I got mine in the ground a couple of days ago… so best of luck to you. $7 is a fair retail price i think. Hambone said in another thread he has been growing them for 30 years… it would be interesting to know if his plants are that old or he renewed them.
All of my box stores are gearing towards flowers and have been for awhile… i see buggies of them being dragged out and trucks arriving constantly with new flowers.
Even my local farmers market is mostly geared towards flowers… thats what people want it seems.
they are the largest rasp. i grow. super productive. my original got root rot and died but not before it sent out runners to a better spot. those canes are flowering right now. i like them in the red stage for fresh eating and purple for jam/ pies.
Lawton (aka New Rochelle)- for me here they fruit late like in dead August… it was popular in the 1800s because it ripened right before peaches. You will probably have to water it well to survive texas heat. Big thick canes if allowed to establish.
Galaxy and Twilight- variations of Triple Crown… if thats your thing. More late ripening.
Immaculate- A late ripening Ponca i think.
Horizon- good choice for floricane crop… but very late ripening on primocanes.
Navaho- tasty berry good choice for mid season.
Likely very diligent watering in dead heat of summer coming for you.
Very nice plants and even better fruits. No real water for the past couple of weeks… ground is dry as a desert underneath. Berries are very sweet and loaded with flavor.
Does everyone else’s Ponca plants look like this guys? Mine have never sent laterals like this… mine is always super compact and really doesnt even have laterals no matter how i tip or prune it… i cannot find any information other than the U of Ark videos which describes my plants as having short laterals…
They look like my Caddo… but its hard to see a good representation of Ponca plants… i think Zendog has some videos but his Ponca look different than mine also.
I’m convinced that 50% of people with ponca don’t have ponca
after buying 40+ varieties of caneberries over the past year I’ve seen how rampant mislabeling is, and for some reason on ponca it’s even worse
as a funny side-note, I’m starting to wonder if those mislabeled plants I got from Pense are actually Ponca, because they look just like my real ponca now that i think about it…
Took a better look at our Ponca. Some 2 year old plants and some 3 year old plants.
The form of the plants is unique and easy to recognize on the young plants. This unique form can be seen in the 3 year old plants too. I believe the reduced leaf internode length makes the plants look different than other Arkansas thornless blackberry varieties.
From what I have seen quite a few retail nurseries sell varieties that are labeled wrong, especially highly promoted new varieties like Ponca.
I’m pretty sure my Ponca is correct - it is definitely a denser growing plant with shorter internodes, particularly on the primocanes coming up. But I agree that there are a lot of incorrect plants being sold out there, particularly with the releases that get a lot of early hype.
Does the taste improve with age ? or should I look for another blackcap ?
Beginning of June is not particularly beautiful (a lot of rain and fairly low temperatures) but the berries are realy tasteless, once heated in the microwave there is some flavor reminescent of blueberries.
that part about alot of rain and tasteless go hand in hand…at least for my taste buds YMMV. (same for the folks that water everyday or irrigate during ripening IMHO).
Mac Black is later ripening for floricane crops… Ohio Treasure has a nice late ripening primocane crop for me. So likely drier then… at least it is for me.
Im in a drought of sorts…and my Jewel is very good this year… we have picked about 5 gallons of black rasps so far… all going towards jam.
I guess two of the easiest ways to tell if you have Ponca or not are its two unique plant characteristics.
1)Short Internodes (unique compact plant)
2)Secondary Crop- another crop 2-3 weeks after first ripening.
Dr. Clark says that those characteristics are new to their breeding program…
funny you say that - i bought a jewel from home depot in februrary and it made one single berry this year
it tasted absolutely amazing
must be the watering like @krismoriah said, because I’ve had berries that other people love taste terrible, but it was raining a lot when mine were ripening
