Blackberries by the gallons

Thanks Jason. So I’m in the situation many fruit growers likely find themselves in. Don’t grow fruit, OR, learn to kill fruit predators. The former is the easy way. But I’m mustering strength for the latter. I’ve ordered a live racoon trap. I need to get a bin to drown them in. For a city girl this obstacle is HUGE. :sob:

Trap them yourself, then call a professional for disposal for a nominal fee, they will return the trap after.

The sense of accomplishment is great, but it is an every season battle.

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Good idea Seth. I def need to look into that.
Funny, I thought I was well prepared to address the bird threat, and the bunny threat. When I saw netting supports bent over and the branches broken I was surprised and set up the game camera. Sigh.

Yes, I don’t like it either and I grew up hunting. It is just about the only way to protect my fruit. Live traps are not as kind as they sound either. I trapped a groundhog in mine last weekend. I checked it at ten in the morning and again at 3 pm. It was in it when I checked at 3. It had struggled so hard to get out that it was nearly dead from exhaustion. I quickly put him down. My mulberry grafts are now growing again.

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The hardest part for me is when you shoot and don’t fully kill them. It happened twice to me once with a squirrel and once with a coon. For both animals they growled after the first shot and they whimpered after the second shot and then died. These animals are not dumb and its hard to have to kill them.

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Yes, I think a well placed shot is the most ethical but it can be challanging if they are moving around. It is not a real big target.

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They look great but those are some wicked looking thorns in those pictures.
Hard to imagine wading through acres of those things hanging over each other.
How do you do it?
Mine are strictly thornless (should be called painless) and in a much smaller area.
I’ve heard that the thorned varieties are sweeter … that’s the price I’m willing to pay to reduce the pain.

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Sometimes with blackberries I pick my battles. Some berries are not worth wading through the thorns between me and them. If the berries are worth it and I need them i work my way into the patch. I cut rows every year into the patch with a mower and that can be difficult.

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There are a bunch of ideas and resources linked on this page http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/garden_nibblers.html
if you don’t have the stomach for killing. Maybe a couple of them are worth a try!

“Aversive Conditioning Products”:

We’ve got one of the sprinkler thingies but haven’t set it up yet. I wish I could have flashing lights and sirens but I think the neighbors would complain :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

As my cherries, juneberries, and mulberries start to ripen the blackberries are starting to bloom. Looks like a big crop! Thought it would be a slower summer since much of the pear crop was lost. May 26th seems early but perhaps it’s just that I’m running late on everything this year.

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Have a few blooms opening now on my black berries as well. Looks like my plants are going to have a very drawn out bloom this year. Lots of flower buds in different stages of development. Not sure it will be as big of harvest as last year. Had some cane winter die back this year.

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We had some cane die back but what I lost in canes the new patches I planted will make up for. Hope you have good success with your berries this year.

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My blackberries are blooming too. I will have a light crop this because they had too much berries last year. Only Natchez goes very strong. It had less winter damage then Chester and triple Crown. First crop on Arapaho. It has an unusually large flowers.

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I was going through and weeding my blackberry bed today. Many early types are forming fruit.
Columbia Star

Lochness

Black raspberries are still forming Niwot, the floricane crop is always big.

Burbank’s White Blackberry

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Anyone growing the newer introduction ‘Baby Cakes’ its one of the those dwarf berry varieties being marketed lately.

I bought a Baby Cakes this year . Not much to report yet .

If all of you were stranded on a desert island (that happened to be in zone 7a or 6b) and you could plant just 1 type of blackberry, what would variety would you plant? Thanks!

My heirloom blackberry shown at the start of this post because they have been a reliable producer for my family for generations, they spread like wildfire, they are a no spray type, the blackberries always have a great flavor, they produce every year like clock work!

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