PAF and 45’s are struggling with the drought here in Kansas. Some have all but burned up even with occasional watering. Kansas weather is giving the hardiest plants a run for their money this year. The berries are tasty. Time will tell If I can keep them alive.
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I have 5 PAF. They seem to be doing well inspite of getting them planted in late May due to the weird weather this year. I hope they do well for me here in zone 6b.
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I’m having trouble here to. Just don’t have so many that I can’t water them. It’s even hard getting enough water to a few…
Katy
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Wow, those are big. How do they taste, and how do you compare them to your other blackberries?
Is it too early for these to be primocane berries?
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PAF is my favorite for taste of all that I have tried. It is sweeter and appears to have smaller seeds. This is the first year that I have had several on the large side which is probably due to all the rain we have been getting. I like being able to have a few of these around to snack on as I go through the orchard. I must admit that their growing habits are so much different from my other varieties I find myself guessing as to how to best manage them. Several of the floricane flower are killed by cold snaps but a few remain. The primacane berries start during the hot season and tend to get sun damage if left uncovered. I cover the summer berries with screen mostly to prevent this type damage. As of now they are so good I will keep 6-10 plants and if I get better at managing them these numbers will increase. I must admit that their differences to other blackberries is a factor that I like. I also grow Natchez which has been more predictable to grow and I had a good crop of these for the small amount of plants.
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These are primocane.
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My PAF has started fruiting for the year. Tastes amazing!!! very sweet, almost seedless. No tart.
I do get a faint hint of bitter - anyone else taste any bitter flavor with your PAF?
If I am growing mine as primocane only i.e. mow down every December - should I still prune once it reaches 36"?
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I would. I’m going to keep going shorter until I can learn a manageable height. The more you tip the more laterals you get and the more laterals the more berries (since they bear on the tips). However the more you tip the more you delay fruiting so if you don’t have a long growing season you have to watch that aspect.
Katy
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Nice berries!!!
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I had to post this. Ate some more PAF today. Size is huge. So sweet. Best cane berry I ever ate! I couldn’t stop myself from eating them all. no more left 
I have to add more PAF for next year.
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Our very first harvested domesticated blackberry! It’s a Prime Ark Traveler, picked today. About quarter sized, and the flavor was juicy, tart, a little bit sweet, not really flavorful, and had some decent sized seeds in it. There are maybe a half dozen more berries on the plant still ripening, so they might be a bit better.
While not a show-stopper, it still tasted better than our very sour, almost never sweet, small wild blackberries.
I’m somewhat disappointed that my PA Freedom plant with its very long canes hasn’t given me any primocane fruit this year. But next year should be an awesome harvest of it and all the other varieties we’re growing.
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I cut my canes every other year to four feet tall. This system just works for me don’t know why. At three to four feet they sprout many canes. They flower but do not put out as many berries as the following year when I just leave them a lone. From five Oachita bushes I get 8 quarts of berries. Most are in the shade. If they were in full sun I’m sure there would be twice as many. The jam is right up there with black currant, but it is ‘silky’. D
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Yeah, I imagine if I had trellised these big canes, and then tipped them at say, 4-6ft, they would have sent out fruiting laterals this season.
They’ve got so long on the ground, they’re sending out laterals vertically, but no fruit buds on them yet.
PAF is the best berry I grow. I will be adding more next year and removing some raspberries. This year I’m having a lot of trouble with my rasps rotting. They are a mess right now. I’ll keep Caroline and maybe Anne but autumn Bliss, fall gold, double gold, and Heritage will like get the boot.
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when you cut the autumn bliss and fall gold id take a couple handfulls of fresh cuttings from you if you don’t mind. want both those varieties and have a 2 acre field to fill up.
I can but how do I do that? Would you just want the tips? Leaf on? I’m not familiar with sending cutting.
Speedster1
You would want to send him some roots, of those,dug when dormant.
Don’t think they will start from cuttings
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they will, but roots would be even better. to make cuttings you cut off just below a bud at a angle then go 2 more buds up and cut about a inch above top bud. this way you know the long tip is up. usually from 6 -12in. long ea. i do it in early spring when they’re dormant. i stick them in moist coir and probably 90-95% root. many plants will root easy like that. I’ve taken currant and elderberry cuttings. stuck them in the ground in the garden and most times they will root with no care.
I was outside today, enjoying the very nice weather and cleaned up most of my Triple Crown plants. They were almost swallowed up by the grass growing around them. Some of the canes have gotten very long, some over 6 ft. Some had even started to tip root! So, I’m going to get them trellised and up off the ground. I didn’t get them all done, but should tomorrow, if it doesn’t rain.
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