since TNHunter showed his Obsidian, I’ll show mine here in the Dallas, TX area
Also this is my Siskiyou:
Another thing - I’m already seeing flower buds forming on my Prime Ark Freedoms and it’s still Februrary! Is that normal?
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Prime-Ark Freedom fruits early in the year on the floricane, 9–11 days earlier than Natchez, based on what I have found. I have my plant in an unheated garage in northwest Ohio zone 6b and the leaf buds are already breaking and about 1/2in long. It motivated me to prune my plants and get my new in-ground bed ready for transplanting this past weekend. It is late February but the weather has been like April.
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Edit - just finished reading this entire thread. I now want to immediately buy about 40 varieties I took notes on 
…
@krismoriah Seems like you still like these “Victory” plants? And if so, do you sell plants or have any recommendations where I can try to source them? They seem ideal for my situation - am trying to grow some berries in a small backyard in Zone 10 (Irvine, CA).
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I have a dozen or so ready to go in pots. A guy on here last year said he wanted them and after i got them ready he disappeared and ghosted me.
I did notice something this year in that the plants in pots and the plants that i have in ground did not lose many of their leaves at all… even with killer frosts and several trips to 0F. They are still dark green.
Im curious how this plant will do in the hottest climate…yours… as well as pushing zones to say Z4…
So PM me and i can get some ready for you bare root. i dont ship in pots or soil.
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Thank you @krismoriah - PM sent (just confirming here for the broader thread).
Also wondering if you or any others here had feedback on the longer post I put above asking for recommendations? I didn’t put an @ in the post and now I can’t edit it. It’s post number 574.
I dont like to give recommendations myself…i do like to share what i find or learn from others that arent on this board as well as rehashing old information from this board to give us a broader sense of knowledge so that we can have a better discussion.
Since you said you read all of this thread…this one from about 10 yrs ago has some great information in it as well and some nice pics of trellis and things… which is why i love this forum as it is a great resource of information…new and old.
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i saw some people were making fake strawberries to train the birds not to eat them, and I also hear that lots of people have trouble with birds eating their blackberries, so I thought I’d try making a few fake blackberries to hang up before I get any real ones and see what happens! (two red, one black)
(Never had berries in my back yard before so I don’t know if the birds will be an issue or not yet)
anyone think this will work? 
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For what it’s worth, I put in a half dozen Chester last year and laid the canes along the ground but never got around to mulching them because I planned on replacing them. We’ve had a remarkably warm winter (5a SW WI), but got 20 inches of snow cover “mulch” for our one cold snap (stayed between maybe -15 and 10 for most of 10 days). All my canes and most looked very much alive when I checked a few days ago.
So as far as zone pushing goes (I’d say z4 is zone pushing for blackberries but not z5?) I think it seems like a decent bet to get some productive blackberry harvests in z4 with the right care, at least for hardier cultivars.
Love this … good job! Let us know how this works out.
Thank you @krismoriah for both the recommendation to look at Richard’s posts and the other thread. I’ve been reading that one too and taking notes … still not done.
I don’t know if it will be effective against wildlife but I love both the ingenuity and the end result. Even just as decorations those look sharp!
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Z3 Wyoming -40f prime ark traveller and triple crown gives crops for this person at a cost of 1 bale of hay.
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It’s worth a shot. I’m going to have to do something this year with my new blackberry patch. Last summer the Orioles found my black raspberries and lost a few.
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i have nelson blackberries from fedco. came through -40 3 winters ago with no damage and they’re growing in a 4’ x 8’ raised bed. i have Chesters and triple crown i put in 2 years ago. i didn’t bury them and they are very much alive but the last 2 winters were more of a z6 winter. not z4. il let you guys know how they fare in the future. got Colombia star put in last spring. got them and 2 yr. old Colombia giant buried under 3 ft. of snow. Colombia giant gave me some berries last summer. 0 damage. we’ll see how they perform im a test year.
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im testing my t.c and chester unprotected to see how cold they really can take. been very warm the last 2 winters so no issues. id be worried about the damned voles setting up a nest in straw then eating the canes. not saying they cant in the thick fleece blankets im covering them with now. plus the blankets dont flatten the canes immediately like straw bales would . erect or semi erect would break if not slowly trained to bend before winter. too much work for me just to get berries.
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Yes they would. I used to get them as low as possible and cover them with leaves. I would wrap with burlap so they stay. Still too much work. It worked though. All my leaves were cut up too. I collect with lawn mower bag and leaf blower bag. Both shred the leaves.
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seen vids of people that prune them low, put chicken wire around them, then fill with leaves. still too much work.
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Indian Summer Red Rasps are on Ebay… i picked up 3 for $11.42 with free shipping… $3.59 each. I have no clue how they can sell them and ship them for free so cheap but i guess i will find out.
Not much info out there on it…its a very old variety…but its super cheap so im going to try them. Probably not worth growing for most folks.
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knock on wood ive had relatively good luck with plants from esty and ebay. as long as you dont have huge expectations, you wont be disappointed. hirts also. all have grown for me. just ordered 4 dwarf mulberries 6-10’’ delivered for 17.