That is probably about right. I know most people take the tipped and topped synonymously but I try to differentiate between just pinching out the tip and lopping off the top of the canes. I watched a video that said it was better to cut the canes several inches down below the tip and I agree with that. When you just pinch the tips the laterals just continue straight up. They kinda still do but not as bad.
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I like your distinction as well as your advice, k8.
thanks for the tip! 
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i agree. had mine in raised beds and they popped up everywhere on the lawn 20ft or so away. canes got to 12ft. tall the 1st spring after planting! very impressive growth!
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Crazy plants y’all. Mine just finished up. Decided to clean out the floricanes. Beginning of the season to the end. I ended up with plenty of berries to freeze for use throughout the year off of 5 plants. Absolutely incredible production here in my part ofTexas.
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About how much did you harvest? Have you topped the primocanes yet, and are they setting fruit buds or flowering?
I have 4 gallon bags filled, a few smaller baggies, 3 large bowls of unfrozen berries from the last few days, and ate a ton of fresh berries along the way. The primocanes have flowered where I pruned them and are currently forming berries.
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Wow, then about a gallon per plant, then. Nice. I suppose they were pretty sweet, but any sourness or bitterness?
I have topped about a dozen primo’s on our PAF, and they’re starting to sucker from below the cuts. Once they send out laterals, I’d expect to see some flowers soon after that.
No bitterness. Pretty sour when picked early. Quickly loses it and seems very bland if left too long on the canes.
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Those look great! I just planted a row of these this year, hope they turn out as good in Kansas. Do you top your primocanes at a certain height.
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You’ve got to stay on them hard and fast. They are very vigorous and the primocanes will be 6 feet tall before you notice. I top mine about 30 inches and then the laterals at about 18 inches. But if the laterals are truly running lateral instead of upright then I let them go. They’ve got to have good support because those heavy tips full of big berries will break your canes in a heartbeat. Those are not holding themselves up. I’ve got paracord under those canes supporting them.
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My PAF patch has turned into a small jungle, even after I have topped a bunch of primocanes. Haven’t seen any fruit buds yet, though.
Had my first Osage, it was a different tasting berry than the others, not as sour. Unfortunately not a lot of berries on that plant because of winter killed canes. Traveler is still producing a few berries a day, seems like the later ones are a bit sweeter.
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egads, i love berry porn.
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Siamese blackberries, yo. I had a couple this year, but from floricanes.
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@subdood_ky_z6b @Auburn @Hillbillyhort
How does your fall crop of PAF escape Spotted Wing Drosophila? I read this entire thread looking for clues whether PAF’s second crop in Fall gets decimated by SWD. Nothing.
It’s as if SWD does not exist in your locales. I’m in Maryland 7B. A local PYO berry farm tells me Oh Yes, SWD is here bigtime. He plans to rip out all his many PAF and told me to avoid any blackberry that ripens here after Aug. 1.
Are any of you experiencing SWD? Or is it overblown? Thanks.
Yah , S.W.D. is a problem
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Steve, I didn’t get a lot of fruit off my PAF primocanes (fall crop) last year. The
berries I did get were large, and from what I could tell, there weren’t any bugs in them, but I wasn’t really looking for any, either. Same thing with my other fall bearing Traveler blackberry.
I have Triple Crown, which is a late floricane bearer, and also didn’t notice any bugs in those fruit, either. But, again, wasn’t looking for them.
Osage and Ouachita are two other floricane varieties I have, but they mature earlier in the summer, so they should be less likely to get infested. Very few berries off of Osage and a bit more off Ouachita, no evidence of bugs last year.
Maybe I ate the bugs along with the berries and didn’t realize it. Perhaps I was so happy to get my first crop of blackberries I didn’t notice them…
SWD apparently is a problem in Kentucky, so maybe I got lucky last year. I have a lot more canes this year, so provided they make it thru winter, I ought to have a bigger crop of blackberries and raspberries. I’ll be on the lookout for the little critters. So many varmits to deal with, large and tiny and everything in between.
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Is it possible to manage PAF to produce only the spring crop since here SWD will get the fall crop?
Is spring crop PAF taste inferior to fall crop PAF taste?
What’s a good tasting thornless variety that ripens before Osage?
How about Arapaho for taste?
From my experience Hambone, Arapaho has more of the typical tart/acidic blackberry taste, same for Ouachita and Natchez. I find Osage to be sweeter and having a more enjoyable overall taste.
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