When I was gifted a scrawny Tayberry start from a neighbor last year I didn’t expect much vigor based on how they were growing for them. I planted it along a fence at my community garden in good soil and watered regularly and the 2 canes that came up grew 10-15 feet long! Those canes are starting to flower now and the plant has begun pushing out new primocanes. It is hard to see from the picture, but there are 8 coming up. This thing is turning out to be a beast.
How do you all protect your fruits? I have a small amount of PAF and PA45 ripening but not sure what to do with them as far as protecting them from our robins. Love our birds but I wanna taste my berries lol. I’ll clarify that I only have two small plants. Should I use socks? Organza bags? A net? It would be nice if I bought something it would work going forward when the plants are mature rather than tiny first year plants
I lost mine it’s not really hardy here. The berries are excellent though. I wish it was a touch more hardy… If any hardier types are like siskiyou I would buy right now.
Does anyone know which is a better choice between Navaho and Natchez? Those are the ones I have available at the moment (they also have Chester, but I don’t want Chester). I already have Ouachita, Triple Crown, PAF, boysenberry, and Marionberry. I only want one because I don’t actually need another one, so I definitely don’t need 2.
Leaning towards Navaho, but if Natchez is better, I’ll get that one.
Navaho is supposed to be better and I liked it better than Triple Crown when I had both, although I didn’t have Natchez. I believe @blueberrythrill grew them as pick your own for a while before going to some of the newer ones like Ponca and Caddo.
I have favorites for my location which is central NC. Other varieties may work better in other areas. Probably better choices for the PNW.
Navaho was a very early release from Arkansas that changed the Blackberry world forever… We grew it a long time and customers asked for it by name. Medium size fruit that ripens mid season with taste that became typical of Arkansas varieties. Ripens over long period of time and has smaller seeds. Downside is susceptibility to Orange Rust.
Natchez ripens much earlier and is much larger with no Orange Rust problems Needs to hang on the vine a good while to develop sweetness. Fruit that hangs a long time can be very sweet. Has a tendency to overcrop in a way that late fruit does not ripen properly and plant dies back. It needs to be pruned much harder than other Arkansas varieties… Ripens over a short period of time and has large seeds.
We had both of these but after 15 years they lost their productivity and we removed them.
New planting is Caddo, Ponca, Ouachita and Von. Season starts in early June and ends in late July.
Thank you! I’m not in “normal Washington” with the rain, I’m in central Washington, which is a desert (Washington is weird, but in a good way). Is orange rust a fungal thing? Because it’s hot and dry and windy here most of the time, so I don’t have many fungus issues.
zendog: cane density: It depends on the trellis system. If canes are allowed to bundle too closely together, it can cause stunting of some of next year’s fruit spurs. So it is a matter of training method. Total crop size and the amount of fruit you can use will determine how much thinning you want to do in future years.
Thanks @LarryGene . I may thin it to 6 canes and talk to the person in the plot next to me about sending 3 along her side of the fence for her to enjoy and 3 down my side of the fence. If she doesn’t want it on her side, maybe I’ll thin to 4 candes just for my side. I have 2 canes fruiting from last year’s primocanes and it is pretty contained, but beyond 4 it would definitely get too crowded.
It is always interesting to me how what is often considered not commercially viable in America is sometimes found to be worth the effort in other countries. Since I’m growing Tayberry and was looking for more information on them, all of the nursery listings, etc. say good for home growers, noting that the softness of the fruit makes it impractical for mechanical harvesting. But I found a company in France that has been selling prepared purees and other products with Tayberry for years. They also have products with Mara de Bois strawberries and other higher flavor fruits, so it is undoubtedly a niche business.
Here is the video that led me to look for their product (a bit goofy):
since you said Victory doesn’t spread, I went ahead and planted one by the fence. I tried to pull it out enough so that it gets nearly full sun. I put it along the same fence as my Marion, Boysenberry, Obsidian, and Siskiyou
I just dug a hole right in the middle of the bermuda… guess we’ll see what happens!
This is the goal for me… thick canes… those are the ones that are more resistant to pests for me… and they generally produce very well. Also seem to be more cold hardy for me. 2 or 3 is about all that i want to manage for myself… after that its a chore…when the new primocanes come in then its like a birds nest in an open faced reel…
You could always bend them down into pots and facebook them. They are not something you can easily find and people may be interested. I’m interested in what they taste like. Have you tried one?
Kiowa if you want very large excellent flavor… Navaho sacrifices size for flavor…and Natchez sacrifices flavor for size. Natchez is early and Navaho is mid/late… so if SWD is an issue during that ripening window then that might need to be considered?
Natchez is my better choice…but Navaho could be yours for your climate and insect pressure.
Here is a good study on ripening of Natchez vs Ouachita vs Navaho vs Von etc.
I planted one in the ground, and one in a container.
The berries from both are pretty small and don’t really have much flavor, they remind me of the austin dewberry that I just ripped out of the ground.
I think I’m going to rip this boysenberry out of the ground too because it’s just going crazy and turning into a mess, and the berries don’t have much flavor
my question is… are these actually boysenberries? I always hear how famous they are for their flavor…
Here’s a pic of the container one (and you can see the in-ground one in one of my videos that i just posted a few posts ago)
It takes a few years for the crown to mature… until then small canes give small fruit. I know u want to try them all asap… but some cultivars take awhile to give sturdy enough canes to support large fruit. Im on year 3 of thorny loganberry… the second year my canes were smaller and that gave me small sparse fruit. YMMV
No. Look nothing like them. I could be wrong I never grew thornless. Look rather small too. Also never seen them turn that black. They are a dark purple when ripe. Easy to tell from other blackberries as they are not black in this environment. Might be in yours? The not much flavor though is strong evidence it’s not boysenberry if anything are tart.
