Q: Last April, I ordered three small Kiowa blackberry plants and planted them five feet apart. Last summer, they spread across the ground like a hyperactive ivy covering a 20′ x 10′ area.This year, the runners from last years growth flowered into thousands of blossoms, and also made vertical canes. I presume I cut back all the berry-producing canes on the ground, or should I keep them for next year’s new canes?

A: I think the first year canes were floppy due to rampant establishment growth. No problem there.

As you know, blackberry plants make berries on flowering canes and then the canes die, to be replaced by new canes. So cut back the ground-hugging, berry-producing canes after harvest.

‘Kiowa’ is an upright plant so expect all new growth to be vertical.

See Growing Upright Blackberries

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