Propagating berries--question??

[Jan in CO]

Through a generous person on our local craislist, I was given about a dozen German Blackberry plants today. They are huge! About three feet tall, with berries and blooms on them. My question is what's the best way to plant them, cut down to a foot or so, and plant, maybe? Can I root the cut off tops? I'm assuming I should strip off the berries and blossoms, and some of the leaves? Thanks for any suggestions/experience. Jan in Co

[Callieslamb]

I am not familiar with German blackberries. The blackberries i am familiar with grow fruit on canes that are two years old. So if you cut the canes back, you will lose next year's fruit. However, you are most likely going to lose it anyway due to transplanting them. If they were my canes, I would cut them back to about a foot tall. There would be no harm in trying to root the tops. I haven't had luck with that unless the tops are still connected to the plant. I pull the plant over and bury the top in about 3 inches of soil. I don't recommend that you do that this year though. Your plants are going to need all their energy to get their own root system going.

I don't know why you would pull off the berries. You won't get any until next year at the earliest. But then the plants will be strong enough to produce fruit. Do they have berries on them right now? If so, yes, I would remove them, but I imagine the plant will stop trying to ripen them now anyway and they will dry up and fall off on their own.

[Jan in CO]

I wasn't familiar with them, either. She called them 'Swarzberren', which, when I looked at them on google, came up with huckleberries. They aren't like a regular blackberry at all, but do have small, round berries like a blueberry. The donor emailed me back and said to 'just dig a trench and put them in, support if desired'. So, we'll try some that way, and try rooting the tops of some also, and maybe try seeding some of the ripe berries and plant the seeds, too. Hard to say what will work best for them! Jan in Co