In article ,
David Hill wrote:

I've never known black berry shoots die off after just one year, I wish
they would

Only the weak ones do. The normal growth habit is to flower on
shoots off the old stems, which then die or become very feeble,
and their place is taken by new stems that shoot from the base.
Just like raspberries, wineberries, loganberries etc.

Some of the introduced ones have longer-lived stems, but their
vigour decreases after the second year, and that's not rare in
the other biennial-stem Rubi. But this was different - as Charlie
says, it was very like a rambling rose.

If you have ones that behave like that, where are you? I did know,
but have forgotten.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.