To get the most from your bramble patch proper care and productive harvesting must take place. Following these simple techniques will help produce a bountiful and beautiful bramble patch.

Harvesting:

As a rule, raspberries ripen a few weeks earlier than blackberries. Fortunately the long ripening season of both allows for fresh berries almost daily. To extend the harvesting season of these berries plant the bushes early, at mid-season, and add fall bearing raspberry cultivars.

When picking the berries use only small pails or baskets in order to keep all of the berries plump and in good shape. Try to avoid over handling of the berries as it causes bruising. Make sure to move the freshly picked berries out of the sun to prevent wilting.

Pruning:

It is important to properly prune your brambles to keep them highly productive. Start by cutting each dead cane to the ground; dead canes are recognizable by their pallid color and brittleness. Insects and diseases tend to overwinter in dead canes so be sure to burn them as soon as possible to prevent future infection.

As your berry patch ages and grows more pruning will become necessary to ensure the patch’s good health.  The bushes produce a multiple of new canes each new season; cut away the weaker new canes when you clear older canes to leave room for the heartier canes. Strong canes need to be thinned in crowded places. Ideally canes should have a six inch space between them.

Be sure to keep black and purple raspberries along with trailing blackberries in even rows no more than a foot and a half wide. Make sure to keep yellow and red raspberry varieties along with upright blackberries in even rows no more than two feet wide. Planting you rows accordingly will allow for easier harvesting and maintenance.