Advice
Hybrid berry pruning and training
Hybrid berries, such as tayberries and loganberries, are very vigorous growers and strict pruning and training is required to keep the plants manageable.
Fruit is borne on one-year-old wood. A sturdy support is required, so train plants on four wires (10-gauge), 30cm (12in) apart, the lowest 90cm (3ft) from soil level, the highest 1.8m (6ft).
A
widely-used training method for these vigorous plants is the
'rope' system. Fruiting canes are twisted together and tied,
evenly spaced along the lower wires. The current season's
non-fruiting canes are either tied onto the top wire, or supported
using bamboo canes and garden twine.
Pruning consists of cutting out fruited canes at ground level once harvest is complete, then tying-in the new canes in their place, cutting out any frost damaged growth in spring. If too few new canes are produced, keep some of the old ones (although these will be less fruitful after their first year of cropping).