I’m in NC 7B and the primocane plants do not do well here.
The rest of the Arkansas varieties do well.
We tried most of the early USDA thornless introductions before we moved to the Arkansas varieties
I like the fruit on Shawnee and Kiowa but find the thorns difficult to deal with. They may be more manageable where half of the crop is mowed to the ground each year.
Triple Crown is not great here either but we have Galaxy and Eclipse in the ground and look forward to testing their fruit this summer
There is a full thread of over 300 comments here on PAF…
I think i read on a FB group that the way to get it to act right on colder than Z7 is to keep it at around 3ft. Thats the only thing that i havent tried. That makes sense because my winter injury is usually past that. I think trim at 3ft or so and get the laterals to push is the key to anything colder than Arkansas.
i just tie my canes to a piece of heavy nylon twine strung between 2 2’‘x 2’’ posts screwed to the outside of my raised beds. they dont need much support.
For me, Osage doesn’t send out suckers more than say, 6ft. Triple Crown acts about the same. And TC isn’t really semi-erect for me, more like almost a trailing variety, so it has to be tied (or trained) to a trellis.
I planted two Ponca’s last June, so too early to tell.
Don’t have Kiowa (big berries, but thorny) or Arapaho.
Freedom suckers the most, by far. I got a very good primocane crop last year (into October), first time since I planted it (2018). It may have because I did more tipping of the canes before they got too long. This caused more fruiting laterals, I suppose.
It wasn’t as hot last summer either compared to previous years, so that may have helped, too. But, it may struggle in your summer heat, but you ought to get a good floricane crop.
I have Traveler, it does okay here, berries are decent size and flavor. It may sucker a bit more than the other thornless varieties (except PAF).
Sounds like you have a good collection of varieties to start with.
Before my tree fruit started producing all the fruit I needed I enjoyed growing brambles, including blackberries. Triple Crown was the standard, although they freeze to the ground somewhere around -10F so you need to set canes on the ground and cover them with leaves in cold regions.
Does anyone besides Drew find the Ark series tend to taste grassy when not fully ripe? I never noticed that and ones like Navaho I used to grow were sweeter than anything else growing here. They seem similarly susceptible to harsh winter temps as Triple Crown.
I just planted blackberries again last summer- two varieties of the Ark series including their new “wonderkid”. Otherwise I’ve only been eating fall bearing raspberries that continue to produce in spite of terrible virus issues here. They are a “forage fruit” for me as I rarely harvest them to bring inside beyond a few to eat with breakfast when I want a break from peaches or nectarines.
Another question- my fall bearing raspberries are always swarming with SWD but I’ve never noticed any larva in the ripe fruit I pick. If they are too small to see, who cares about them- I can’t taste them.
As far as Hardy Illini goes, it didn’t past the muster for sweetness or productivity for me- I might as well stick to the natives that grow all around my property, and keep my viruses thriving.
Sounds like you grow some erect varieties without trellis- is that easier overall or does it turn into a jungle of shoots?. I think U of Ark recommends trellis and T shape pruning, not sure how necessary that is.
All 4 of my UArk varieties (plus the 4 I planted last year) are in a row in the front yard. They aren’t trellised at all, but they should be. They are pretty upright canes, but if they get too long, the tips will naturally fall towards the ground.
I try to tip my floricane bearers at about 4ft, and the primocane bearers at about 2ft. But they still need some kind of support. It’s also recommended that you try to keep all the canes within a 2ft wide area, or it will turn into a jungle. That’s what’s happened to my Triple Crown row.
I keep saying I’m going to run some trellis wires for the last few years, but haven’t. Maybe this year?
I usually buy my berries from Nourse or Indiana Berry. I’ve noticed that they’re already sold out of PAF. I was curious where you ordered your PAF from @hambone ?
I had a big problem with all of the blackberries I got from Pense that were dormant tissue culture plants. All of their bare root plants were perfect. May be useful to know if the PAF are bare root or TC
PAF is my favorite blackberry. The berries are huge and melt in the mouth. I can’t wait for next season. Hopefully, my TC and Ponca will also produce in 2022. Denver is an unforgiving place to grow blackberries.
Spacing erect thornless BBs in the row: I read instructions for 3, 4 and 5 feet apart. Does closer help crowd out weeds? Or is 5 feet needed for full development and max fruit?
Spacing between rows of erect thornless: I see 6 feet and 8 feet. Any magic there? My middles are all mulch so no mower width issues.
Whether to train thornless erect BBs to a T shape (like grapes) with only one or two shoots allowed from ground; or allow 3 to 5 main shoots; or have no limit, allow jungle to form?
Are east-west rows a really bad idea for sun scald in 7B? My existing fortified electric Ft Knox where berries will go has long axis E-W and very narrow N-S.
Plant spacing at 3ft and topping at 4ft and also topping laterals at 4ft makes a full neat managable hedge.
Personally i do 3.5ft spacing and 3-6 canes/linear foot. I am only a hobby grower and want maximum air flow and light so that i keep disease and other things at bay. If i was growing for market i would probably do 3ft spacing and 6-8 canes/ft. I top mine at around 6-7ft so that the canes can support themselves on the wire.
I like 10ft between rows. 6ft would be a fight, 8ft would be ok.
6 canes per linear foot is about the best for overall health. Remove all that are small and dont stay in the wires.
T shaped like grapes would be roughly spacing every 10ft and you would be wasting canes/ft space. If you only had 5 plants or so yes this would work well.
The end goal is to get the most laterals… berries grow on laterals.
I like East west best…early morning sun is better than late evening.
