When in doubt cross pollinate. Polar aka ‘Nettleton Creamy White’ came from a wild selection in Illinois, any Rubus allegheniensis or wild American blackberry would be its kin.
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From all of my research Its blackberry kin. I am hoping to breed hardiness into it and retain the green color. Sadly the research with the most knowledge on the topic died a couple of years ago tragically.
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That’s unfortunate, may he rest in peace.
If you manage to get the seeds growing, you’ll be able to continue research with it yourself, at least from a horticultural context.
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For those intersted in Snowbank this year.
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One Green World has snowbank on sale now, I ordered the smaller sized one and was pleasantly surprised at how robust and large the plant was to be in a 3 or 4 inch container.
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This years PolarBerry performance is improved but still horrible. Snow bank bloomed so late everything else was done. The funny thing is PolarBerry Illinois bloomed in time with the wild blackberries NJ blackberries but Snowbank which is a improved selection from NJ bloomed extremely late. Hopefully its just a miss fire from its first year flowering.
Snowbank. close to 0 drulets set.
Polarberry also have low but improved druplet setting.
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What are the causes of the poor drupelet set ? I have some 2 year old Kiowa blackberries that had very poor drupelet set this year yet all my other varieties are doing very well.
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pollination. Too cold or wet during flowering. something caused the insect not to be available for pollination. Did you get unseasonabliy hot during flower it could have cooked the pollen.
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Definitely not too cold or wet. I had observed honey bees visiting the flowers consistently. I’m puzzled. I have 3 Kiowa plants in one part of yard that all had very poor drupelet set. I have a single Kiowa about 60 feet away that was about 3 weeks behind the other 3 that had good drupelet set. My prime ark freedoms were flowering at the same time and had no problems with pollination. Could the age of the plant make a difference?
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Next time observe if male stemen turn dark after the flowers have opened. Pollen matures after the flowers have opened so there first receptive to other plants pollen before producing there own.
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I observed them closely during flowering. The stamen were a light yellow when the flower would open and be a light brown color by days end.
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This looks really nice. Is the snowbank one the 1st picture? So the polarberry is the one with the larger berries?
I’m waiting for my polarberry to grow. Its in its first year, so i’ll have to see what the next year will bring.
Recently I did a bit of digging about the iceberg, snowbanks predecessor. Turns out it made it to Europe under the german name “Eisberg” around 1900~ A bit of searching via google books showed me that the variety seemed to have good big fruits, but it was not hardy enough for harsh winters. So canes were dying readily when it got too cold.
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The second two pictures are most likely snowbank. it was planted at the end. The first picture should be polar. I barely had either set a full fruit, thill this year… Bu I would venture to guese they will both be about the same size 1" long
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Last year wasnt a bust but heat stressed and aborted a lot of berries.
This year is looking awesome.
Finaly starting to look like the Luthur Burbank image
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every now and again things look like they do in a nursery catalog (GRIN)
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Can’t get drupelets to form on Polar Blackberry, depsite obtaining plants from 2 sources. A few have a minimal drupelet, most never form. Pleasant mild Winters (z7b) and Springs, Hot humid monsoon Summers,
Lots of flowers, healthy growth (thorny canes, upright to 7 feet), many fruits, but drupelets don’t form, just turn brown
. pollinators seem to be fine for neighborhood wild and cultivated black blackberries. any suggestions? anyne grow white blackberries in monsoon-summer areas?
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if you go back to posts from 2021 you will see my berries looked to be in the same state your now. I also had wild blackberries but pollinators did not care to make the trip. Other blackberries are at different polidicy levels and flowering time so there no help. Polar berries from two different sources are still polarberries. I planted Burbanks Snowbank a year later. Now that both are fully mature this is what I got this year. You should also cut the canes off at the top when they hit 5ft .
@robertbirder Robert my DC brother. I may be able to give you some Snowbank runners next time Im in town.
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Thanks LordKiwi for the encouragement! My mistake, they are Snowbank, not Polar. Not sure of the diffrence. Would polar help with cross-pollination?
the 2 sources were to reduce virus risk. No obvious problems with leaves, stems, etc., which pop up everywhere, with vicious thorns.
Mail ordered plants Spring 2020 so this is their 4th year. for Blackberry canes, I would think mature…
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Luthur Burbank famed breader bred an albino blackberry found in the wild in NJ, named crystal white with other pale blackberries and the popular strain lawton cultivar. Until he got his snowbank released in 1914. My Snowbanks have as many druplets and are about as big as a typical store berry, about 1". Polar was a albino found in South Central Illinois and named Nettleton Creamy White when it was patented in 2006. The berries are about 1/2" when full.
flavorwise both do not taste like extra rich store berries but the Snowbanks defiantly taste more domesticated then the Polars.
They are both rubus allegheniensis and flower at exactly the same time wild berries do. I absolutely believe that cross pollination help them set fruit.
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