You must be talking about bob hays. I started following his advice I don’t know if I get more berries but I get plenty and it has reduced disease problems in canes by not cutting them and having an entry for fungus in my humid Georgia climate
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Do others cut the bottom blackberry leaves off of primocanes like he does?
If i do… i leave them in the row near the plant.
Berry leaves and canes are less understood and talked about… due to our obsession with the berries.
By removing spent canes before they are totally exhausted of energy and leaves… you are removing a lot of nutrition. There is a reason to remove diseased canes or insect infested canes… however a healthy plant will mostly resist these things. Nothing is certain however.
Here is a good list of things that are in berry leaves… that i cannot replace myself… so i do not want that job either. Leaves are probably the plants best nutrition and health.
“Despite their medicinal value, which stems in large from their phenolic/polyphenolic content, berry leaves are the main byproducts of harvesting, meaning that tons of leaves are wasted annually. Analytical studies show that the leaf phenolic composition is similar to that of the precious fruits or even richer and higher, indicating that they may be utilized as an alternative source of bioactive natural products for the development of food supplements, nutraceuticals, or functional foods.”
I’ll be leaving the leaves on…
Nice repurposing of Romex.
The only thing here I have to prematurely remove individual leaves for is septoria.