Noticed this morning the other flowers are transitioning to pink now… neat!
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I came upon this article from Utah that says that Apache had the highest rate of survival among a very good selection of plants during a 6 year trial. I have also read where it is very favorable in high heat like California etc in various other readings.. I had not read that before so interesting news that it is/was more cold hardy than Chester. .. YMMV but looks like it would be worth a try for those that live in colder climates.
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The lone Apache plant that I had this winter almost had full dieback. Only about a foot of the 2 canes that it had survived. I live in Zone7a Southern Illinois. Maybe it has to do with how young the plant is and it hasn’t fully established? It was newly planted last spring.
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forgot to post the all the varieties that died over winter in pots here z5:
- Navaho - (didnt make it from initial planting)
- Apache
- Ouachita
- Triple Crown
- Natchez
- Ponca
- Prime Arkansas Freedom
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AI showed reports of -10F for some growers.. Apache is also shown to grow in CT on some social media pages.. as well as often on Florida Gardening pages. The nurseries just list what they want to.. real data says that it has a very broad range from Z5 to Z9 and above from what i read. However its not very popular as its not in box stores or carried by many nurseries.
I think ive posted this video before last year.. looks like the grower should have hydrated a little more before fruit set but thats their business. The plants look stressed as well as berry formation.
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As another data point off the coast, we have had Olympic in the ground for 2 winters. No issue in my desert/mountain z6b climate, though last winter wasn’t really winter for us. I would be curious about the appropriate zone listing- I think Raintree isn’t able to provide a correct range since Olympic has mostly been unknown outside of the PNW.
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Raspberries are nearly all 2x and blackberries can be 4x, 6x or 8x. How did you get a 6x hybrid? Aren’t primocane flowering blackberries all 4x?
If you remember, I’d love to hear your review on Thunderhead. Most of what I find about the fruit is quite generic- I’d love to hear it compared to others like PAF.
I still can’t find formal post-harvest scoring for “Thunderhead,” but the release article does quantify yield (pretty amazing) and growers ranked it highly overall. Doesn’t mean consumers will love it, but maybe it will find more commercial market use.
https://journals.ashs.org/ed5dab8e-e661-4da4-9500-02c838e6e8a4
Hi, Yes , you are correct. I crossed a 4x Blackberry female, with a 2x Raspberry male, both thornless and primocane fruiting. The seedlings were all 3x and sterile, I have done the cross before. This time, anticipatiing the sterility, I chromosome doubled the 3x seedlings at the cotyledon stage, to get a fertile 6x Plant.
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Some of my thornless purple raspberries are primocane fruiting now. They are from a cross of a thornless, Floricane fruiting, black raspberry X a primocane, thorny, red raspberry that is recessive for thornless. I removed about 50% of the seedling that were thorny.
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Which Bloom Booster are you referring to?
Funny how cultivars are distributed. Olympic fig which I think was found in Olympia Washington is interesting. I have that too. Appears to probably be an English brown turkey. A really good fig actually.
I don’t expect the berry to make it here but I’ll try.
I have had such good luck with local plants it makes me want to always use them in crosses.
I need to find a local wild blackberry that’s decent
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Thats cool about the purples. Show them when ripe they look small now. Black and purple primocane fruiting are interesting. The primocanes ripen at different times. Mine ripen early so I experimented with pruning canes to cause multiple heads. That worked well delay’s fruiting. I need to do more research though. I have three different plants so purples seem to ripen all year. All are primocane fruiting and from different crosses. One is exceptional in flavor.
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The F1 fruit are a bit crappy. Small and crumbly. A cross to red raspberry produced much better berries see below.
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What’s everyone’s recommended spacing on rows? What’s a comfortable number.
For blackberries.
Red, yellow, purple, raspberries.
Black raspberries.
If I want to plant 2 or more rows and have enough space to pick and prune, what’s the recommend space between rows.
Looks like all of my raspberries made it through the winter. The trailing brambles didn’t grow much last summer (very dry) but are all sending out new growth. The blackberries all had some dieback, I think a few bit the dust completely. If they don’t do well this year I’ll yank them and replace with more raspberries. I don’t want to have to baby my brambles every winter.
I am interested in some more cold hardy blackberries if I can find them, I need to go back and read through the thread to see what those are. I think Darrow and Illini Hardy?
@Heath Mine are on 6 foot centers, there’s enough space to turn the push mower around and not hit the plants.
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Everybody has different space available for caneberry plantings.
My available space is 10x8 feet, so I have 4-foot row spacing, but have the time to meticulously train the canes to keep the rows narrow.
What is your available space for planting?
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I have my rows about 12’ apart and plants about 4’ apart. With mulch the rows are about 9’ wide (perfect for 2 passes with my 54” mower).
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