Anywhere from, “meh,” to, “oh…oh wow…this is the best plum I’ve ever eaten.”
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Some of those might be worth propagating. Many of the old selections of native plums were lost but remnants of pioneer orchards have a good chance at having either survivors or at least the genetics.
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That’s the plan.
There are several on my propagation list, and there’s one in particular that’s my favorite and is worth a name.
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I planted three Nelson blackberries about ten years ago. At first the animals would chew off the bark, so I tried to fence them and pamper them. Then they suddenly exploded around year 6 and are taking over everything. Wicked thorns, too. I highly regret ever planting them. If I were you, I would avoid any blackberries or raspberries, especially on land you don’t own. I would hate to see this project backfire on you.
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Thornless is the way to go for blackberries for that reason.
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I don’t think there are any thornless that will grow here.
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i trialed chester thats supposed to be the hardiest thornless. it got toasted. i have nelsons also and those things are aggressive as hell. id rip them out but the wife loves the fruit.
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Thimbleberry is thornless, delicious and can grow wild in Utah
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If there are none we can make some, depending on how long you want to wait for them. I would be game for supporting breeding hardier thornless blackberries. Just send me a start of your favorite solidly hardy blackberry (or send me pollen to speed up the process), I’ll pollinate my triple crown and chester with the hardy one’s pollen select among the best of the thorny offspring (thornlessness is recessive, so thorny offspring from a thornless seed parent is a gaurunteed cross), cross between the couple best and then mass plant a bunch of seedlings, cull the thorny, then send you the thornless to trial for cold hardiness.
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i contacted Dr. Clark at U of AR about this very thing. reffered me to another professor in N.Y. currently working on producing some. she said they were working on it but it was still years before any release. that was about 5 yrs. ago. id definitely be interested if you were successfull. i have a dewberry thats z3 hardy with nice big tasty purple fruit but it isnt very productive. thorns like a black raspberry. 20ft. canes. i thought it had died out last year but thankfully came back from the roots in late summer this year. going to move it to a better more sunny spot. maybe get it to produce more.
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I’m glad to hear it!
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I am getting too old for that sort of thing, nor do I especially care for blackberries. Maybe you can breed a SEEDLESS one. That would be a breakthrough!
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The SS Brambleberry has already sailed.
I guess I’ll just pray for a safe voyage.
Heh.
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That’s on my list. It would be in my yarden already, but I’ve heard and read that it’s a bit fiddly on production.
Have you had good production out of thimbleberry?
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I have some Chester thornless planted (2024) in my area, but they look pretty sad. In contrast, the wild thorned blackberries I planted (2026) from out east are already well ahead and very happy.
They’re planted approx 20ft from one another in what was the base of a building 80 years ago, so it has a concrete perimeter to prevent rhizomatic spread.
I’m not really a blackberry fan, but my wife is. My blackberries and mulberry are specifically planted for her.
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nope but it grows wild here in big thickets so doesn’t really matter that it takes more space per berry than red raspberry. The intense flavor makes it worthwhile. I actually have to keep digging it out of my vegetable garden because the birds seed it each year
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I’ve never grown it, but everybody I know who has adores the flavor.
Also, I think there’s plenty of room for breeding/selection work on parviflorus to improve habit and production.
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Do you happen to know the name of the professor you were referred to?
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i think it was Christina something. its been awhile.
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Probably Dr. Courtney Weber at Cornell or one of his colleagues.
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