My Arapaho thornless blackberry plants are 5 years old and have done well here in Reno zone 7B. This year, we had a freeze down to 26F for a few days in mid May, which killed all of the blossoms/buds at that time, but the plants put on new blossoms after that. They are alive, but have abnormal numbers of petals (see photos). I’m wondering if this is due to a disease, a result of the freeze, or a normal variant. I’ve never noticed this before on any of my blackberries. The canes and leaves all look normal. The blossoms are being pollinated and starting to fruit as well. Is this something I should worry about?
Thanks for any help!
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Time will tell.
Could be a sport branch.
Keep branch & propagate if you can.
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Tip root that 1!
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I’ll see if I can tip root it! I’ll see if it continues to do this in the future! Thanks for the reassurance!
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How did it turn out? I’ve had my sweet baby cakes blackberry “bush” for a little over a year. They fruited a bit the first summer and have had 2 rounds of flowers with no fruit. This summer no fruit yet either, but have had flowers for 2 months now. The latest cane has lots of flowers all “abnormal” like yours and even crazier looking some with multiple green parts. A couple of months ago I noticed a lot of tiny millipede like worms around the roots and think maybe it’s related.
Zone 9a/9b/10a
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Hum.
I honestly don’t know.
This definitely deserves some research.
Welcome to our group & thanks for sharing.
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