I actually dont know for sure. Got them as transplants from a friend a few years ago and she didnt remember what variety they were. This is the first year that I have had this amount of top winter kill. Though this was probably the coldest winter we have had since I planted them. Got down to -10 to -15 degree range a couple of nights this past winter.
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I’m so disappointed. I moved my production facility to Santa Barbara last fall. I had an amazing berry garden that I had been working for 5 years. All in all about 600’ of plants with 17 varieties of raspberries and 15 varieties of blackberries and some other crosses. I had some that were smuggled in from New Zealand, wild albino blackberries I had found, a practically seedless blackberry…
I just went back to UT for a visit and stopped by to check it out and half are dead and the others are all overgrown w weeds. Worst thing is that there are thousands of delicious berries that are ripe but I can tell that the new company doesn’t even care as they don’t look like they’ve been touched or picked at all.
Sad. I hoped the new company would have someone that loved berries and would at least do minimal work to keep it up. I guess everyone isn’t a berry freak like me though. 
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Anyone had thornless marionberries and can compare their productivity and taste w thorny ones?
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The crop has been large again this year. The plants are becoming more and more acclimated to the area all the time. They do an incredible job enriching the soil in areas where they have grown. Eventually all plants extract the nutrients they need from an area and the ground will not grow that plant well again until those nutrients are replaced. Weeds are natures way of correcting imbalances. These blackberries are essentially now just a weed that produces fruit. This is always my goal to improve the soil and eat. I wish the previous generations thought like that but instead their goal was to survive. They caused erosion that undid thousands of years of good done by nature. Eventually farmers will realize proper crop rotation includes not just grains but trees and bushes. The problem has always been peoples lives are short so they dont realize a 100 year old oak producing acorns is valuable because they dont live to see the benefit of what they planted. We dont view things that way in my family my grandpa planted things like pawpaws his great grand children eat though he passed away many years ago. These blackberries i grow i dug out and brought here from his patch. These are genetically adapted to Kansas now. One of the many advantages to these berries is how late they bloom.
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I’m jealous…we love blackberries and their so expensive…I’ve had several failed attempts at growing them which is strange because they’re supposed to do well down here…bought 4 new plants and moved locations. Hoping to have better luck…
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I just got 18 of the Stark gems. It rained so hard I didn’t get them in the ground yet. What did you go with? I’ll let you know how mine do when we don’t have 3 inches of rain an hour. It rained like that here to. I agree. That was the hardest just pure rain I’ve ever seen. And I came here in 89 as well… Geez… We might have a storm later this week as well.
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I got three of a variety called sweetie pie…they’re from Mississippi and are supposed to do really well with heat and humidity…I’ll let you know in a couple weeks how they’re doing…not sure what the other ones were, the buckets were unlabeled and it looked like they’d been sitting around at the nursery for a while, but the plants were healthy so I figured I’d give it a shot…
hoping that storm takes a different course…last thing we need is more rain…
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Good luck. Damn Florida. Droughting or Drowning!!! Lol
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I’ve been waiting for my order of 3 starks gems since early May. At this point I hope to get them by frost.
Mine was strange. I got an email that said I wouldn’t get them until October. Then a week later I got a message saying they were on the way with two pomegranate I had ordered. They all showed up a few days ago. They are all potted so I put them under a building I have outside and am moving them to the outside for a few days then I’ll plant.
Yea I got an email saying I’d get it sooner, than a week or two later it went back even further. It’s my first year ordering from them, or plants in general, and I can’t say I’m impressed with the service. I know that COVID has things delayed, and it’s been a hot summer, but all the orders I’ve placed through 3 other companies have arrived in a timely manner. I just ordered Ponca for fall, but most likely they won’t send them to me till spring since they don’t start shipping till November 
and I’ll prob be past frost by then.
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Hi @clarkinks…thanks for checking…they’re doing amazing…seems I found the right place for them this time…this is a pic of the same area above…I expect they’ll be loaded with blackberries come summer…
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Was getting concerned that I wasn’t seeing any blossoms on these, but I checked today and they’re just starting…
This is from another bush…
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Anyone growing this heirloom my grandfather preserved? If you are hows it going? Remember the name is " health berry" as they were the healthiest berry in the patch. These are aggressive berries!
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I just got mine in the ground last month…I trimmed the roots before i planted and then put the root trimmings in my nursery wicking tubs to get some more. Im not sure ive seen a more vigorous plant. They just want to GO. Looks like every root trimming starts a new plant and the ones in the ground are sending up canes hard and fast. Maybe i will taste some berries next year.
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I’m not, though I’d love to!
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Be careful with them they are adapted to Kansas so your environment most likely seems very nice to them. They can get the nutrients out of clay soil. They produce more berries in bad soil. When i say they can get 20 feet tall with no problem people think I’m joking.
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Where can I buy them?
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