I made a mistake and got the same varieties from two different sources last year. one was pint pot grown plugs, one was field grown and dug. the pint grown plugs took off a lot faster than the field dug ones. my suspicion is the fine roots being preserved in the potted plants vs. the field dug ones having mainly only their large roots made the difference (even though the field dug ones were probably a year old and much larger vs six months for the potted ones)
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i prefer the cheap tissue culture starts esp. for cane fruit as they grow so fast. i find plants establish and grow quicker in my native soil than 1 that was grown out 1st then disturbed by repotting again. then having to send out new roots to get reestablished. plugs take a few weeks to take off but once they do, they grow very quickly in my experience.
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Im gaining a new respect for these thornless Logans… here is about 50 or so feet of them from one crown. I also have the Karaka he talks about early on.
I have 3 of them spaced at 3 feet just like all my other trailing ones…but these videos make me want to do a 50 footer… i think im going to try.
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Yeah but he’s located in New Zeland !
In Uk it’s a different story…
he says 12 to 15 feet canes from mature plants (not sure if he’s talking about logans)
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I just got censured for posting a social media post so i wont do that again… but the pic from above post #585 is from the eastern US.
NZ is similar to PNW and often better climate…so yes u are correct.
I can get about 20-25 feet of cane from a 2 year old plant here in my climate… i may be able to double that on mild springs and indian summers… but i doubt that i could do it consistantly… and some winters i will likely have feet of winter damage… i think TN hunter had lots of winter damage on his and his climate is better than mine.
Its possible that i may grow 40-50 feet then have it all winter damaged as well…
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I just check, I tought NZ was hotter, some parts yes but Christchurch where he is located is indeed similar in degrees days than PNW.
Maybe his season is longer or they have a more vigorous cultivar available there.
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As someone who gets grumpy when it hits 17 F here and upset at 7 F, -17 would probably make me cry.
I’ve been outside in -30s F, and it’s bloody hellish, but that was abroad not at home.
If it so much as hits -1 F here, I’mma buy a Hummer and start drilling holes in methane pipelines to kick global warming into high gear, damn the consequences, I don’t want no zone 6 winters in my neck of the woods!
Your location is maybe 2-3 hrs from me east?
Mine are still in flower… barely setting fruit. (could be from winter damage).
Your berries look kinda small and shaped sort of like my Osage which fruited about the same time as yours.
This is how my Ponca looked last year…for the most part
Mine are growing very compact again they are barely at the top wire whereas Caddo is 12 feet. I have them growing side by side.
Trying to figure out if i even have Ponca or something is wrong with mine or what…
I just weighed the Poncas I picked a few days ago, although they’ve been sitting out in the colander and probably lost some weight over the last few days. They’re averaging 5g, which is a bit below the 6g in the descriptions. I’ll have to weigh some right after picking, since I do expect they’ve lost a bit of weight sitting there. They are exhibiting the later growth of the primocanes you mentioned, which is nice.
Like you, my Caddo primocanes are already over 10 feet tall going straight up. The Caddo berries are definitely substantially bigger. I’ll need to do a side by side taste test, but I’m pretty sure Ponca tastes better - maybe not noticeably sweeter, but a bit more complex.
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My Ponca fruit is small but very tasty if allowed to fully ripen. I like it a lot.
I have to shade blackberries here. Our sun is too intense. The biggest berries are down in the shade.
I don’t care about size. Taste is all that matters and so far Ponca is a winner.
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That makes sense about the shade. Now that I think about it, the largest berries seem to be on shoots that are under other leaves, etc.
That fully ripen thing is definitely a challenge for me. I often find even some berries that look fully dark have more sour than I expect and probably weren’t fully ripe. They do seem to sweeten up more if left for a day on the counter. I’m not sure if this is an accurate observation, but it seems like the sweetest ones often have the largest druplets, as if they just swelled up a little more at the end. Also, if there is a little give to them they seem riper. But I’m usually in a rush to pick and don’t take the time to carefully examine each one before plucking it. Are there any other easy ways to tell quickly?
@zendog
I watched your video abt lack of primocanes… here are mine taken today… also notice i am in half berry and half flower on production as a bee was pollenating.
So you are way ahead of me on berries… but i am way ahead of you on primocanes.
Confusing.
Your plants look like osage to me in a way.
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also note on Ponca this video was taken 2nd week of june 2022 and his also are similar to mine in various stages of fruiting…also very compact like mine.
My illini have a decent fruit set… just a few black at this point. We had a 4-5 week dry spell that just ended the past week.
Starting to see more headed towards ripening now.
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The ones that have lost their sheen are ripe. If still shiny black not quite there yet. I pick one at a time after examining each berry. But I only have one plant and don’t need many berries.
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zendog: There are various degrees of “plucking”. A fully ripe caneberry does not need to be plucked. Merely bend it sideways, and if ripe, it will come off without any significant movement of the whole fruiting bract.
I have often said, if there are no berries on the ground, there will be few fully ripe berries on the plant. You don’t have to wait for dozens of berries on the ground, just 2 or 3 are a good indicator that it is worthwhile to pick.
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I’m not sure, but my plants are from Simmons and I think they’re pretty good about being true. My Caddo are starting to ripen now, so Ponca ripening a little earlier makes sense time wise. I don’t think it could be osage, since the blooms aren’t that pink color of Osage.
I’ll try to get some pictures of the tops of the new primocanes next time I’m at the community garden where I have the Ponca.
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yes i didnt mean to freak u out… i have gotten the wrong plants from simmons once…and 3 times from pense… i just noticed that your leaves look much different than mine and your lack of primocanes vs my abundance of primocanes kind of made me wonder since we are not that far apart distance wise.
I experienced winter damage due to the lower than 1F as Dr Clark talks about in the plant… yours do not look as winter damaged… perhaps you didnt experience below 1F. Due to my winter damage my plants sent out secondary fruiting buds as described. So perhaps that is it… im seeing the secondary bud crop whereas yours are primary.
My leaves are large and have short internodes as seen in my pics. This made me think that it had some kind of disease or something…it looks strange… but it is as described how the plant grows.
Ponca is readily recognizable from all the other UArk releases. It tops out at about 7 feet tall max. The terminal 3 feet are very heavily covered with leaves.
I saved a bunch of Caddo seed that are growing beside the wild blackberry vines that bloom and mature extra early. I kept them in the refrigerator over the winter in a sealed container with a damp paper towel. This spring, I planted them in a 5 gallon container. Now I have about 300 or 400 seedlings up to an inch tall. The next step is separating them and planting a row in the garden.