Blackberries are by far one of the easiest food crops to grow in south Louisiana. But a lack of understanding often keeps gardners from incorporating this wonderful fruit into their landscape.
Some gardeners avoid planting this easily controllable crop because blackberries tend to have a reputation for getting out of control and creating a bramble jungle. Understanding the growth cycle and proper pruning of blackberries is critical to increasing the yield of your crop.
Blackberries have crowns that produce biennial shoots. These shoots live for two years and then die. The second year of growth for these shoots is the growth that produces flowers that mature into the fruit. Knowing that blackberries produce their crop on last year's growth, and that these shoots only last for two years, will help to explain the pruning process for blackberries.