I’ll be pulling this one up once I finish harvesting the remaining berries. Production, flavor, size, and early ripening have been outstanding on Prime Ark Freedom. Osage have a great flavor and are similar in size to Ouachita, which I will also keep. Prime Ark Freedom, Osage, and Quachita cover ripening time from May to Late June here this year. Natchez seemed to overlap slightly Prime Ark Freedom at the end and Osage/Quachita ripening. Natchez has consistently been a tiny berry. The flavor is fine, but size makes it a no go. I’ll probably put in a few more figs in its place since the other bushes are producing plenty.
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That is strange! When I grew Natchez it was by far the biggest blackberries I ever saw. About the size of my thumb, yeah that long too!
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Looks nothing like Natchez. Doesn’t matter, it’s not working for you. My guess though it is something else. Here is mine on the cutting board. Well when i had it. I removed it. I didn’t like the flavor.
With Chandler blueberries
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Very odd. With that said, folks take my review with a grain of salt. My two Natchez came from a nursery called Bob Wells out in Lindale, Texas and I know for sure I didn’t mix tags. Appreciate the feedback. Those blueberries look great!
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Ah…Bob Wells…jmo, they seem to have a higher than normal mix up rate
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Natchez is known for it’s large berries. Your plants could have a virus, and that is why you have stunted growth. Or it’s a mix up. Yes get rid of them!
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That’s a shame considering how much stuff they have.
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My Osage looked like that last year, but look better this year. I attributed it to poor pollination since a lot of flowers didn’t set. Natchez is large in my yard like @Drew51
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I think from what I’ve read, other than PAF, Natchez is supposed to be the biggest thornless blackberry there is from UArk. Their biggest BB is Kiowa, but it’s thorny. Judging by the size, maybe you actually got a Navaho? Or like Andrew said, maybe it was poor pollination. If so, maybe give it another year.
I have a few dark purple PA Traveler, sure is tempting to try one, but need to wait. They are large berries, about half the size of my thumb. A lot of my Osage and Ouachita are darkish pink now, so still a few weeks to go.
No flowering yet on my PAF primocanes, have you harvested any off of you primo’s yet?
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The wait for the berries to start ripening is tough! That’s for sure. Natchez received Texas Superstar plant status. Very disappointing to find out I had the wrong variety, but luckily with blackberries, it’s a quick process finding out. Primocane Prime Ark Freedom berries are still green. I might be out of town when they eventually ripen unfortunately.
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I couldn’t help myself, there were a couple Traveler berries that looked pretty close to ripe, they came off pretty easily.
I tried one and gave the other to my wife, I thought it was a bit tart and not too sweet, but not sour; my wife thought it was pretty good. She’s used to the small, sour wild ones we have, I have never liked them, but these were better, even though they might’ve been picked a bit early.
They have a good size to them. I’ll wait a while before I pick any more. Here’s a pic of our first ever domesticated floricane blackberries:
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