Advice
RHS Help & Advice
Propagating blackberries
Propagating fruit canes allows you to increase your stocks without having to buy new plants. It also allows you to select the tastiest and most productive cultivars.
The easiest way of propagating blackberries - and other hybrid berries - is by tip layering, which is best done in spring or summer. The earlier in the season you start, the greater your chance of achieving independent plants by the end of that growing season. Otherwise, the layers can be left to develop over winter and separated from the main plantin the following spring.
How to tip layer blackberries
This is an easy way to propagate blackberries, which takes advantage of their natural ability to take root when the stems touch the soil. Because the developing young plant is still nourished by the parent plant, it is a fairly foolproof method. However, do remember to water the layers, as they will not take if they are in dry soil.
Step 1
Choose a suitable stem. A long, arching stem that easily reaches the ground is ideal.
Step 2
Bury the tip under the surface of the soil. You may need to peg down the tip with a small loop of wire to prevent it coming loose; the weight of the soil may be sufficient to keep the tip buried. Water in well.
Step 3
The layer is left to root. A new plantlet should grow up from the buried tip. It is possible to produce several plantlets from different canes on the one parent plant.
In the following autumn or spring, when the young plant is growing vigorously, the stem that joins it to the parent plant may be severed. Pot up the plantlet and grow it on.
Maya Albert