Pruning a bramble patch is not difficult, and nothing like the intricate combination of art and science needed to prune apple trees. Left alone, brambles spread vigorously, and pruning also keeps them from taking over the rest of your garden. How Brambles Produce Fruit Knowing how brambles grow and produce fruit can help you understand how to prune them.
Canes fruit only in the summer of their second year.
A cane begins fruiting near its tip toward the end of its first season, then in the summer of its second season the cane finishes fruiting lower down. The descriptions above offer clues to one step in the pruning process. When canes have finished bearing their summer crop, or sometime before your bramble patch wakes up again the following spring, cut to the ground any canes that have completed their second growing season. Their old, cracking bark and the remains of fruit stalks make it easy to identify them. They look dead because they are,or nearly so.