On faith, I ordered an unknown variety of Marionberry from Gurneys. Gurneys sent me a very small dry thornless twig. They have it described as hardy to Zone 4. What magic variety would this be?
I’m usually more realistic, but I would like to try growing this in Nebraska. Has anyone successfully grown this in a cold climate? We get down to the mid-teens below zero here. Is there a crazy way to grow this in a pot or earthbox and move it indoors to a garage or sunroom for the most brutal days of winter. Marionberries sound so appealing here on the forum.
I never tried. I do grow it in a fabric container I store in an attached garage that stays above 25F. I had problems with it still dyeing back some, and losing canes. The real Marionberry is not very hardy. It also is very thorny. New Berry seems to do better, and I may try it in the ground.
I found I can grow in ground Boysenberry, Wyeberry, and Tayberry with some winter protection. Leaves, or straw, burlap, and/or Wilt Stop etc. Sometimes our winters are mild. If severe, I can lose most, but usually the crowns survived. The last 2 years everything survived and fruited. Once firmly established they tend to do better. Getting them through that first winter is tough.
I grew Marionberry and several others in pots. That’s going to do way better than outdoors in your area. The yield is really pretty darn good for small pots.
These are all in pots about 3 gallon. That works with frequent watering.
I don’t get a good yield because of dieback, but this method works well. I copied Steve’s loop style and it works well. Mine are not as neat! I grow New Berry like this and yield is good.
I just picked some Tayberries this morning, ripe here now. I love these berries. This berry is a raspberry-blackberry hybrid, and tastes like neither. They look a brighter red than they are. Wyeberries, boysenberries and tayberries are hard to tell apart, same color when ripe. Tayberries taste nothing like boysenberries. Tay ripen first then wye, then boysen. Wyeberries are the largest and taste like Boysen.
Gurney’s is not the most reliable source. There are two things of concern about what you got, one is it is thornless and I have not ever heard of thornless Marion (Marion is actually just a single variety, it is not a species; it is a blackberry-raspberry hybrid). The other is Marion is not hardy to zone 4. In fact most blackberries are not hardy to zone 4; my guess is that is just a typo. Who knows why it is thornless, it could be they are selling one of the thornless blackberry-raspberry hybrids under the name Marion.
@fruitnut,
Hopefully you rub off some more on us because your bushes look incredible! I’m not ready to take care of any more potted trees because it can be a lot of work at times. I’ve learned from looking at your pictures there is a lot of reasons to grow everything like that! Excellent! You have an Oasis in a at times unfriendly place.
Does anyone have any updates on growing Marionberries in cold regions? I’m in southeast MA zone 6b (average minimum winter temp -5 to 0 F) and I’d like to try growing them but only if they could survive with a low tech solution like taking the canes off the trellis and covering them with straw.
I’m also a little worried how they would handle our heat. In recent years we’ve gotten a little less than 15 days a year where the temps are above 90 F, and last year we had one day where we hit 100 F. Is Marionberry able to handle that?
And if those temperature extremes are too much for Marionberry, what’s a good substitute that can handle them? I’ve read that Columbia Star has Marionberry in it its lineage and it seems to have better temperature tolerance, but I’ve seen negative reviews of it regarding the flavor.
they won’t die from a few days of 100F
it hits 110F in Texas and my marionberries have survived. (I’m not saying it’s perfect for them but they have survived)
Cold will be the problem most likely. You may want to consider Siskiyou, which is more cold hardy and is well known for good flavor. @krismoriah has had them in WV and I think they’re surviving and producing for him.
Unprotected below -5 they die completely to the ground for me. One year the low was -3 and they died back about 30%. There are other factors that could had made them colder, but I only recorded the outside air temp.
keep in mind even if a nursery says it’s siskiyou it might not be… i learned that the hard way
if you happen to catch one of @krismoriah ‘s sales though you can know you’re getting the real thing
I have propagated it alot… there must be at least a dozen or members on here with them.
I plan on this weekend since it is going to be a break in the weather to do an accounting of things and like i said earlier i will offer some things in a thread of its own.
