I have Prime Ark 45 (thorny) and it has thicker skin and also seems a bit more resistant to SWD.
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Hello! I am new to the forum but am an avid berry grower. I live in Utah and currently have over 20 varieties and have had at least 10-15 others that I have tested and didnāt make the cut here. I was looking into new varieties last night and came across this thread and was intrigued. Sounds like there are a lot of berry nuts like me out there. 
I am very interested in the yellow cap and white blackberry you mention. I used to have a white blackberry but it didnāt make the move to Utah initially but I have a new area that is protected and would love to try again. I would also love to see if anyone on this group has access to the new Columbia giant. I grow Kiowa just for fun because of the ridiculous berry size but this one looks like it could challenge it and thornless as well!! My kiowas average 22g+ with occasional monsters in the 30ās. My kids have to eat them in multiple bites!! Anyway, I am so glad to find this group and look forward to hearing back.
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Hi! I came across this forum last night while looking for new varieties to grow. Iām a berry nut. How did the plastic sheeting work for protection? I grow several varieties that struggle without winter protection here in Utah and I am always looking for better ways to protect them. I wrapped my tayberries in burlap last year and have a ridiculous crop for the first time. I usually had about 90% die back and this year I had almost none!!! I see you have extensive experience with some varieties that I have yet to try. I would love a few suggestions. I have grown over 30 varieties over the years and many donāt make the cut.
The plastic sheeting did not work that well for cold protection and likely caused the trailing blackberries to come out of dormancy too soon, despite a warm winter last season. I had better luck with Argibon-50 row covers which probably regulated the temperature fluctuations better. This has been the toughest year to get motivated to prepare the berry patch for the season because of the constant obstacles that keep occurring, so Iām a bit down on the trailing blackberries. At this point, if I had to pick one variety to keep, I would go with Newberry. Itās probably the most cold hardy, produces well, and has a good flavor. If you pick two, the I would add Marion, which still has the best flavor of any blackberry. Thorny Boysen would be third and then the rest after that one. Iām trying to reduce this type of blackberry and replace them with eastern varieties that are easier to manage. If there is a specific variety that you want more info on, just let me know.
Sorry I took so long to respond. I had only phone access for a few days and I hate replying without a real keyboard! Well I have 2 kinds of white blackberry, and they taste pretty good too, but they are smaller than raspberries. Iām not impressed. My yellow cap is turning out to be more like a brown cap! Also the seeds are huge! All of these to me are only good for processing not fresh eating. Also a good chance the white blackberries are virus infected, hence the small size. I may rip them out. I would not want to spread the virus. [quote=ājtburton, post:124, topic:1582ā]
At this point, if I had to pick one variety to keep, I would go with Newberry. Itās probably the most cold hardy, produces well, and has a good flavor. If you pick two, the I would add Marion, which still has the best flavor of any blackberry. Thorny Boysen would be third and then the rest after that one. Iām trying to reduce this type of blackberry and replace them with eastern varieties that are easier to manage
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I agree JT, I would add wyeberry right there with boysen, maybe slightly ahead of it as the berries are bigger. They taste almost alike. I had one today a wyeberry perfectly ripe, the birds stole a bunch too. Iām going to put netting on today. Anyway the berry was fantastic. This year the berries are super good for me. Some years the flavor is not always there? Not sure why? This year they are all excellent.
The difference between boysen and wyeberry is small. Boysen tend to have green foliage near the berry, and wyeberry has brown. Not the leaves but the remnants I guess of the flower. Also wyeberry seems to have red canes and boysen green or greener.
I was a little bummed as I had two giant canes of wyeberries, both were hit with cane borers. They seem to like wyeberries! One died, the other is producing like crazy. Wish I had both! It has a few smaller canes too. Itās a keeper for me! The flavor is outstanding.
Oh I also tried a fully ripe Newberry and yes the raspberry taste is gone I could taste in an under ripe berry. This was rather disappointing. Tayberries are back on top of Newberries for me. But like Marion, they are not very cold hardy and a pain to keep alive. Try the wilt stop! It works!
Update:
Today a few Columbia Star blackberries were ripe. OK, well they are slightly tart, and have good flavor I think. Not as bad as last year for me. They just avoided the axe! Thornless too! I like that the canes are extremely flexible and easy to manipulate. I decided Iām keeping this one.
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My trailing blackberries are about finished. I may do some more culling later in the year. Never got to try Tayberry this year, so will have to wait until next year. I am going to treat the trailing blackberries with a drench for killing cane borers, so maybe they will fair better next year. Osage, Prime Ark45, and Oauchita are about 50% done but Triple Crown is just now ripening.
I am in Utah so my season is a bit different but I wanted to chime in. I got my best harvest ever of Tayberries and they are winding down now. I got about 30# this year which is great. My PAF are just finishing up as well as Niwot (I was also not impressed by flavor either spring or fall harvest and I donāt think this variety will make the cut), Double Gold and Crimson Night. Natchez are reaching peak right now and iāll have a couple weeks of those. Osage and Ouachita and Kiowa are all just getting started for me and Kiowa, as usual, is just absolutely loaded with HUGE berries. My average last year was 22g with quite a few whoppers over 30g.
This is my first year w Glencoe and I wasnāt too impressed but I did like the flavor more than Royalty but it is not nearly as productive. Caroline and Anne are all wrapped up for the summer with 5ā canes already for this fall. Taylor is in full production with several gallons to date.
I should be getting the first of the Triple Crowns next week w peak season in 2 weeks. I have more of these than any other blackberry and this is their first year at maturity so I anticipate about 10-15 gallons from my 10 plants this year as they are just LOADED. Side note, I am a chocolate maker and a fully ripe TC dipped in chocolate is unbeatable!!
I got a couple good recommendations on new varieties to add from JT and Drew so Iām looking forward to that. Iāll definitely try Marion but it just didnāt do well over wintering but I have hundreds of burlap sacks and Iāll try wrapping them and see what happens. Newberry is another Iām looking forward to trying.
Anyone have access to Crimson Giant? I love growing some for the wow factor and that one looks like a lot of fun!!
Ev,
If you had to pick just 3 blackberry varieties to grow right now, which would you choose to provide successive ripening?
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For me, here in Utah, I would choose Prime Ark Freedom followed by Osage and then Triple Crown to finish. I have tried many berries but here in Utah, those give me the most consistent crop with the least winter kill. I also prefer the flavor of these over many others. I do not have a lot of experience with trailing blackberries so I canāt speak to that. The only trailing I currently grow is tayberry and this is a good 10 days earlier than PAF.
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Thanks Eric for the report!
Iām changing my mind on this now that boysenberries are ripening here. Wyeberries are clearly superior in size and taste, a rare thing where the bigger fruit is better!
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Which do you think is better? Wyeberry or Tayberry? Is one hardier than the other?
Itās a close call, Wyeberry is hardier. Still here without protection both would die to the crown. Or could, so best protect them. Wyeberries have more of a blackberry taste, a lot like boysenberries. One fault they have is big seeds. Wyeberries should pick up when the tayberies end. The plants have good vigor, although not super productive. Local conditions may influence results too. The low production is ok for a backyard grower. I donāt need hundreds of them. One nice feature is once they start to ripen, they ripen fairly fast. I have been having to handle Columbia Star over and over to see if ripe yet. They are black forever before ripe! Wyeberries go red to dull dark red, exactly like boysenberries. Everything is small this year for me, I mean everything! Here are a couple that need another week to ripen. Usually they are bigger.
I have had good luck with apache and darrow. Tried tripple crown but they werenāt very good for me here, not very productive and not as tasty as the others. Last year I planted Navajo and removed everything else, and ime not disappointed. Very productive and very sweet, a great berry for me here.
I only managed one Wyeberry berry this year but it was from a starter plant. I have 4 canes now with about 4-6ft on each. The plants seems reasonably healthy, so hopefully I get more next year. The wyeberry I tasted was very similar to my Loganberry but that may be simply a problem of ripening. When boysen ripens well, they are very tangy and flavorful, which I like. I kept one Siskiyou blackberry plant as a specimen. That variety has a great flavor, almost as good as Marion but the plant is too vigorous and difficult to control, so it often freezes and/or breaks from over handling.
Oops! I just saw that I wrote the wrong berry that I am looking for. I meant Columbia Giant not Crimson. Anyone know where to get one of those?
Thanks for the feedback on Wyeberry. I think I will give it a try
Berries Unlimited said they were going to have them but I never checked their website.
Thanks. I just checked and they have Columbia Star but not Giant. Iāll keep looking.
Not bad for about 5 minutes work. Natchez
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Well, I think Iām done with my Natchez. It grows well here and the berries are HUGE but now that I have fruit up to 2 weeks earlier from my PAF it doesnāt make sense. Plus, the Natchez are nowhere as good as PAF on the floricabes at least. Iām tearing them all out tomorrow and planting with more PAF and Osage. Iām also tearing out my Ouachita as it just canāt over winter and actually produce. I love a ripe Ouachita but I prefer Osage and their season is similar.
As much as I love blackberries, I just started eating my first TCās and I just LOVE that berry. I forget every year but it is hands down my favorite blackberry. I havenāt tried growing Marion but will. I donāt think theyāll overwinter here though but Iāll protect them. My TCās are just ridiculously good and SO productive. I love them.
Update in tayberry. Iāve been growing them for 5 years but I have been picking them early this whole time without even knowing it. They were like beautiful soft rubies when I would pick them. I had to head out of town right at peak ripening season and came back and many had turned a much deeper purpleā¦ Holy cow, they were amazing!! I used to only use them for jam and baking but they are now one of my favorites for fresh eating also and extremely early compared to other varieties here.
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