How soon do you see if a blackberry is thornless? I yanked mine out and some popped up near my ponca and i just cant teol if its the ones i yanked or not
1 Like
It could be because they are in pots. Raspberries are often more cold hardy. Potted plants are like being in a colder zone. Many tame blackberries struggle in zone 5. Likely need winter protection in pots. Experienced this with potted plants before. Bury then in leaves or bark chips for the winter.
2 Likes
a couple of the varieties were questionable in ground here. figured the others would get some die back but not outright death. oh well. ill wait to see if anything emerges from the roots before tossing to reclaim the pots. not a huge fan of raspberries or blackberries anyways but i do like blackberries more between the two.
Interesting volunteers. They look like they came from my Thornless Loganberries judging by the leaves, thorny though. IIRC the thornless trait isn’t normally passed on to seedlings, but I’m not really sure. Hard to say then if this is just a self pollination or a cross. No idea what the ploidy is either. But I think I’ll rescue them from where they are and grow them out, worst case scenario I end up with some thorny, deer resistant, Loganberry progeny.
The flowers on Dormanred clearly show the Rubus parvifolius parentage, lots of color and they shed pollen before fully opening.
3 Likes
Pick the pots up, if youre lucky they wouldve rooted into the ground(if so theyll sprout fresh canes from the ground)
2 Likes
i moved them from where they grew all last year to against the fence for winter. actually, i moved the raspberries and blackberries to surround my potted trees and blueberries for protection, which were against the fence.
1 Like
Very sure would be to see if the crown is still alive and new primocane buds are forming at the crown.
However, Z5 is almost sure to have winter damage/kill on thornless floricane fruiting blackberries.. so you got to see that in action.
1 Like
Raspberry seedlins coming up. Seed parent Glance. Hoping to get a thornless black with the genes segregating.
5 Likes
Glencoe?
I had some dieback on my in ground blackberries (Triple Crown, Natchez, and Apache) this winter in Zone 7a Southern Illinois. We had a few days that were below 0* and many days with windchills well below 0*.
A thornless purple bred in Europe.
1 Like
will any of the coast of Maine soils work for blackberry or raspberry with simple additions? I’m burnt out from taking on far too much this spring and can’t deal with the time suck of mixing anymore soil. Still have to plant a few big blackberry containers. (And some strawberry)
Yes. Just asking if that’s the one your are using. I think there’s a typo in your original post.
1 Like
I am alive and happy enough to post again!
I have a random thornless blackberry that was bird poo-seeded in one of my blueberry pots! Haven’t checked on it this year but I will find out soon if they survived.
Crimson Blush did not survive my ex 
it was sitting in a bucket of water somewhere when i found it. Not sure if beauty made it.
A lot of my brambles made it but the smaller ones struggled a bit by the looks of it.
I wasn’t able to get Columbia star and Columbia giant potted up last year from their 1 gallon pots but they amazingly survived everything. From drought to being frozen over entirely.
The raspberries don’t seem as hardy as the blackberries.
PNW z8b for the new people I’m seeing 
I cut a bunch of the brambles with the caneborers in them but who knows if that helped 
they seem to only attack when my plants were stressed so I’m going to try to make them less stress this year lol.
5 Likes
I did not type that spellcheck changed it and I did not notice.
2 Likes
Recently purchased six Arapaho blackberry plants and six Heritage raspberry plants, they were the 3 packs of premiums from Gurneys. The raspberries arrived as 1-2 foot sticks in some water holding substance and the blackberries arrived as 3-5 inch roots with some of them having one or two leaves on the top, I planted them and put a fence around them as they’re beside my house and I can easily prune them if needed while still protecting them from animals, is there anything I should know about or any tips or tricks? Anything is appreciated as I’m completely new to growing brambles.
In zone 6B/7A
Blackberries
Raspberries
2 Likes
The 2 giant patch of triple crown thornless and prime ark freedom all died to the ground… I guess no spring blackberry for me 
.
We did get very cold here though, weather app said -9 F but we are in a river valley. So probably a lot colder.
2 Likes
I just planted 7 Ponca, 7 Prime Ark Freedom, and 6 Caddo Blackberries that were all basically plugs. I dug a small hole, stuck them in, watered a little, and then put some mulch around them. The Prime Ark Freedom had some sun damage I believe, but they are bouncing back now. I have done nothing but given them a little water when we didn’t get rain for more than a few days.
1 Like
i got a plug of twilight (all i could find really), for some reason some nurseries wouldnt ship blackberry to new york? not aware of any restrictions there. it doesnt look like it is taking though. might have to try again in fall.
The ‘sticks’ should be cut to the ground once you see primocanes coming up or before thats up to you.. thats just a waste of energy while the plants are rooting and sending up primocanes.. imho.
Since you have fresh bare dirt..now is the time to mulch heavily.. or else you will have every weed that exists in that area shortly.. that is again up to you.
With that row spacing you will not be able to walk between them..so theres that. That is again up to you and how you plan on harvesting and pruning etc.
I would suggest keeping rasps in their own area..as they will wander everywhere..and become uncontrollable at some point.
Finally.. if i only grew one type of blackberry i dont think Arapaho would be it.. with so many choices and having 6 of them thats a big commitment…
Now is the best time to make those decisions as they are both very hard to remove once established.
The chicken wire will probably be a nightmare as is..as there will be laterals poking out every hole up and down and sideways..and you will have to fish and remove each one when pruning out spent canes.. but again if that is what you want to do then that is fine also.
Will it all work as is? Sure.. but i think you will regret not planning it out a little better and now is that time to make those changes for many years of harvesting.
5 Likes