Your 3 ft canes were primocanes last year; they're now floricanes.

New shoots that grow up this year will be next year's floricanes.

Almost all my blackberries (Kiowa) winter-killed back to ground/snow level; surprising, as I though last winter was colder/harsher than the one just past. Just finished cutting out all the dead floricanes that bore last year - and those that would have been the fruiting floricanes this year.

When I planted the bareroot plants, I had one six-inch dead-looking cane sticking out of the ground for each plant. The new canes, that first appeared in late February and are now 3-feet long and richly green, came out of the sides of those original canes. You mean those dead looking canes were last years primocanes, and the new growth counts as fruit-bearing floricanes?? Holy moley. The instructions provided said that there would be no fruit in the first year.

So real primocanes are canes when they first come out of the ground? My plants have no new canes that just came out of the ground. The growth is all out of the sides of the original canes.

So I guess you're saying that ... where there's a flower, it must be on a floricane, and there will be a fruit? And not that you can get a flower on a primocane that won't produce a fruit?

Since you are in warm climate, the early growth off the old cane would be considered floricane. They should bear some fruits, but the quality is likely poor.

When you plant blackberry, you are supposed to cut all the old canes and the new canes should come out of the ground. They will be the healthy primocanes for next year's bearing.

If you do not have new canes coming out of the ground, then that is not good. The canes flowered should die and you need the new primocanes for next year.

If it is a Natchez you should not see any flowers on the primocanes. These primocanes will overwinter and become floricanes and fruit and then die. New canes will grow to provide the next years fruit.

Are your canes thorny? You may have a primocane bearing blackberry instead. There is a thornless primocane variety but I have only gotten small ones, no bigger bareroot plants.

My Black Satin (semi-trailing floricane bearing) did the same thing. On the old canes, there are some new growth. Then they flower in summer and bear some fruits. But since I did not take care of them, the floricanes are short (3' long) and the berries were not full. So I relocated them to new location and I see new growth coming out of the ground.

I do not know there is such thing of everybearing blackberry fruiting on the primocanes...

Well, Ison's said to set the plants "two inches deeper than grown in the nursery", which is what I did. That left six inches of old cane sticking up in the air. So that's annoying, that the plant was supposed to produce primocanes but never did. The plants are thriving, but thriving the wrong way. I guess at the end of this year I'll cut these old floricanes down to below the soil line, and assume that next year primocanes will come up. Is that what I should do?

No, nothing is thorny, and Natchez is thornless. So what I have is entirely Natchez.

Do not get over-concerned. For the first year, do not expect any fruits. So get rid of the flowers. Keep the energy to grow the roots. But you do need the new growth to make food and feed the plants. If the new growth are primocanes, then they should over-winter and bear fruits next year. If they are real floricanes, then they will just die in winter.

At this point it is up to you what to do with the new growth. If the new growth is quite some, then just keep them. If they just start, you may want to cut it near the ground and promote new growth from the base.

No matter what, next spring, the new plants should be ready to thrive.

When we grow grape vines, we cut the new vines to just 2 buds above ground. Then no fruits for at least two years or three...

OK, I'll just assume these flowers won't lead to any good fruits. There are only one or two flowers per plant anyway. The new growth is so strong and robust (several three-foot stems coming from the original cane on each plant), I have to assume it's good for the plants to keep it, in that those stems are just making energy for the plants, and I'll just let those stems do what they're going to do naturally.

I guess since the new growth is sporting a flower or two, it can't be primocane. If that's the case, and it's somehow a floricane, it'll just die in the winter, and the plant will press reset and do it right next year, which may well be sprouting primocanes from below. To the extent that this new growth does die, I'm assuming I should cut it all off near the ground when it does.

Thank you very much. This is quite confusing.

If the plant is growing well all should be ok. It will probably send up primocanes later in the year which will be a little weaker than normal. Next year you should get good strong primocanes. The first year the plant is just getting established and putting on roots. The primocanes will be weaker and not as erect this year. We have a long growing season in Texas so there should be plenty time for the primocanes to come up and grow.

That's good to hear. Is the lesson here that after planting bareroot, one should trim off buds on the exposed main stem, encouraging primocane development from under the soil? I guess I should add some extra nitrogen to the soil to encourage more foliage development.

Again, do not over think. Just remember for any perennial fruit plants, forget about fruits in the first year. The plants need the time and energy to grow roots and get established. Same principle with fruit trees, blueberry, and even more with grapes. Nitrogen helps, but blackberry is a robust plant and it can put out strong growth very quickly....

Are primocanes and floricanes biologically different things? Or are primocanes just new growth before the plant has had a chance to establish itself and get enough strength to properly fruit, and floricanes are new growth after that has occurred? Any plant biologists here? If the latter, I suppose one could get a few first generation flowers and fruit, but they wouldn't amount to much. If the former, then primocanes would be canes that are biologically incapable of fruiting. I don't see a lot of evolutionary advantageousness in a plant that grows well the first year, but is biologically incapable of fruiting.

Any cane coming from the ground will be a primocane. It will grow throughout the summer as a primocane and not fruit. This same cane will overwinter and will now be called a floricane. It will start its second year and fruit in the summer and the cane will die after fruiting. As that floricane starts its second year the plant will also start new primocanes to provide fruit for the next year. You will want to keep about 4 of the biggest primocanes that the plant sends up. Don't prune anything now.

OK, one of my blooming branches is coming out of the main stem an inch above ground level. Floricane! But if I had buried that stem two inches deeper it would have been coming out of the ground. Primocane! No, there is something slippery about this. It's got to be more than whether it's coming out of the ground. Still looking for a plant biologist.

I should have written, any new cane coming up from the ground will be a primocane.

You probably have a lateral growing from the bottom of the floricane. These are small "limbs" that come off the canes that produce fruit. You may not have any primocanes coming up yet, it takes a while for bareroot plants to settle in and send up new canes.

Blackberries are biennial plants that grow veg. the first year and fruit on second year growth, then die. They reproduce by seeds, rhizome sprouts and stem tip rooting. The thornless varieties tend to put out less sprouts (primocanes) than the thorny varieties.

OK then, I evidently have "laterals", which, I guess, will produce some fruit. I'm still not sure why a cane coming up from the ground can't be a lateral that happens to be barely buried. In that sense, using "coming up from the ground" is not a clear discriminator for primocanes. Now, I guess if I see a cane coming up from the ground many inches away from the original cane, I can assume that it's a cane that comes straight out of the root system, and so must be a primocane.

That's interesting that thornless varieties tend to put out fewer primocanes. I guess they take longer to get established.

The lore about "no fruit first season" is a bit simplified, I guess. Might be more accurate to say that no new canes coming out of the ground will produce fruit in the first season.

Most brambles are sold as bare root floricanes. The floricane either produces fruit or dies. Not to worry if it does die. as the crown is still alive in most cases.