Seedling blackberry

I have two small patches of thornless blackberries. They are a trailing type, probably Triple Crown. They aren’t very productive for the area they take up or compared to the more erect varieties I’ve grown. They seem healthy. I am not sure why they don’t produce more. I thinking it might just be a not very productive variety. The berries taste good but a little tart until very ripe.


I just found a seedling growing in a hazelnut bush. It’s about 18” tall and very healthy, even competing with the hazel. It has no thorns yet. I’m hoping that it is from my thornless plants crossed with a wild plant. There are a lot of wild plants within a hundred yards or so. Is it likely to be a cross or a self pollinated seedling? Can I assume that it won’t grow thorns later?

Is it too late to try tip layering this year? I would like to cut it out of the hazel roots this fall or winter. I think I can cut it out without killing either, but I’d like to have another plant to increase the chance of it surviving. Guess I could leave it alone a year and tip layer next year. The hazel is only a few years old and growing fast.

I’m hoping it will be better adapted to my yard and maybe have shorter canes. Of course better yielding would be nice two. I suppose that’s wishful thinking.  Hopefully, it will at least be as good as the variety I have now.

You might prune the hazel to be very open so the blackberry will get enough light. Then when it fruits, you can decide if it is a keeper. By then it will probably have new plants coming up around it that would be easier to dig up.

Thanks! Guess I should have given a little more detail.It is an American hazel bush. There is plenty of light, but American hazel has a pretty solid mass of roots and the berry plant is already surrounded by roots. I thought about cutting the hazel down. It would most likely grow back. It’s part of a hedge, so that is probably not worthwhile.

I think I might take an axe and try to prune the hazel roots away from it. The plants are only about eight inches apart though,  so there is some risk of hitting the berry plant.

I see. Then I am guessing that you have other hazels in the hedge. Hazel is good in a hedge, so you might wait until they are dormant. This will allow you to cut up the hazel for live stake propagation. just be certain to mark the blackberry. It can be easy to lose them when they are small and brown.

If you pin the tip of the blackberry shoot to the ground, it will root away from your hazels and you can move it next year without disturbing them.