Blackberry varities

[toddrod]

Just wondering what other forum members are growing. I will be adding a row of blackberries this year and plan on going with Shawnee, Kiowa, Cheyenne and Chickasaw.

 

[Sacalait]

I currently have brazos, kiowa, triple crown, and rosboreaugh. Kiowa is by far the largest and most flavorful. The only draw back is that they lag the other varieties by about 2 weeks.

 

[toddrod]

How does Triple Crown perform for you? I am seeing references online for up to 30 lbs of fruit per plant.

I am now thinking about going with Chickasaw / Kiowa / Ouchita and maybe Triple crown.

 

[Sacalait]

Triple crown is by far the worse one of the bunch. It performs well up around Georgia but I think our heat and humidity are too much for it. I also have the chickasaw and it's just an OK variety for me. However a friend in Laf. has a u-pick-um of chickasaw and kiowa and they perform really well for him.

 

[toddrod]

Laf = Lafeyette or Lafourche??

 

[Sacalait]

Lafayette = Laf.

 

[toddrod]

Where did you get your plants from? It seems that all my local nurseries are carrying just Brazos / Arapaho / Navaho. I really would like to get the varities I listed in 1 gal pots but I will order online and get the barerooted plants if I have too.

 

[n2tazmania]

I ordered my from Ison's. Haven't gotten them yet so can't speak as to how good they are. The website is www.isons.com

 

[toddrod]

That is where all my muscadines come from. Are the blackberry plants from there plants or root cuttings?

 

[Sacalait]

I got mine from the friend in Laf. as a gift... he doesn't sell them. He got his from Roy Young Nursery in Abbeville some years ago. They usually have a fairly good selection and a lot of their plants come from Ison's.

 

[n2tazmania]

That is where all my muscadines come from. Are the blackberry plants from there plants or root cuttings?

Don't know. I haven't gotten them yet. I hope they are plants.

 

[montveil]

Indiana berry Farm WWWndianaberry.com

Mostly bare root BUT large root systems and strong stock

 

[sly22guy]

Anyone growing any of these varieties in Pa or surrounding areas? I was also considering getting some in the spring. I have some wild ones on a bank that i want to landscape in the spring so i guess i could just replant them. But hybrids with no thorns sounds much better!

 

[Runningwolf]

Sly I know this is of little help to you but i did get a few thorn-less blackberries a couple of years ago and they took off like crazy. BUT, sorry I don't have a name, I bought them at a local nursery. The berries were very large and tasty but I don't have enough for anything more then jelly.

 

[sly22guy]

Helps some. How many plants do you have? in your opinion if you were to buy more how many would you need to make say a 5-6 gallon batch say 6lbs per gallon

 

[Runningwolf]

Gosh the canes got about 6 ft long and fell over. They were in a raised bed with my garlic. Nice mix huh? New shoots are starting to come up. I have about four mature plants. There were probably four that didn't make it. I am not sure how much you need to plant but I would put in extra for the one's that don't make it. All I know is fresh blackberries are d*mned expensive anymore. If you have the room it doesn't take a rocket scientist to grow them.

 

[sly22guy]

Yeah i have an extra row about 40 foot long. Its in between 2 of my grape rows but there is about 6-8 in between each row. I guess i will just order some roots in the spring and plant a bunch up there. Maybe even throw in some posts and wires to hold them up. Guess ill keep the wild ones until the new ones start to produce. I can always wait another year to landscape the one bank.

Also do you prune back your blackberries to the ground each fall or just let them go?

 

[toddrod]

Don't know. I haven't gotten them yet. I hope they are plants.

Did you get them? What type of plant are they? Bare rooted, potted?

 

[n2tazmania]

They were bare root. I was satisfied with everything I got from Isoms. All the vines had a good root stock. All they need now is time.....

 

[e-wine]

Sly,

I have some wild blackberries growing around some trees at the back of our property. Two years ago, after all the blackberries were off, I mowed them down with a rotary mower. I was trying to clean up the area. Last year, I got tired of picking blackberries. I made some wine and it came out pretty good so I thought about getting some plants. While reading on line, I saw were blackberries canes last for two seasons. The first year, the canes are referred to as primocanes and do not product berries. The second year, they are production canes which are referred to as floricanes. It turns out the article recommended you cut the canes after fruit bearing to make room for primocane growth during the second half of the spring/summer so basically, I unwittingly did what was recommended. Unfortunately, I did not read the article until late fall so I did not follow the recommendations last year. I plan to relocate some of the root stock since the vines did well in my area and produced good wine. They produced well in the wild so I hope they will do better with care (which has not been my experience with plants). I hope that helps and if anyone else has information, please let me know.

e-wine