Keeping brambles

[teakdesk]

Am I right in thinking that brambles produce fruit next year on stems that are growing now?

So if I want to keep a wild bramble bush producing, but reduce its size, I need to remove the stems producing now but keep the stems that haven't fruited this year?

Has anyone ever tried to keep a bramble for fruit, rather than getting rid of the weed?

[Potstubsdustbins]

That's exactly how I treat my blackberry bramble. Cut out stems that have fruited and tie in the new growth ready for next year. One thing I did find when I first had it was I thought the new growth had died over winter, then it suddenly sprang into life the next spring.

[Noosner]

I've got wild brambles in my garden and they produce oodles of the most delicious blackberries despite being brutally and frequently cut back. I think it's a great idea to keep brambles as 'pets'.

[Penellype]

Blackberries are a bit like raspberries - they are deciduous and they fruit on last year's canes. They will walk all over your garden if you let them - the canes bend over and where they touch the ground they seem to grow roots over night, so you have to be very brutal as once they get established under something else that you want to keep they are virtually impossible to remove.

[teakdesk]

Thanks, I feel the need for a full leather suit to tackle the thornes but the fruit from it this year is too good to miss next year!

[Martin H]

Am I right in thinking that brambles produce fruit next year on stems that are growing now?

So if I want to keep a wild bramble bush producing, but reduce its size, I need to remove the stems producing now but keep the stems that haven't fruited this year?

Has anyone ever tried to keep a bramble for fruit, rather than getting rid of the weed?

Yes.

Keep enough of this year's growth to tie into your framework, but cut everything else right down to the ground.

You'll get a nice crop of berries next year, then repeat the process.

[Noosner]

My pet brambles in situ!