i also noticed my blackberries in raised beds start growing quicker in the spring than in ground ones, so they flower and fruit sooner. as much as 10days sooner. you could always cover the patch with a high tunnel to extend your season so your berries would have a chance to ripen.
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if you wanted to try some baby cakes or nelsons, i could send you some runners next summer to try. the berries arenāt as big as the more southern varieties but are as big as the big commercial raspberry ones. better than nothing and they only grow 3 -4ft.
vigor is variableā¦I noticed this yearā¦slow to get started compared to everything else ( I grow virtually every kind of fruit and berry suitable to this locationā¦(except kiwi goji and seabuckthorn)ā¦everything grows wellā¦I have huge watermelonsā¦Petit Gris De Rennes Melonā¦and all kinds of greens and squash and tomatoesā¦herbsā¦every kind of vegetable and fruitā¦everything grows well. I have been known to use seedling transplant fertilizerā¦but rarelyā¦mostly plant with just a handful of bone mealā¦I use wood ash sparingly (none on blackberries yet)ā¦and duck/goose manure (little , if any, on most of my blackberries ā¦maybe thatās what they need ? ) which is mixed with straw and wood shavings (which I keep to minimum since it is pine and not many plants like thatā¦tho I mulch heavily with it away from my trees and they have shown no objectionā¦to fresh manureā¦I think by the time it percolates through our limestone based clay soilā¦it has little impactā¦and by the end of season or next season it is harmless anyway). In reference to my above comment about manureā¦I donāt fertilize my black raspberries at allā¦nothingā¦just black plastic mulchā¦and they produce like crazyā¦but my blackberriesā¦little to none. So unless blackberries are very heavy feeders compared to black raspberriesā¦I canāt imagine they are that differentā¦I really donāt know what the issue is.
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Greatā¦I will take noteā¦I have planted 3 Loch Ness blackberries on the due south side of my goose house (0nly draw back is indirect sun after 5 or 6 PM as sun has gone too far west around the corner of house,but still should have direct sun for 9+ hours)ā¦in raised bed built against the houseā¦house protected from rot by plastic feed bagsā¦but they can go down into the soil below. they did show signs of earlier flowering but I think they didnāt like the mixture I planted them inā¦should have used more of my own soilā¦better next year I suspect.
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sounds like youāre doing the same as me. my black raspberries and reds grow like crazy here as well and i have heavy clay/ rocky soil. i actually burned my baby cakes last year because i was impatient and thought the slow establishment was a N deficiency and i gave them some 10-10-10. burnt all the leaves and berries. didnāt think they made the winter but they came back vigorously. the new primocanes started flowering here at the end of july beginning of august. the florocanes are supposed to start flowering in june. my PAF primocanes did like yours and only flowered just as the frost hit in mid/ late sept. i think you have the right conditions but not a long enough growing season for the varieties you have. my cousin in s, Maine is in z6a and he doesnāt get much fruit either from the commercial varieties like chester and PAF, they just love a long , hot growing season. there are several cold hardy varieties for sale to you guys from of Nova Scotia. maybe try a patch of them out. i donāt remember the name of the nurseries but i think they were called balsor hardy blackberries. good luck!
Ahhā¦ I have been eyeing those but I think they are thornyā¦ I started off with Illini Hardy 25 plantsā¦they have been extremely vigorousā¦but again I have given them years to make berries and gotten very littleā¦and now favouring thornless becauseā¦hey ā¦the thornsā¦lots of thornsā¦I was also about to try baby cakes but was afraid they were one of those designer patio berries that would be dead by next seasonā¦much like the dwarf raspberry I bought years agoā¦fearing the same thing but thinking Id give it a tryā¦good to hear baby cakes panned outā¦I am hoping on the Loch Ness. once they have what they wantā¦maybe they will be the ticketā¦place I bought them from rated them as earlyā¦but then, they are selling themā¦
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PAF you donāt have to worry about cane damage in winter because the below ground part is not going to be killed off no matter how cold the winter isā¦as it is protected by the ground. So you get viable canes every yearā¦but they are suited to southern growingā¦so it is a pointless waiting gameā¦flowering too late for anything but a total of a (small) handful of berries off of 6 plants. I would say winter kill ā¦losing all or most canes on any blackberry variety plant in this 5b zone is a 70/30 chance with most blackberries here. Howeverā¦if anything at all above ground is intactā¦even just a few inchesā¦it can be considered florocane and your goodā¦(but then that reduces vigor and then they are lateā¦it is pointlessā¦and the PAF arenāt meant for northern climes even tho they will produce viable canes every yearā¦so itās a pointless waiting game.
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if you can find a decent source in Canada to get baby cakes, try them. i have about 50 berries ripening on 5-6 canes on each plant with more flowers coming. should have berries from them for about a month before hard frost stops them. they arenāt overly aggressive cane producers either. 5-6 per plant per season so theyāre easy to keep control over. i too was skeptical but like you i want blackberries so i bought 5. i also grow a dewberry i got through rolling river nurseries that has awesome berries but is a thorny bugger at sends out canes up to 20ft. long. i find these taste better than blackberries and are double the size of baby cakes.
my PAF we cane producing monsters! too bad i coouldnt get a crop from them. i tried burying primocanes in straw and a high tunnel but they still didnāt produce. had 10ft. primocanes the 1st season!
Moose71 are you on this side of the border ? I have seen Babycakes at both Canadian Tire and at Lowes so I think I can get those. Nelson I have seen I believe at a mail order nursery in the provinceā¦but Iām not sure about that. ā¦and also think they have different ones nowā¦If Nelson will make fruit earlier I would love to get some rootletsā¦thank you !
Please let me know how the Babycakes turn outā¦are they good flavour. ?.etcā¦I am no expert on blackberries for obvious reasons [:>{/Bā¦but have noticed some varieties have a more robust flavourā¦all are good thoā¦worth it , if only they would produce.
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Iām not sure why the blacks donāt produce? It is strange. Black raspberries are their own species. They are not hybrids. Many rubus species produce berries. Closely related but not hybrid crosses. The only thing that may be an issue is the pH. Blackberries like it at about 6.0. But should still grow at a higher pH. So Iām not convinced itās the problem? Donāt ever use wood ash on them. Bone meal I would avoid also. Not as bad as wood ash. You mentioned limestone, not good. Try adding some sulfur and work into the soil. Doubt it will work. And it will take six months before sulfur is converted to sulfuric acid. Amend new plantings with peat moss or pine bark soil conditioner.
It wonāt hurt if not the problem. Holly tone fertilizer would be a plus too.
Thank you ā¦I was wondering about pHā¦but againā¦wonder how different its needs are compared to black raspberry which produce abundantly hereā¦and also just generally about fertilizingā¦but again, no fertilizer was used for black raspberries
Yes the black raspberries is why I donāt think pH is the problem. Holly-tone is mild, organic, contains sulfur to maintain current pH. Once pH is right Holly-tone will help keep it there. This time of year wallmart has huge bags on sale. Reminds me to go!!
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unfortunately Iām in n. Maine and Nelson is a Maine cultivar that was found growing wild in Farmington, ME. it may be offered in Canada. if you want thornless those Babycakes will be the way to go. they may produce a little less than commercial varieties but so far its seems not too much less. plus like PAF they give 2 crops per season. ill give a taste report once they are ripe.
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Are the Babycakes which are ripening now for you on the floricanes or primocanes? Iām going to remove my Triplecrown blackberries and my Caroline raspberries. Looking to grow only berries that the bulk of the harvest will come before SWD arrive. If babycakes floricane crop comes early it may suit the bill. I do see your zone is colder than mine though, so that probably puts you a bit later.
Hi Andrew,
Iām in z5b also, though more of a semi-desert. Our soil pH is high, if memory serves right 6.8-7.2 depending on location. My Triplecrown grow and fruit well, so pH I donāt think is your problem. They also fruit well for my parents in North Dakota who have very alkaline soil.
It seems you have a lot of canes to play with, if I were you I would try some different fertilizers to see if that helps. At my old houseā¦before SWD were a concern I had 2 Triple Crown and 1 Chester planted in a semi-raised bed (~6-8") that was covered with weed-block fabric and then a few inches of shredded pine bark mulch. I fertilized with 5-1-1 fish emulsion fertilizer a time or two in spring and/or early summer. The funny thing is I used that fertilizer because I had bought the stinky crap long ago and nothing else seemed to like it, and I hated using it close to the house. Well, the blackberries seemed to love it and grew and produced like beasts. I havenāt bought more or used it at the new house. My raspberries produce fine without it. The Triple Crown hasnāt grown or produced as much as the old place, but it isnāt in a dedicated bed and besides that I have been just testing to see if SWD were here as well before I supply them a ton of berries to ruin. As I already mentioned, they are here.
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these are primocanes. i cooked my floriocanes last summer by mistakingly thinking they needed some N to get going when they only need some more time. i plan to harvest the florocane crop next summer as well. so far no SWD here yet but Iām starting to switch to summer bearing fruit just in case they do.
I would call that normal, not high. 8.5 is high. Even 8.0.
I agree though I doubt it is pH. Maybe nematodes or some other root problem?
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Can any one help me with some seeds of Columbia Giant Please?