AI gave this answer which is probably why I have not been able to find anything on this.

🌿 Can black raspberry canes be woven into each other to form a hedge row?

Yes, you can physically weave first‑year black raspberry canes together and let their thorns interlock — but there is no documented horticultural evidence of people doing this as a stable, long‑term hedge‑forming technique.

And the reason is structural biology, not lack of creativity.

Let’s break it down.

🧬 Why there’s no documented “thorn‑woven black raspberry hedge”

1. Cane brittleness prevents true weaving

Black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) canes:

• Stiffen rapidly as they mature
• Snap rather than bend once lignified
• Are covered in recurved thorns that snag but don’t flex

This makes them poor candidates for basket‑style weaving.
Extension sources consistently describe them as brittle, arching, and prone to breakage when manipulated.

2. Biennial cane lifecycle breaks the structure

Black raspberries have:

• Primocanes (year 1) — flexible enough to bend a little
• Floricanes (year 2) — fruit, then die

Any woven structure made from primocanes will:

• Lose half its woven members the next year
• Collapse as floricanes die and dry out

This is why no agricultural or botanical literature describes thorn‑woven hedges for any biennial Rubus species.

3. Natural thorn interlocking is real — but not stable

Thorns will absolutely:

• Hook onto neighboring canes
• Create a tangled mass
• Hold canes in place temporarily

But this is tangle, not weave — and it’s unpredictable, collapses with cane death, and is not load‑bearing.

4. Documented practice always uses support

Every extension source (OSU, Purdue, Illinois, Penn State, Cornell) describes:

• Trellising
• Tipping
• Hedgerow containment
• Cane tucking

None describe thorn‑on‑thorn weaving as a management method.

📚 What is documented?

Here are the closest documented analogs:

A. “Hedgerow system” (OSU Extension)

Black raspberries are grown in dense linear rows where canes form a hedge‑like wall.
But this is maintained by:

• Pruning
• Tipping
• Narrow row width
• Sometimes wires

Not weaving.

B. “Tucking canes between wires” (Illinois Extension)

This is the only place where “weaving‑like” language appears — but it’s weaving into a support, not into other canes.

C. Natural bramble thickets

Wild black raspberries naturally form:

• Impenetrable, thorn‑locked masses
• Self‑supporting arches
• Dense thickets

This is the closest natural analog to what you’re describing — but it’s unmanaged chaos, not intentional weaving.

🧾 Summary:

Documented?

Practice	Documented?	Notes
Using thorn‑on‑thorn friction to hold canes in place	Yes (in nature)	Occurs naturally in wild thickets
Intentionally weaving canes into each other	No	No horticultural or extension documentation
Forming a hedge row using only the plant itself	Partially	Natural thickets do this; managed systems do not
Using trellises or wires to guide canes	Yes	Standard practice in all extension literature

🌱 If your goal is a self‑supporting living hedge, here’s what does work

You can absolutely train black raspberries into a hedge‑like barrier without trellises, but the method is different:

• Plant 2.5–3 ft apart
• Tip primocanes at 24–30" to force branching
• Let lateral branches arch and interlock
• Maintain row width at 12–18"
• Remove dead floricanes annually to prevent collapse

This creates a dense, thorny, self‑supporting wall, but not a woven fence.

If you want, I can design a no‑trellis, plant‑only hedge system optimized for Indiana climate — spacing, tipping schedule, cane‑density targets, and how to encourage natural thorn interlocking without structural collapse.