I have some Kiowa black berries that are going to fruit this year, I have been anticipating huge berries. The blooms were huge but the small green berries that are starting to form look like they are not making many droops? Is it poor pollination?
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My thoughts are most of our fruits are light this year its not just blackberry its pears as well. Some trees are very heavy which are not far away from the others. Its not biennial cropping so I’ve kind of been at a loss in understanding it. Prime ark 45 seem a bit light this year but last 2 years were covered. The Honeycrisp apple as if it could read my mind bloomed the first time in years. It randomly takes 3 years off then blooms 5 and repeats the cycle no matter how much I thin or apply supplements.
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It’s to early to say I think. My prime ark 45 did not produce good berries the first year. The best I can guess is there is not enough carbohydrates stored in the roots yet to produce a decent crop. This is why I tell everyone not to are their pear the first year the flavor is off. You grafted to a full sized pear so you might not have experienced that. How is your farm by the way?
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It’s always interesting, but not surprising, how regional everything is. My pollination rates have been very high this year. I’ve waited so long for my young trees to get fruit, this year they have too much….so far. Here’s a Shinko pear graft.
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Same with my kiowas. I had tons of blooms but very poor pollination rates. I saw good honeybee numbers using the plants .
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This is their second summer and they are sending up some really big vigorous canes, so maybe you are right , maybe next year’s berries will be better. It’s nice here , just a little bit limited on what I can grow. I did bring a couple of pear rootstocks last fall that I had put 0hxf 87 on and I let my granddaughter help graft them a few weeks ago. She now has a little pear tree that has Clark’s little yellow grafted on it.
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The weather here has been extremely wet , inches of rain per week, I’m wondering if that has caused an issue
We’ve been unusually dry in south La since hurricane ida. All my other varieties seemed to have good pollination and drupelet set so who knows? I’m gonna give them another year and see what happens. If they don’t do good then I’ll replace them. I’m really impressed with the size and flavor of prime ark freedom.
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