By igorr1/DepositPhotos image
By Clint Thompson
Muhammad Shahid, assistant professor of horticulture at University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), has only conducted blackberry research since 2022 but has quickly realized how vital pruning is to successful blackberry production in the Southeast.
“Pruning is very critical because if you will keep the branches, which give you the fruit, it will complete the new branches, and your size quality is compromised. This is a very critical factor,” Shahid said. “Whenever growers call me, they say, ‘Mohammed, first year, I harvested very good yield, and the next year my tree did not produce.’ And I told them, ‘Did you cut the branches which give you the fruit?’
“This is the point you have to do it.”
According to UF/IFAS, annual pruning is key to achieving optimal fruit size, yield and quality while limiting disease pest injuries. Pruning also removes the dead, diseased and dry canes within the plant’s canopy. This will allow the plant to produce sufficient flowers and fruit the following season. Shahid said that pruning is usually done immediately after harvests, which are normally conducted in mid-June to July.
“After (harvests), you have to immediately remove all those branches. But in other states like in Michigan, California, Washington, harvesting starts at the end of July or end of August. It’s less time between the winter and the harvesting time,” Shahid said.
“They will do the pruning in the winter. But here, if we will wait for the winter, we have three to four months and during this time they will complete the new branches. Especially not only Florida, in Georgia, Alabama, in these southeastern states, we have to remove the branches immediately after harvesting.”