, so if they're older than what's producing this year there's no point in leaving them (other than nests for copperheads, rats or coons). Once you've cleared out the old stuff, flag the canes that are producing this year so that you can cut them back at the end of the season (to the ground). You should be left by the end of the season with only the new canes that have grown this year. Those are the canes that will produce next year. You can train them on a wire trellis like a grapevine to keep them off the ground and make harvesting easier - and at the end of every harvesting season, be sure to cut the ones that produced that year down to the ground... that will prevent the overgrowth of brambles from reoccuring.

Blackberries are really quite hardy, so you don't really need to do anything special to them other than pruning and giving them room. Once you have the area cleared, you may want to lay some compost and/or mulch around them - but if the area is mostly wild, you may not.

[MamaWolfe]

This made me laugh!!! In Oregon absolutely nothing can get rid of them. Every single person here battles them and no matter what you do, it is a constant battle. My backyard is I overrun with them and it is a nightmare! I carb
I can't believe yours are not thriving

[mouso]

Originally Posted by MamaWolfe

This made me laugh!!! In Oregon absolutely nothing can get rid of them. Every single person here battles them and no matter what you do, it is a constant battle. My backyard is I overrun with them and it is a nightmare! I carb
I can't believe yours are not thriving

Another OR gal here who is shaking her head at your problem.
I spend all spring and summer fighting those blackberries. They are crazy!

I have seen vines grow 8 inches in one day- seriously. I hack them, dig the roots up, curse them. Before we moved in years ago the landlord had poisoned them all. Nothing works!
We have a patch behind the house on the fence that are 25 feet high. I am always pruning them back. They are delicious but they are out of control!

Sorry I'm no help- good luck!

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by mouso

Another OR gal here who is shaking her head at your problem.

Just imagine if we had copperheads under them here and no one would pick them .

The only thing I've seen keep blackberries remotely tamed is ponies and goats!

[SleeplessMommy]

The traditional method is to plant them (or allow them to grow) right over the septic field - they like rich soil. Not sure this meets modern health codes, though.