My Prime Ark Freedoms died back over the winter and the primocanes are now about 5 feet tall. Should I tip these back or just let them grow. I have not noticed any flowers yet. Just tall straight canes. Will pruning or tipping them promote lateral branching and flowering?
1 Like
Wow, 5ft in just a few months? My PAF that I planted in April is about 3ft. It got “tipped” by a €¿¥￦ deer a couple weeks ago, lost about 4in off the top, but is starting to push up some new shoots off that. I guess we’ll see if it will flower later this summer. I think on primocanes, the tip of the canes produce.
Nourse or Indiana Berry might be able to give you some info. Or someone on here with PAF’s maybe could comment, like @k8tpayaso or @Auburn. Do you have it attached to a wire or trellis yet?
1 Like
I tip mine at about 3 1/2 foot. That will cause them to put out laterals but these first laterals tend to go straight up so you’re still fighting height. Berries are formed on the tips so the heavy berries are formed high on the cane and tend to bend it over and the canes will break if not supported. I tip the laterals at about 18-24 inches. If you keep tipping you keep delaying the bloom of the primocanes so quit tipping when you want fruit. You don’t want the primocanes to break with fruit heaviness because they become your floricane crop next spring. Don’t be afraid to prune them. You will actually get more fruit when you prune them short. I learned this the hard way. 
Here’s a photo of mine this year. I tipped at about 4 four foot. The laterals have all gone straight up and I didn’t get them tipped and the berries were forming. These canes will get ahead of you in a hurry…don’t worry about being aggressive back.
Katy
3 Likes
Great thanks. I will tip them back a bit.
1 Like