Hi Jen, The blackberry branches will bend down and root themselves.

You could trench layer or serpentine layer. For trench layering you dig a trench and lay the branch done in it the cover it with soil. Leave a few of the leaves exposed. Cuttings will root too. Trenching will make more plants then rooting the tips but that works great too. Blackberries are perennial at the roots and biennial stems so you will get fruit the second year.

Might be best to start with virus indexed plants.

I noted there are shoots out from the mother plant...I guess I could just sever and plant them. Thanks for all the info. I'd like a rather large row of them.
Jen

I tried propagating by soaking a cutting in water until it rooted....but as soon as I planted it in the soil, it withered away...I am trying again, maybe letting the roots grow longer before I move them to the soil.

"I tried propagating by soaking a cutting in water until it rooted....but as soon as I planted it in the soil, it withered away...I am trying again, maybe letting the roots grow longer before I move them to the soil."

That is the opposite of what is most likely to work. Roots formed in water don't fare well when moved to soil. Rooting in water is most often the least effective way to root almost anything (except for very easy to root stuff like coleus or willows), BUT, if you must root in water, transplant the plants as soon as a few roots form. That way, the cutting doesn't waste all its energy on producing roots that won't be viable when transplanted. This is a very very common complaint with water-rooted cuttings, and has been covered ad nauseum in the propagation forum.

As I mentioned earlier, virus indexed plants are probably the way to go. When you propagate existing plants from plants you find growing around your house or in someone else's garden, it's much much more likely to be an inferior plant due to exposure to multiple viruses that infect the Rubus genus.

Jen, it would be helpful to know what kind of blackberries your uncle has planted. I presume that you mean thorn less when you say that they are tame. Do the canes take root when they touch the ground? If so, that is probably Triple Crown, an excellent blackberry. I grow Natchez, Apache, Triple Crown, Chester, and Prime Ark Freedom, which are all thorn less. If they are Triple Crown, wait until February to cut the cane from the Mother plant, dig up the shallow roots, and then transplant them quickly to your own garden in full sun. Pictured are some of my unripe Chester blackberries, taken back in July, 2014. They are all delicious!

Jen,....and do be aware that many thorn less blackberries are still under copyright protection. Happy gardening!
don3727 of Middle Tennessee.

Plants can be patented, but not copyrighted. Here's a list of all patented brambles (a separate raspberry list is linked at the top of the page) for your convience: List of Patented Brambles on www.patentgenius.com

Thanks Brandon, there is a least one new thorn less blackberry that is not on that list, that are sure to be patented, as well: and Prime Ark freedom. Have a great day!

Don, I'm fairly certain that ALL plants with US patents are on the PatentGenius list. If a plant does not appear on the list, it is either not patented, it is listed in another category than what you are looking at, or you are looking it up by something besides its real name.

I have seen a few times when a plant could be listed more than one way. An imaginary example would be a crab apple that could be listed under "Broadleaf tree" or under "Fruit (including ornamental variety)". I have seen actual examples like that, although I can't recall which ones they were. I have not seen any case of this that would apply to brambles.

In the case of 'Freedom', that plant has not yet been patented. It is currently in a patent-pending status. A patent-pending status has legal implications, but, since it's not an actual patent, it's not listed on PatentGenius.