Hey y’all, I just got a couple Ponca blackberry plants from isons and I’m really excited about them! I also have one PAF and a PA45. I’m still new to growing non-tropical fruits but I already love hanging out with my blackberries! Anyone have any experience with these varieties in NC? I know Ponca is relatively new but it’s supposed to be a very good berry! As I understand it, Ponca is different from the prime arks in that it is not a primocane variety, so I can expect more fruit next year rather than this year?
Thanks everyone!
Best,
Andrew
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I live in Kentucky, and I have two Ponca’s that I planted about 3 years ago, I think. They have grown to be big bushy plants, but I’ve yet to get any fruit from them. It’s mostly because of late freezes that zapped the canes.
Yes, they are a floricane variety, so you might get fruit off them next year, if they put out some decent canes this year.
I’ve noticed that they tend to sucker (spread) quite a bit compared to my other blackberries. I also have Prime Ark Freedom and it’s a sucker machine.
Do they stand up pretty well for you? I have no trellising in place and I was hoping that would be okay since they are labeled as erect
I have several of the UArk varieties and Ponca seems to be pretty upright compared to the others.
Ponca is killed to the ground at zero degrees F. Caddo can go down to about -4F. Neither is cold hardy enough to be consistently productive here in southern Tennessee. I planted Chester, Von, Triple Crown, Kiowa, and Tayberry a couple of days ago. I also have a wild blackberry that matures very early.
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I had no idea southern Tennessee got so cold! We almost never get below 15 here in NC piedmont. Usually our yearly low is around 20 from what I understand as a newbie in this area. Only lived here a year
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I have PAF and they grow fast and tall. I would recommend heading it about 5 feet so it puts out lateral growth. Mine needed support as the fruit really weighed it down. Really tasty fruit and productive for only 2 years in ground
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Ive been trying to find caddo for the spring but its sold out everywhere. Might just wait til next winter and order earlier. Wondering if I can get cuttings from someone or something though lol
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Wow that’s amazing!! I’m hoping mine adjusts quickly. It definitely sprang to life more quickly than my 45 this year,
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Eastern NC here. I’m about a half a zone warmer than you, and I have loam as opposed to your clay, but otherwise our growing conditions are very similar.
I don’t have Ponka but I do have PAF, planted last year. The first year plants didn’t produce any fall berries for me, I suspect because they haven’t sized up enough. They’ve started leafing out and developing flower buds for me now. Of six, one had severe winter damage, but I don’t think the plants will have much trouble after that first winter. They were first year plants, which are always more vulnerable, and we had that nasty low twenties early hard frost last year which did a lot of damage to a lot of my otherwise cold hardy plants. The leafing out is earlier than almost any of my other rubus, earlier than tayberry, raspberries, Kiowa (just barely earlier, and Kiowa was partially evergreen while PAF wasn’t), and sweetie pie. The only one as early was mysore, but mysore was also killed to the ground so I don’t know how to judge it.
PAF is fairly upright but still needs a trellis. Being thornless, the deer really, really like it. My Kiowa, tayberry, and mysore raspberry are thorny monsters and the deer don’t touch em. PAF gets hammered.
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Huh! Fascinating about the deer! I’m in a fairly suburban spot so I don’t think I’ll be getting deer issues. Hopefully! Haha. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to get 45 honestly, I got one thorny and one thornless, just incase there were pest issues haha. My current plants are PAF, PA45, and Ponca. I’m also after horizon and caddo. I love blackberries so I want to try a few varieties. We got a couple nights that got down to 17 or 18, and I didn’t end up getting any damage luckily. Although PA45 never actually dropped its’ leaves, where PAF dropped all of them, interestingly enough. Do you tip prune to promote cane structure? Ive heard that can help the canes from not getting too long if you don’t have a trellis? I really don’t want to build a trellis lol, I’m trying to run this operation on a tight budget 
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If there’s a forest or even just a wooded line along a ditch nearby, you’re going to have deer. They’re basically giant plant eating rats, and they infest everywhere, suburbia included.
I use t posts and some wire for my trellises. Fairly cost effective, if less than beautiful. I can’t imagine growing them without any support, especially as they get bigger. Might be doable, but far from ideal.
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How high do you have the wire?
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Am growing PAF in Zone 10 and it’s similar to the pic. Something just ate my first crop of the season though. Either a raccoon or squirrels or rats. I have a plan to put in some mesh around the berries and strips of this “scat mat” on the wall near it:
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everywhere?
I just looked and Nourse and Indiana Berry has them. Even ebay and etsy has them.
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I’ve gotten all my blackberries from Indiana Berry, they allow you to buy a minimum of one, whereas Nourse makes you buy 5 min. All my IB blackberries have been really good plants with big roots. They sell Caddo and Ponca, among others.
Nourse is a good berry source too, I’ve bought strawberries off them, very happy with their plants.
A more hardy thornless blackberry would be Triple Crown. Very good flavor, and decent sized berries. But they are a trailing variety, so you definitely will need to trellis it.
Right! Just found out about Indiana berry! Awesome! Thanks!
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We have Ponca and Caddo in central NC. Now zone 8A
Both do very well here. Early, large, sweet and very productive.
Early enough to miss a lot of the SWD pressure.
We judge them to be better than the earlier floricane varieties from Arkansas
Our PYO customers seem to prefer Caddo over Ponca.
Don’t have any experience with the newer primocane varieties from Arkansas
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Great to hear from you! I’m trying out prime ark 45 and freedom in my yard right now. Same central NC piedmont. When you mention the earlier floricane varieties from Arkansas, are you referencing their series like Arapaho, Ouachita, Natchez, etc?
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Yes. Those and others including Osage with was highly promoted.
Triple Crown taste great but gets ripe late when SWD seems to hit hard.
Also seems to have some trouble with our heat and humidity.