late pruning of blackberry bushes

Question

My blackberry bushes are almost 2 yrs old, so I didn’t prune them last year. I didn’t know to prune them at the end of the summer. Is it too late to do the end of summer pruning now? I have runners up to 5 ft long.

Answer 1

I would not recommend pruning them now. They will be in their dormant stage now and pruning them may bring them out of their dormancy. If they come out of their dormancy, they will have no protection from the cold and will suffer damage that they would not normally suffer.

I would recommend waiting until early spring to prune.