Blackberry

I've just got round to pruning out the old fruiting canes of my resident thug, the very definitely not thornless, blackberry.

It's roots are at one end of a, say, 12ft length of stock fence.  In previous years, at this time of year, the trailing canes can reach, say, 9ft along the fence and will continue growing enough to be trained to the end, round the post and back again.  This year I have planted a Tayberry towards the opposite end of the stock fence, with the intention of curtailing the thug a bit to enable the Tayberry to have some room on the stock fence.

I would welcome your thoughts of what the  thug might do if I chop off its wandering canes at the end around the 6ft mark.  Will the amputation, cause the ends to sprout and bush, or will it increase the fruiting spurs, or will the thug take exception and sulk , not fruiting at all?

When I see brambles that have been cut back, I don't think I have ever seen them sprouting and bushing out, they seem to stop growing and just stay there. May be produce new shoots from the base but not mush experience otherwise, except with them as weeds.

The thug blackberry is rampant (again) the fruit is plentiful but very sour unless picked when quite mushy and ripe, not something you'd scrump because you end up covered in blackberry juice stains. The fruit is very seedy, so much so that P prefers the blackberries be turned into a smooth sieved couli - he might not be so fussy if he had to process and sieve the stuff himself. I'm thinking of replacing thug with a friendlier, sweeter variety, so I'm researching blackberry varieties . Some say the thornless ones don't have as good a flavour as the prickly ones. Anyone got any advice?

I grew a Thornless one years ago - it was awful. Never formed a proper blackberry - just a mass of little bobbles and bristles - never ripened.
However, I've just bought a YS one from Morries so ask me again in a couple of years.
Have you tried cooking the blackberries and straining them through a jelly bag afterwards. Or tell P to take his teeth out when eating them so the pips can't get stuck anywhere. (Sorry P. Sometimes I can't help myself)

I grew a Thornless one years ago - it was awful. Never formed a proper blackberry - just a mass of little bobbles and bristles - never ripened.
However, I've just bought a YS one from Morries so ask me again in a couple of years.
Have you tried cooking the blackberries and straining them through a jelly bag afterwards. Or tell P to take his teeth out when eating them so the pips can't get stuck anywhere. (Sorry P. Sometimes I can't help myself)

I like it. I will relay your message to P. I may not be able to relay back his reaction

I do cook the blackberries with sugar then sieve them, pushing the pulp through the mesh. I think it's  my desire to get every last bit of mush through the sieve that takes the timeand effort.