Switchside

Caneberries are a group of berries which refer to black, red, and golden raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, and boysenberries. Many varieties of these juicy, healthy fruits grow wild throughout the United States. Many of us have caneberries growing near our homes.

But as those experienced picking these berries know, fighting the thorns and tangled canes can seem like more trouble than it is worth. And some canes in the wild produce stunted berries, which can make wild berrying a gamble. However, if you do have a patch of wild berries on your property, some simple maintenance can assure both ease of picking and a much improved crop.

The most important step you can take to improve your berry patch is pruning and thinning. It’s overgrowth that makes a berry patch so difficult to navigate without tangles and scratches, and it is overgrowth that results directly in stunted berries and under-producing canes.

Luckily, the most important part of pruning and thinning is also easy. After the harvest season, pull out the canes which have just borne fruit. They won’t bear fruit again, as canes which have had berries that season simply die off. It’s this seasonal turnover that results in such choked berry patches. To further improve your crop, thin out the newly growing canes in the fall when the plants are dormant. Two canes per foot are plenty, and they will produce larger, sweeter fruit in greater quantities when spaced apart.