First off, shout-out to @clarkinks and his posts about his families heirloom Blackberries, it inspired me to go get these photos and make this post as well as propogating them in the future!
So, my father has had a patch of volunteer Blackberries growing on a rocky embankment between his teraced gardens for the better part of 25 years. I grew up picking and eating them by the fist fulls without ever realizing not every wild Blackberry is this special.
These Wild Blackberry flower and ripen 3 weeks earlier than any other Blackberry I have ever seen in our area. And they are monster canes with monster fruit!
They have never received any special treatment, other than being pruned back every blue moon when they start shading the gardens, and they just keep pumping out the berries relatively disease free. The one negative thing I can say is these things have some nasty thorns and make it difficult to navigate (they will claw you like a feral cat).
I plan to try a few propogation methods this winter/next spring and trialing it in my field. I’m a little worried about getting them dug out of the rocks successfully, but we shall see.
very interesting. i love blackberries, esp. ones adapted to our weather. i have nelsons from fedco that are fruiting right now. the berries are good but a lot smaller than yours. its the 1st year producing and the severe drought might have something to do with it. when you dig some roots or cuttings, could i get you to send me a few? seeing your in 5b these may make it up here. i could trade for something you don’t have.
I’d always say stuff like that is worth it. Never done it before myself, but I think you can tip layer blackberries. Don’t know the best time of year though.
Are they different from the typical “wild blackberry” that grows in many areas? Of which I’ve seen 'em with canes an inch or more in diameter. And which taste pretty good but oh those thorns… The berries on yours certainly appear larger and more elongated than the typical “wild blackberry” I usually see too.
I can’t speak to other parts of the country, but as far as my local area this patch differs greatly from others as far as size, bloom and ripening times. Most others in this area ripen 3 weeks later than these with much smaller berries.
My friends have a set of blackberries encroaching towards their property from the neighbors/athletic field. I haven’t tasted the berries, but the canes were nearly an inch thick and about 10ft tall. They said the birds got the berries that were leaning over their fence, so didn’t get to taste them when they ripened.
the wild ones here are the smooth/ canadian blackberry of which i have a patch of. they have very few small thorns and canes are maroon in color. the berry is small. about the size of a large wild raspberry but they are prolific and tasty. just like to have a bigger berry.
unfortunately up here the thorned ones are the only ones that will survive here. so if we want blackberries we have to deal with the thorns.;)i do have a row of baby cakes dwarf thornless blackberries. they have good sized tasty berries but are mediocre producers. i still look forward to the berries though. they are late producers on primocanes. they are just flowering now and ripen in mid to late sept.
The fruit and fruiting bracts pictured are similar to Black Satin, a thornless variety. Perhaps yours are a random seedling, with named variety parentage.
This is certainly something I considered, and it’s of course always a possibility due to birds dispersing seed everywhere through our forests. If you clear out any woods around here at all the first thing to sprout and take over is Blackberries (with very few raspberries that never do much).
My father says he’s never seen this type of berry growing around these parts with one exception. When he was a kid he remembers a patch that grew in the corner of our family farm (where my house/garden/orchard is now). They were giant canes growing up out of the overgrown sod that reached 12-15 feet with berries very similar to these in size. This would of been around 1970 (give or take). Those plants are long gone but they grew only about 2-300 yards from where these pictured are growing now. Could very well be a seedling from that patch.
Now the field I mention that had those berries my father remembers has been farmed since the early 1800’s and it is possible some cultivated varieties were planted although I cannot confirm that. I know there was some intentional breeding efforts of peaches in the early 1900’s, my great great grandfather had connections at the Geneva research station among other nurseries (I have some old newspapers that back this up).
Just some background, it could be an escaped cultivated variety or possibly just as likely a true standout among wild parentage.
they are very easy to grow from cuttings in the spring. just stick several cuttings in the soil where you want them. put some mulch around them to keep them moist and most will root and grow.
I’m going to try some leafy stem cuttings as well as tip layering like shown here: https://youtu.be/YP5QHHbV3Vg
I’ll update in a month or so if I get any to successfully root. If these methods fail this year I will attempt to get some root cuttings next spring…I hope it doesn’t come to that because of the rocks they are growing in making digging difficult
you don’t need very big roots to propagate. 1 plant can give you many. green leaf cuttings will root but need extra care to keep from drying out. I’ve used it on currants with success.
I’ve taken a few leafy cuttings from my blackberries and raspberry. the blackberries take longer than other plants I’m use to rooting, but none of the little raspberries have taken root. They were rather small though, just pieces I tried to save after some thinning and pruning. From what I’ve read, if you dig up canes or root pieces when they’re dormant, there’s a much higher success rate. The small plant I tried to dig up didn’t come with enough root as it was a very rocky area, it’s not doing too good. I’ve discovered that the main thicket that I dug it out from is also a fall bearing type!
But, the size alone isn’t reason to propagate this one…as I’ve seen berries two inches long and big as a fat man’s thumb.
If the flavor is unique, if the plant is especially healthy and disease resistant…these would be possible reasons for reproducing a wild vine.
Blackberry seeds apparently lie dormant for DECADES and sprout when conditions are favorable. (Such as after a logging operation, after a forest fire, or even after row crop or pasture farming is abandoned.)
Is it a bad idea to dig up and plant a section of roots at this time of year? Or just wait till it’s dormant and try and get a few whole canes while I’m at it. I’ve read to just select pencil thick roots and cut into 4-6” section, then plant them vertically. But I can’t remember if it had details of best time of year to dig up said section. To my understanding, the “top” of the root forms the new crown, and sends a set of small/thin canes up until it matures.
Edit: found my answer, do it when they’re dormant, and only need a 3” section. How to Plant Raspberry Cuttings | Home Guides | SF Gate
It also is says to take leafy green cuttings late in the summer, which would make sense why the cuttings I took didn’t have success rooting. The blackberry cuttings I made early on are doing fine though, just taking forever to show any growth.
I agree, size is worthless without other good genetics along with it.
The reasons I personally have decided to propagate this specimen: berry size, early ripening ( extends the wild berry harvest/forage for beneficials), relative vigor and health in my area, the story of where they came from, and they are free.
The flavor to me is great. But it tastes like others I’ve had in the area. Nothing really unique about it as far as I’m concerned.
