11 Berry Bushes You Should Prune in February

Pruning can be a daunting task! Knowing when, where, and how much to cut is important. It’ll help you create lasting shrubs that produce bushels of berries annually. A good annual pruning in February helps your plants sprout fresh, healthy, and strong new growth in spring.

Some berries, like blackberries, require pruning during different seasons depending on the type. Cane-growing berry plants sprout a mix of primocanes and floricanes, or leaf-producing and flower-producing stems. How and when to prune them depends on their structure and habit; there are erect, semi-erect, and trailing types that flower on old or new wood.

Others, like blueberries and serviceberries, are shrubby and dense. Thinning them in February allows more air and sunlight to reach the center of the plants, creating healthy, productive stems that grow bunches of berries. 

Without further ado, here are the 11 berry bushes you should prune this February. 

Thornless Blackberry Bush

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Thornless Blackberry Bush

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Pink Lemonade Blueberry

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Pink Lemonade Blueberry

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Duke Blueberry

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Duke Blueberry

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Blueberry

	botanical name Vaccinium spp.
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1-12’
	hardiness zones 2-10

Blueberries begin pushing new flowers and leaf buds in late winter, while most other plants are dormant. You’ll see bulging, white flower buds and green or red leaf buds. It’s best to prune blueberries now, so they recover well and produce high amounts of fruit by harvest time. 

The best way to prune blueberries is to create a mix of different-sized stems. You want a few short ones, some medium-length ones, and several tall ones. That way, the entire bush has blueberries; otherwise, most of the crop would form at the tips of the stems. 

Though you are cutting off some flower buds during the process, you’re making a strong specimen that will compensate for its losses. Without pruning, blueberry specimens grow weaker and weaker each year, producing low yields of low-quality fruit. Invest in winter pruning every year or so to rejuvenate your shrubs. 

Blackberry

	botanical name Rubus spp.
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 3-8’
	hardiness zones 5-9

Blackberries are a little trickier to prune than blueberries. Their berries sprout off of erect, semi-erect, or trailing stems. Erect and semi-erect types need two prunings a year—one in spring or summer and one during the dormant season. 

Cut emerging primocanes of erect types to three feet high, and cut semi-erect canes to five feet tall during the growing season. This promotes side branching; you’ll prune these side branches during February. Cut the side shoots back to a foot or two, leaving the upright canes in place. 

Trailing types are a little different. They appreciate pruning after they finish fruiting and flowering in late fall. Cut all spent canes to the ground, and leave year-old ones in place; they’ll flower and fruit the next year.

Blackberries that produce berries on new and old wood are another exception. They grow fresh canes in spring that flower and fruit. The canes overwinter and fruit again the next year, while new shoots emerge with more flowers and fruit! Prune these types to remove dead wood and limit their height; otherwise, they need little pruning. 

Marionberry

	botanical name Rubus ‘Marion’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 6’
	hardiness zones 6-9

Marionberries are close relatives of blackberries. The plants are hybrids of several different blackberry species, including the West Coast native blackberry Rubus ursinus. Marionberries grow exceptionally well in the Pacific Northwest, and many commercial farmers in Oregon cultivate them. The berries are long, black, and delicious!

Marionberries grow off of trailing vines. Vegetative primocanes grow in spring, overwinter themselves, and produce fruit the next fall as fruiting floricanes. You’ll cut spent floricanes after they produce fruit in late summer. In February, prune any dead or diseased wood to make room for new growth. Avoid chopping the new primocanes that emerge or the old floricanes that will produce fruit this year. 

Boysenberry

	botanical name Rubus ursinus x idaeus
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 6’
	hardiness zones 5-9

Boysenberries, like marionberries, are hybrids of many different species. They’re a famous attraction of Knott’s Berry Farm, as that is where they originated! Walter Knott’s friend Rudolph Boysen combined the genetics of four Rubus species: raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and loganberries! The result is the delicious sweet-tart boysenberry we know and love today.

Boysenberries are another trailing hybrid, growing primocanes in spring that become floricanes after they overwinter. Only prune dead, damaged, or diseased wood now and remove spent floricanes after they produce fruit in summer or fall. 

Loganberry

	botanical name Rubus x loganobaccus
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 8-10’
	hardiness zones 6-9

Loganberries were incredibly popular in the early 1900s! Though they’re not as popular nowadays, they’re perfect for home cultivation. They’re another trailing hybrid cultivar, like boysenberries and marionberries. Long, red, sweet-tart fruits form off of long, rambling vines.

Like the previous two types, loganberry plants grow leafy primocanes in spring that become berry-producing floricanes the next year. Remove dead, diseased, or damaged vines this month, and prune off spent floricanes in August.

Raspberry

	botanical name Rubus spp.
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 6’
	hardiness zones 3-8

Like blackberries, raspberries need different pruning styles depending on how they grow. There are three main categories: red-summer-bearing, fall-bearing, and black-fruited. Prune red-summer-bearing types after they produce fruit in late summer, removing the spent floricanes. Prune them again in February to remove hurt, weak, or dead wood.

Fall-bearing raspberries grow late in the growing season as temperatures cool and nights lengthen. Depending on how you prune them, they may produce fruit once or twice a year. During this winter or early spring, cut off the floricanes’ tips that have already grown berries. Leave the live stems on the plant, and they’ll fruit in summer, while the new canes that emerge in spring will fruit in the fall. 

For a single crop in the fall, prune the entire fall-bearing shrub to the ground this month. This will encourage more primocanes to emerge that will grow berries in autumn. For black fruited raspberries, remove dead or weak wood during February. As new stems emerge, snip their tops off once they surpass three feet. This encourages more side branching and fruit production. 

Currant

	botanical name Ribes spp.
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 5-12’
	hardiness zones 2-8

Rather than canes, currants sprout off of woody shrubs that look incredibly ornamental in the garden. They bloom profusely in spring, producing clusters of white, pink, or red blossoms. From the blossoms form sweet-tart berries we call currants. Though gorgeous, currants transmit pine blister rust and are illegal to plant in certain states; consider growing blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries instead. 

Most currants fruit off of old wood. Some produce on year-old stems, while others fruit on three to four-year-old branches! Prune dead, weak, or damaged wood this season and leave old wood to form flowers and currants. Remove all but six of the new shoots—they’ll turn into fruiting wood in a few years. 

Gooseberry

	botanical name Ribes spp.
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 5’
	hardiness zones 3-8

Gooseberries are almost identical to currants! The main difference is that gooseberry stems have thorns or pricks, and currant ones are smooth. You can use this trick to help you identify gooseberries and currants in your local region.

Like currants, gooseberry shrubs prefer similar pruning and growing techniques. Remove weak wood in winter, and cut away any crisscrossing or crowded branches. For even fruit ripening, it’s best to maintain an open structure that lets air and moisture into the center.

Serviceberry

	botanical name Amelanchier spp.
	sun requirements Full sun to full shade
	height 15-25’
	hardiness zones 4-9

Serviceberries are underrated! They’re delicious, nutritious, and easy to grow at home. Serviceberry plants are small trees or large shrubs that are deciduous in nature. Many are native to North America and perform well in home gardens.

Serviceberries rarely need pruning for fruit production, though it’s good for shaping and structuring your specimen. You may train your serviceberry as a single-trunk tree or a multi-stem shrub. Cut any branches off in late winter before the buds break open, taking care not to remove more than a third of the plant.

Evergreen Huckleberry

	botanical name Vaccinium ovatum
	sun requirements Full sun to full shade
	height 2-8’
	hardiness zones 7-9

A Pacific Northwest native shrub, the evergreen huckleberry is perfect for West Coast gardeners! Its evergreen leaves turn shades of red in fall, offering gorgeous autumn colors. As winter delves into spring, buds on the stems open leaves and flowers. The flowers form delicious berries that work well in jams, pies, and desserts.

Evergreen huckleberries need minimal cuts this month. Remove weak or dead wood, and avoid cutting stems with buds. The buds signal that the stems are alive—they’ll have huckleberries growing in a few months!

Deciduous Huckleberry

	botanical name Gaylussacia spp., Vaccinium spp.
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 3-12’
	hardiness zones 2-8

Deciduous huckleberries lose their leaves in the winter, allowing them to survive in much colder zones than evergreen types. Whether you’re growing a Vaccinium or Gaylussacia species, huckleberries prefer cool, moist conditions to thrive. They naturally grow in forests throughout North and South America, while some Vaccinium species grow in Europe and Asia.