Thanks Drew,
Do you have any results from wilt stop but NOT burlap. Or burlap but not wilt stop?
Thanks.
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The burlap was thinly layered open in spots. I doubt it did anything.
And yes I do. I have peach and plum trees and at -16 all the fruits buds should have been dead. The year before they died at -12. Last year I sprayed the fruit buds with wilt stop. No burlap, and 1/3 of the buds survived and I had peaches even though the winter was colder than the year before where I had no fruit.
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Thanks again.
The previous 2 winters here were both abnormally brutal. Cold (-20F), and snow covered all winter. Normal winters for us are snow melts in a couple of days. The winters were very comparable. The most obvious difference was that the extreme temperatures were later in to the season this winter. Spring 2014, zero blossoms on cherries or plums. Same for the entire area. Spring 2015 plum was covered in blossoms, cherry had about half the buds attempt to expand but not open. About 1/2 the normal number of blossoms opened. We had no threats from spring frost. For both winters, I buried the pots in leaves and left them outdoors. So for me, my plants under the same prep for both seasons fared better winter 2014-2015. Not really sure why.
Interesting, so yeah it could be conditions and not the wilt stop, all the same, itās worth doing for me. 16 dollars to protect hundreds of dollars worth of plants. Itās cheap insurance, even if it provides little protection, itās not a huge investment. Pinene is the active ingredient Same as Nu Film 17 sticker, although a different emulsification process for each product. One is milky, one is clear. Still pinene makes an excellent sticker. I can see how it could easily seal in moisture, great idea to come up with this product. I know 2 years ago we have more days below zero, so that might have made the difference. Even though it was not as cold, more days of cold weather. All the same MSU states peach buds die at -10, and it was -16. They should have all died. I got about 40 peaches this year, it was great!
Before you try Apache, take a look at the white drupe and partial pollination problem @Auburn and I discussed in this post a few months ago. The white drupe problem might not affect you because of your different climate, but that cultivar is particularly susceptible. Team Rubus: White Drupelets in caneberries 2015
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I finished covering up my trailing blackberries today with the 4-mil plastic sheeting. Iāll let you know how that works over the winter. My area has freakishly warm weather todayā¦itās actually warmer outside my house than in it at 71F!
If anyone has any tips on managing voles during the winter, let me know. They are as damaging as the cold is for me.
Feral cats
Coyotes donāt allow those in my area.
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I have not had a problem myself. You could try molemax which repels a lot of creatures voles, moles etc. it contains caster oil, they get it on their fur, lick it off, get diarrhea, then avoid the stuff after that. It doesnāt kill them. Otherwise rat poison, mouse traps with non-meat products, not sure they eat cheese? Theyāre vegetarians, but maybe not vegans 
,
Thanks for the reminder. I think Iāll try them anyway to see what happens. I have heard reports that they do well around here, and can be among the sweetest Eastern Blackberries.
Iāll probably try wilt stop next winter, thank for the tip. I donāt know that have the guts to just leave my plants out. But I usually have something Iām going to purge. If I have two similar plants to purge, Iāll leave one out with and one without wilt stop. Weāll see.
When do you apply wilt stop?
It is supposed to last three months, so December, around now. I have waited this year, itās been so nice. It has to be above freezing and a sunny day to apply. It needs to dry. Iām going to do mine Tuesday, looks like a good day here.
Some say you can use it to seal grafts too, but I would stick with traditional methods.
They do taste sweeter to me. The larger seeds bother some people but I pay very little attention to them. To me the white drupelets are the major issue with this variety.
Iāve been missing the party here - I donāt know why I didnāt see this thread.
I want to add to @jtburtonās good comments on Osage. It fruited for me last summer and is an excellent blackberry. Its also completely hardy for me through two bad winters (down to 0F). It is black in color but doesnāt have that deep āblackā flavor of the real black ones such as Marion.
The other new one I really like is Orus 2711-1. Its a Chad Finn recent one, I had to sign a non-propagation to get it and had to get a bunch of plants. It is similar to Osage but with more āblackā in the flavor. The berries are larger. It is also 100% hardy, its 3/4 eastern and 1/4 western berry. This one right now is too hard to get probably but if it gets released I would dive in. If you want to dive in early, I got them from Lassen Canyon Nursery.
Newberry has been surprisingly hardy for a western variety - not as good as the two above but most of the canes survived unprotected for me. It hasnāt been consistent on flavor, last year it was lots of raspberry and this year it was more blackberry-like. But both were very tasty. It has been sizing up very well.
Columbia Star is Chadās hot new berry, but its not so hot to me. Yes its good, but its not nearly as hardy or flavorful and comes out small for me. The western types vary a lot in how they respond to our summer heat, and this one seems to produce small fruit. But its only fruited one year, it needs a couple more. It has been doing well on the hardiness front though, its much better than most of the western ones.
Columbia Star was too tart here this yr. Berry size and production OK. Very vigorous. It gets another yr but no more if it doesnāt improve.
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This one will probably be released from what i have heard. Yes Columbia Star was not impressive for me either. One really nice feature is the very flexible thornless canes. I like that a lot. I broke off a Lochness cane moving it. I also need something hardier than 0 degrees.
My wife on the other hand likes them all, she is the one who mostly consumes them.
Iām exploring more hardier types like Darrow. The specimen I got though was pathetic and I need yet another year to get it to decent size.
To me as mentioned Marion and Tayberry are what i like. Both not very hardy.
Unlike a lot of you I have a hard time getting rid of these plants. i know I should to experiment more. I really could use the room! I just canāt get myself to kill any. None are like super bad, and for me the tart ones just need to sit on the vine longer. Heck even Chester is sweet if you let it hang till itās ready to fall apart. It is surprisingly good like that.
I also have a number of volunteer hybrids Iām growing out.
Columbia Star didnāt fare well over the winter, so I didnāt have many to try. The plants grew OK this year but they were not the most vigorous trailing blackberry. I have a Tayberry covered for the winter and hopefully it will produce some tasty berries next year. I also have a Wild Treasure hybrid that grew well last year and it covered up for the winter.
Of all the Western Trailing blackberries I have tried the best overall have been Marion and Newberry. Marion for flavor and durability and Newberry for production and cold hardiness. I had more berries from a single Newberry plant last year than probably all of the other Western trailing plants combined.
Honorable Mentions:
-Siskiyou is only second to Marionberry for flavor but the canes grow too big and do not bend well so I lose a lot of them to broken canes. Very thorny too. I really wanted this one to work but if has been quite a challenge.
-Kotata has been the most cold hardy for me but the canes are super thorny and the berries only taste OK.
-Boysen tastes great but the berry flavor is highly variable and this variety seems to have the most problems with cane borers and fungal infections.
-Wild Treasure produces a good tasting berry and is easier to manage because it is thornless and a smaller plant. Iām moving these to pots to manage because they have not fared as well in the ground. In pots, they have produced quite well. They do seem to be a bit more sensitive to hot temperatures.
Losers:
- Black Diamond has only produced once in 3 years and grows like a dwarf plant, at least mine does. I thought it was dead last year but came back to life, so I kept it around one more year to give it a try.
- Obsidian never grew correctly and died after voles at them over the winter.
- Loganberry hangs on but the fruit never was impressive and the plant barely productive.
- Silvan was OK flavor but the berry was very soft and the plant very thorny.
- Thornless Boysen didnāt taste well and was discarded.
Iād still like to try a few new varieties but I too am running short on room.
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I tried Ouachita last year and it looked good and was firm but did not taste good. Would be good for cobblers. I have picked Kiowa blackberry at a blackberry farm. They were pretty good, very large with large seeds and very thorny.
I have or will plant Marion, Boysenberry, siskiyou, tayberry, youngberry and sweetie pie blackberry. Sweetie pie is a new thornless that is suppose to be sweet but not very firm.
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