[Orinlooper]

Blackberries are taking over a large space in our small holding. We don't mind we love blackberries, but we get the feeling we should be more organised instead of huge area covered with brambles.?

What are the best ways to train them higher instead of wider.

How do you find the start of each blackberrie brambles? It's all just a birds nest, a huge birds nest.

Have to get organised for next year, we want a larger harvest that is easier to get to, and take up less space.

[doganjo]

Cut it right back to teh ground as soon as you've got all the  berries you want - it'll regrow then you can tame it as you go.  Then you'll better see where teh stems are - but it'll likely be a clump rather than individual stems so you may need weedkiller.
You can then clear the ground round it and plant other things that suit you better.

That reminds me - I need to do the same this year - mine has got out of hand - another job to add to my poor son's 'to do' list 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

My lane is full of them, I have to keep em cut back though as people complain their cars get scratched.

[Orinlooper]

Cut it right back to teh ground as soon as you've got all the  berries you want - it'll regrow then you can tame it as you go.  Then you'll better see where teh stems are - but it'll likely be a clump rather than individual stems so you may need weedkiller.
You can then clear the ground round it and plant other things that suit you better.

That reminds me - I need to do the same this year - mine has got out of hand - another job to add to my poor son's 'to do' list 

Thanks, this is what I will do.

Any tips on what to use and how to train them to go higher? I wonder how high it possible to get them?

[Backinwellies]

They are quite capable of climbing trees without help!  Doesn't do the trees much good though! (our job for the winter ... rescue the trees!!!   )

[Orinlooper]

They are quite capable of climbing trees without help!  Doesn't do the trees much good though! (our job for the winter ... rescue the trees!!!   )

We have some trees close, but the blackberry bushes cover a large area away from the trees.

They have spread so much, every time a stem touches the ground it makes new roots and spreads even more.

I'm thinking this winter, cut it all right back to find the root stems, then put posts in and string between them, make them like vines.

I love blackberries but at the moment just can get to enough of a percentage of them. If they are well planned vines should be able to harvest nearly all of them.

[doganjo]

To be honest I'd kill the lot and plant the non thorny variety - can't remember the name but saw it on the Beechgrove garden last night, so you'd get it on BBC I-player I think.

Or google -  I just did - Merton - but don't think that was what Jim McColl said

Parkers have Merton - http://www.jparkers.co.uk/blackberry-merton-thornless-0001200C?gclid=CjwKEAjwjYCvBRC99sSm_frioAwSJACrKuPCXP2Qq4yD43hwQfwaFhxzCSjsZ-Q_bNhDpvjsxLSeQxoC5gHw_wcB#fo_c=193&fo_k=0d367e5862cff581f3f3434677a97ac5&fo_s=gplauk

[sandspider]

Cut it right back to teh ground as soon as you've got all the  berries you want - it'll regrow then you can tame it as you go.  Then you'll better see where teh stems are - but it'll likely be a clump rather than individual stems so you may need weedkiller.
You can then clear the ground round it and plant other things that suit you better.

That reminds me - I need to do the same this year - mine has got out of hand - another job to add to my poor son's 'to do' list 

Thanks, this is what I will do.

Any tips on what to use and how to train them to go higher? I wonder how high it possible to get them?

I've got a bramble stem in my garden which is around 3m high I'd say. Having said that, it's supported by a small tree (where I can't get at it), so not sure how high it would get under its own steam.

[Caroline1]

When I moved in mine last year I found a few bits of bramble at the edge of the garden so I trained it over a bit of trellis that was there. Did a harvest this morning and was a lot easier to just pick then from a flat structure, compared to the huge bush I pick from at work.

[pgkevet]

I've got brambles all over rthe place here.. one there's some ripe fruit its covered in flying bugs and a high protein source. there is one thornless blackberry here.. a mare to keep cut back and trained.. and I never get fruit on that!

[Orinlooper]

When I moved in mine last year I found a few bits of bramble at the edge of the garden so I trained it over a bit of trellis that was there. Did a harvest this morning and was a lot easier to just pick then from a flat structure, compared to the huge bush I pick from at work.

I like the sound of that, I want to follow your lead there.

[cloddopper]

I have a Thorntons thornless black berry ..
 I'm happy to take 10 or so cuttings right now to pot grow them for next year
 propagation this time of the year is so simple , take some new fresh growth tip about 10 inches long and dip it in some rooting compound at the root end of the cutting
 
Poke it in a deep pot so about 4 inches is above the surface or put it direct in to weed free ground inthe same manner .

 method two tip and layer , best done in spring
 Find a growing tip  nick it just behind a leaf stem to make a spur when it's bent
 scrape some soil loose peg it down into the soil with a j hook made  of old wire cover the  spur with a little more soil and then place half a brick over the spur . It will make new roots at the spur , come late summer sever the new plant and transplant.

 How to grow them ...  over the years I've found it's best use the fan method
( currently our thornless plant is growing in a 100 litre patio tub & are is not yet set in a fan  . )
 Set up two stout posts about 10 feet apart & 7 foot above the ground  using anchoring & straining points to keep them steady in a wind when there is a lot of growth on the wires as they act like sails .  Put three or four  taut  wires betweem them .

Plant the plant  give it a decent capping of well composted manure & straw in January as the new creepers start growing , take them to the left side of the middle of the growing frame and tie them on loosely in a fan shape with binder band to the cross wires so that all this years rods are now on the left,  these will bear fruit in August next year .

Next year any new growth is now tied in a fan to the right side . You harvest the left and once it's winter you cut the old dying wood out again always manure the plant each January . fromthen on it's simply follow the harvesting & pruning cycle
 
The plants can last 10 or more years , to stop the plants sending out suckers beyond the size of the footprint that you decide to have ,   dig an 18 inch deep trench a four feet in diameter round each plant to sever & kill off any underground sucker roots . you can mix the back fill with manure if you so choose.

[cloddopper]

They are quite capable of climbing trees without help!  Doesn't do the trees much good though! (our job for the winter ... rescue the trees!!!   )

We have some trees close, but the blackberry bushes cover a large area away from the trees.

They have spread so much, every time a stem touches the ground it makes new roots and spreads even more.

I'm thinking this winter, cut it all right back to find the root stems, then put posts in and string between them, make them like vines.

I love blackberries but at the moment just can get to enough of a percentage of them. If they are well planned vines should be able to harvest nearly all of them.

 Clearing brambles , I found it best to cut them down with lopping shears or a powered brush cutter to six inch stumps once the winter starts to arrive , then burn the cuttings a week or so later on Nov 5 th  .

 I found that using a big heavy two tine each side rotavator  was  about the easiest way of slowly but surely ripping out the root systems doing it by making  9 inch deep passes either side of the pants ,starting at about a yard away and then moving the tiller over about 6 inches over on each pass .  Eventually you loosen so much soil that you can rip out large masses of root with the tiller it saves hours and hours of back breaking work .

Again they got burnt as well all the resultant potash was sprinkled over the newly manured ground where I set up my Thorntons giant Himalayan thornless blackberries

 if you make th height of your posts so that there is 7 foot above the ground  you'll be able to walk under an umbrella of fruited stems . These are the easiest to pick whilst your under the umbrella  as you only have to look outwards or upwards to see them .

[pgkevet]

The blackberries by the brogan in far field are big and juicy right now... but the red ones are sour

[Kimbo]

my husband's blackberry jam is flying off the cart