Blackberry differences

General Fruit Growing
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I ordered some Natchez, Galaxy, and Arapaho Blackberries. All came bareroot and look healthy enough, but stark differences between the three varieties. All from Pense Berry Farm.

Natchez came with half inch thick canes and root systems that look better than most bare root apples. All three had noticeable buds coming from the crown for this year’s primocanes.

Galaxy had decent enough root systems, but no visible sign whatsoever of any new primocane buds. The canes were much thinner, maybe pencil thick at best.

The Arapaho were the most pathetic looking things I’ve ever seen. A little L shaped root with a couple tiny feeders off of it, although two of them did have a couple of noticeable primocane buds pushing.

For those of you in the know, is this relatively normal? The roots looked healthy on all three, so I’m assuming they are “alive” but I’m somewhat concerned about what level of growth I’ll see from them.

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Once the roots establish… enough growth to keep you busy pruning for many years.

Mostly whatever grows as far as primocane this year will be floppy and wandering or not sizable enough. … so that gets cut off about this time in 2026. 2026 will be your year of some good strong primocanes and 2027 will be your year of fruit. 2028 will be your first good look at somewhat mature canes and crown and fruit.

I have a new cultivar that i received last year about this time… Soon i will be removing everything that grew as i dont want to waste all the energy on a small cane and small fruits. Im hoping for some good strong primocanes this year and will be able to discuss hopefully in 2026…if not then 2027.

Its your choice to keep the floricane handle… i remove mine as soon as i see pcane buds on new plantings or 1 year olds… its a waste of energy to me. Most people leave it on though and get a berry or a few if they are lucky…

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I plan on leaving the “handle” on just long enough to make sure the plants are alive and pushing primocanes. Then I’ll prune them off. I have plenty of raspberries already, so That’ll keep me in cane fruits.

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Funny you bought 3 distinct generations of domesticated varieties. Arapaho is oldest but is still a reliable producer.

The others tend to larger berries or other improvements. Surprised you did not get U/Ark’s Ponca over Galaxy…lol…You would have a full sweep

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I was mainly looking for the earliest possible to try to minimize SWD.

Galaxy is a wildcard. Some sources say it is very early, some say it’s more midseason.

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early August. Or a week or two before Triple Crown.

Apache is a better choice. A week or two after Arapaho and a much better berry than Arapaho. YMMV.

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Arapaho was a slow grower for me after transplanting the 3gal plant in late winter last year. It fruited a bit on the floricanes but only sent up two thin primocanes about 2ft tall each. Hoping it grows better this year, or I will swap it out for another variety.

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To propagate blackberries to give to friends, I’ve dug up a bit of a new cane coming out of the ground, cut it back to where there are only one or two leaves on the shoot and then tossed into a pot. Often I end up with only fairly small damaged section of root since I don’t want to dig a massive hole. They almost always live.

Blackberries are quite prolific and spread rapidly underground. I recommend planting rows you can mow all sides around, to keep them in check with minimal effort.

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Both Ponca and Caddo seem early enough here in Arlington, VA to avoid SWD. So if you add another, I’d suggest Ponca for its excellent flavor.

By the way, I and some others have had plants from Pense that weren’t true. I know they are family owned and there may have been some health or other issues a while back that were a distraction and contributed to that, so hopefully they are shipping all the correct varieties now. But keep an eye on them to make sure they ripen in the window you expect, look correct, etc.

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Arapaho is a slow grower. However once established are reliable annual heavy bearing plants with good flavor. Though medium in berry size.

Certainly decent enough to keep our 4 clumps.

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I’m just making a little follow up since I posted this in the spring. All three varieties grew like gangbusters this year, I got much stronger, primocane growth than I expected.

The primocanes easily top 8 feet on all three varieties. Each plant produced 1-2.

Arapaho is definitely “erect”. Natchez is definitely semi-erect and arched over early on.

Galaxy is supposed to be semi erect, but definitely does not arch over the way Natchez did. It’s only a tiny bit more “floppy” than Arapaho.

Unless it’s mislabeled.

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Maybe your Natchez will be more erect next year. Mine is in its 3rd year and stands erect at about 6’ (that’s about where I top mine).

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Probably. I also think the designations have a lot more to do with how they spread than how much the canes can stand up. True erect blackberries send up root suckers whereas semi-erect spreads by tip rooting.

The Arapaho had L-shaped roots which would suggest they were root sucker transplants, the other two looked more like rooted cuttings, or tissue culture.