Root System

• The root system of blackberries provides nutrients and water during the growing season. Once the season is over and cold temperatures set in, the root system of the plant remains alive, but goes dormant through the winter months. In spring, when warmer weather prevails, the blackberry then produces new growth from the same plant.
  
  

Canes

• Blackberry plants typically produce long canes each growing season. These canes are long stems that hold the leaves and eventually bear the fruit of the plant. Each cane is biennial, going through a two-year cycle of growth. At the end of that two-year period, the cane dies and is replaced by other canes that the plant continually produces.
  
  

Primocanes

• When first established, and for each year after, blackberries grow new canes. These new canes, or primocanes, are in their first year of growth within the two-year cycle. During this period, each cane grows vigorously, producing a long and strong stem covered with leaves. When cold months set in, primocanes go dormant, losing their leaves and waiting for warmer weather.
  
  

Floricanes

• In the spring of a blackberry cane's second year, each cane, referred to now as a floricane, produces new leaves, as well as clusters of small white flowers. These flowers, once pollinated by insects, wind or rain, eventually grow into ripe, juicy blackberries. Once the berries are gone, the cane dies.
  
  

Renewal

• The perennial nature of blackberry plants provides a constant renewal of canes. As old floricanes flower, fruit, then die, new canes are also sent up by the plant to replace them. Each year, the plant has a sufficient number of floricanes to reproduce, and primocanes to support the plant's growth and keep the root system and crown of the plant alive through each winter until new growth emerges in the spring.