I planted Prime Ark Freedom and Traveler this year, basically gambling that even in years when the canes die to the ground I’d get some first year fruit before frost.
Even in the first year, a few stray berries are ripening by the end of September. So I’m betting that in typical years I’ll get a decent crop before frost hits on the first year canes.
Personally im giving up on Amethyst… its too productive and its a beast of a plant. Fresh eating for me is so so… but to fill a freezer or make jam it is a keeper. Im going with Royalty and Brandywine for my main two purples. Glencoe im not sure about… i must be doing something wrong or its just not as vigorous as the others. I also have Wyoming purple and im giving up on it… berries are kind of small and not my thing.
To answer your question- 3 amethyst plants in year 3 and onward is all that you could ever want for making jams. Probably 3-4 gallon per plant and they need tied to the trellis well… they become laden with fruits and will fall to the ground if not tied well.
Glencoe is not working out for me either. I did get to taste a few berries on it earlier this year and I thought they were similar to brandywine, almost as good but maybe not quite - but since then the plant has just not been doing well and I wouldn’t be surprised if I lose it soon.
I also tried Royalty multiple times here - one was mislabeled, and two I’m pretty sure were true to name, but they all just died probably from the heat.
Brandywine I think is going to be my keeper here for purple
A black rasp that is not doing well for me at all is Bristol/Munger. It’s like it just doesn’t want to stay alive, it keeps making long spindly canes then they die and it shoots another one. The container is just full of dead canes at this point with one or two still alive.
For blacks I think Jewel might be the best bet in my climate, but I still do have Black Hawk and Cumberland Black that are still alive and seem to be growing well, we’ll see if they make berries next year
Have you tried niwot or Ohio treasure?
I have it but it’s been just making trailing canes…
Are any of those that you have, erect and not trailing? I’ve found out i don’t like trailing, thorny plants🤣
For some reason, my niwot never makes fruit even as a supposedly primocane. I got it from stark and this is my second year with them. No fruit on Floricanes either… everyone else is has been fruiting for a while. All of my raspberries are primocane varieties. I even feed it super bloom nonstop this year but nothing still… and the canes are well over 7ft long already
where are you located?
if you’re in a hot climate, I wonder if the plant just baked too much in the heat, or perhaps didn’t get enough chill hours over the winter?
I wonder if lack of chill hours is causing my Bristol/Munger problem too
if anyone’s interested, I took a video of my mutated marionberry canes
Could be the beginning of witches broom. I guess u will see next year.
Most likely it looks like those were tipped and that cane even though sparsely thorned will become more thorned once it matures. Rapid growth of that lateral.
Less likely…but interesting
Washington state 
not too warm here and it’s in fun sun.
Before, i was in Colorado so i don’t think it was the chill hours cause last year, it was freezing from October to April-May.
I just looked up witches broom and that’s what my niwot had from starkbros last year. I’m wondering if it’s affecting their fruit set this year.
I left my pot of niwot outside in Colorado cold and was surprised they even came back. They came back without being stumpy/having witches broom this year but no fruit so far 
funny you say that, I have noticed a little bit of that in my bermuda grass… had no idea there was a version for caneberries
Im pruning my Victory and there was about 20 or so that tip rooted… I set aside 4 or so in case anyone wants to try them.
Im already tip rooting some Siskiyou and Kotata for a couple of folks on here. (maybe Silvan for a few folks and Phenomenal).
I will likely have Wyeberry next year so will see how next spring goes with them.
Another member on here wants some cuttings of Illini Hardy. (i havent forgotten).
I have about 25 or so Newberry plants that are ready to go.
If these or any blackberries that arent sold by nurseries interest you PM me as this is the time of year for me to get that together.
I will also be removing some black rasps and various other things… so if there is something that isnt sold by nurseries that you are looking for message me and i may have it.
Not trying to start a nursery, just cleaning house and i can tip root some while im at it for members of this forum only. Im open to trades as well but i have most everything so it will have to be very obscure or rare for me not to have it.
Vintage and Kokanee were for sale at all my area Lowes’ stores this spring and summer in NW Ohio. I have three Vintage plants and one Kokanee plant left.
In my opinion, the flavor of Vintage is close to Caroline and better than Kokanee. I picked up a Cascade Delight plant over the summer and hope to compare it to Vintage next summer. I also tried Crimson Night this year and it has some good sweetness, a nice size berry, but lacks the full-bodied fruit flavor of Caroline.
Well at least its good that Vintage is available at some Lowes. The USDA does such strange things with the plants that they breed… I have no idea when/if Finnberry will come available…or the new blackberry releases. Seems the USDA wants to send them all over the world as a priority over us Americans.
Im a Caroline fan also… hard to beat it.
Cascade Delight was great… very large berries and very similar to Caroline on taste… but i didnt get as much production as Caroline. They are floricane bearing and i should have tipped them earlier.
Not sure if we have talked about Black Diamond blackberry before…if so its worth revisiting. I know that most folks dont like thorns… and want that Marionberry taste. Well Black Diamond does both of those things.
Pretty complex pedigree with Logan, Boysen, Ollalie, Youngberry, Dewberry, Marion, Kotata as well as New Zealand cultivars and U of Arks.
So im calling it a hybrid myself.
nice writeup
I’d be interested in Siskiyou (since the one I got from PlantingJustice made soft conical shaped dark purple berries, it obviously wasn’t real Siskiyou), Kotata, Silvan, and maybe Phenomenal
‘Black Diamond’ was tested as NZ9128 and that appeared in catalogs and on tags just prior or at the same time as the varietal name was assigned. I think Raintree was cataloging it as Black Diamond and tagging it as NZ9128.
I grew it for several years circa 2005-2010. Not as vigorous for me as TC or Cstar. Ripened in July. Short fruiting spurs 4-8 inches. Moderate production and good flavor.
One commercial grower at one of the Caneberry Field Days at NWREC said their planting had been largely destroyed by the Rose Stem Girdler (a buprestid beetle).
I have limited space and took BD out because it did not compete well with the other caneberries.
Black Diamond still interests me a little… and im going to give it a couple more years. The nurseries that still sell it are mostly in the PNW… but it is supposedly one of the more cold hardy trailing varieties… rated at Z6 -10F by the propagator…but still pretty unknown as not many folks on the East Coast or beyond grow them…and likely wont.
Super rare to find pics of the fruit that isnt a stock photo… i found this on the social medias.
Photos are from 2009.
I looked through the plant tag folder and found two tags, likely 2006 or 2007, from Raintree nursery, labled NZ9128R-1
My memory is that at one time, BD was in the top 5 blackberry commercial acreage for OR/WA.
Is victory primocane?
