@TNHunter
Question about the thornless Logans…i have them in two locations…
I planted both this year… so by the looks of things i should probably cut most everything to the ground this fall… these canes dont look strong enough to support a crop. I have also read that if these skinny canes do fruit that they will be small. So no real sense in trying to wait for small fruits i dont think.
I also have Obsidian in two locations… i bought from 2 separate nurseries. All of the plants look like broccoli and the canes are brittle…but they are growing well. I kind of think they will get alot of winter damage…their health looks terrible. So i am going to just wait and see. My canes are way past the top wire but i can hear them crack when i move them… No idea if they will grow out of this.
Illini Hardy- mine have passed the top wires and are thorny as heck. Nasty nasty thorns. Looks like i will know next year if these have double rosette or not. I did alot of cuttings and have them trying to root now in case that they are the only known to exist plants left on Earth. These were the hardest to find of just about every one i have. Its like they are extinct. These do not root from root cuttings, and where they are erect almost impossible to tip root… so cuttings are just about the only way that i can see to propagate them… and even that is tough sometimes.
I am on year 2 of my thorny logans… going into year 3. The crop this year was small berries because the canes were skinny. (i think the same as the thornless logans?) Next years canes look a little better but not as thick as i would like. So perhaps it takes a few years to get canes big enough to produce the large berries?
I have a dozen or so of the Amethyst cuttings trying to root now if they root i will send u some if u want… and i have plenty of the Victory plants if you still want to try them.
I am still trying to understand Prime Ark Horizon… they fruit on the tips for primocanes… but my primocanes are almost 12 feet tall and setting flowers on some canes… and others are fruiting on 10 foot canes. Im guessing that a person needs to tip the primocanes at about 4 feet in order to have fruit at eye level…but that makes no sense either…if you tip them how do they fruit on the tips? I have about 8 canes that if they fruit i will need to get a ladder… or maybe they bend down with weight. Either way its strange. The fruit is very good and sweet… much better than my Poncas which are aggravating me. My poncas all look like little christmas trees. Very pretty plants and the leaves are super dark green. But so strange in the way that mine set fruit.
Caddo to me was very boring… big berry but nothing special.
I think i am going to pull Von and Loch Ness and Big Daddy… no real sense in growing any of them. Waste of space for me.
Newberry is one of the most prolific growers of the west coast varieties that i have seen. I planted tiny plugs that i trimmed in June and they are already past the top wire and thick canes… the canes are loaded with laterals as well. Thorns are nasty and heavy gloves are needed. I have plenty of these left and i need to post them on Ebay or something… i had to buy 100… so im sitting on 70 plants like a mother hen.
Kotata and Siskiyou are both growing well. Both of these were super hard to find… Kotata has THE nastiest thorns of all the west coast varieties. Siskiyou has normal thorns. Neither has made the top wire yet… thats ok i plan on tip rooting them anyways.
I really dont enjoy trellising the west coast varieties… its alot of work…and aggravating.
Final note… The Victory plants are for sure different than any other thornless semi erect or erect varieties that i have grown and i think i have grown them all except for Hull and Doyle. Last year i thought that they were semi erect but they were just babies…this year they are mature and they are erect. I have many of the canes that are the size of a baseball bat handle. I have never seen any cane that strong and thick. They grow like Kudzu. Once mature they are a chore and almost aggravating to keep in check. The new plants that i planted this spring look like a grenade went off. Its as if they are aliens. These are the ‘babies’…and i have whacked and whacked and whacked them with pruners probably 50 times…
