Why Is My Blackberry Sending Up Shoots Everywhere?

Blackberry plants produce suckers — new vertical shoots arising from the root system at a distance from the main plant — as a natural mechanism for spreading and colonising new ground. These suckers can emerge through lawns, from adjoining beds or from the edge of paved areas several feet away from where the parent plant was established. Vigorous varieties, particularly older wild-type and semi-wild selections, sucker more prolifically than modern compact thornless varieties.

How to remove suckers correctly

For suckers appearing in lawn or loose soil, grasp the base of the shoot close to the ground and pull firmly — the goal is to break or pull out the root connection. If the sucker is too strong to pull by hand, use a fork to loosen the surrounding soil and then pull. For suckers appearing through hard surfaces, use a soil knife or trowel to cut down and sever the root close to the surface. Treat the cut end of a persistent root system with a brushed-on application of stump and root killer product if suckering from a specific root channel is recurrent.

Severing the feeder root

When suckers repeatedly appear in the same general area, use a spade to cut a slit through the soil in a line between the parent plant and the suckering zone. This severs the underground root that is feeding the suckers without damaging the main root ball. The cut root will callous over and stop producing suckers from beyond the cut. This approach is more permanent than removing individual suckers repeatedly.

Choosing low-suckering varieties

If suckering is a persistent problem, the most practical long-term solution is replacing the plant with a compact thornless variety bred for contained garden growing (e.g. Loch Ness, Loch Tay). These varieties are selected for minimal suckering tendency and produce most growth from the crown rather than from wide-spreading surface roots. They are substantially easier to manage in a garden setting.