I got Ponca, caddo, triple crown, and prime ark freedom from Nourse (first time using them but I hear they are good). From Indiana berry, I got Von, ouachita, and Osage. I also got a few other varieties from various nurseries, along with a few kinds of raspberries. So yeah it’s gonna be a full house of blackberries 
. I’m gonna have probably about 3 varieties in ground, which will mostly like be prime ark freedom, Ponca, and triple crown. Then some where in the ball park of 20 pots for others. Over the next couple years I will slim down if I dont like production or taste of any of the varieties. I hear they don’t need to much fertilizing, but of course that will be different for my potted varieties. I thought about trying some more sturdy tomato cages for some of the blackberries, but that may only work for the more erect varieties.
I hear a lot about this SWD, but have never seen it or know much about it. Are these mainly a problem for blackberries? I dont know if they are problem for my area, but I wouldn’t doubt it .
Sounds like an exciting year is in store for you.
If i can give you advice on your choices- I would put Triple Crown, Osage and Ponca in the ground… those will be keepers i think.
Von is going to be smaller berries, but higher yield supposedly…its been a weak one for me… i dont have high hopes.
Ouachita is good of you have u-pick or farmers markets… it yields high but is a lesser berry than the three main ones.
PAF- could be great if you are in Z7 or above… i will just look at other peoples pics and videos that are having success with it… it just doesnt like my Z6B.
Indiana Berry- i order from them bc they are cheap. Most of what they have sent me over the years look poorly. Maybe you will have better luck.
I have 20 or so wicking tubs that i have played with as far as growing blackberries and raspberries. Yields are smaller, but doable,
Raspberries havent done well at all in the tubs… maybe u will have better luck.
Never had any yellow jacket hits, nor SWD, from what I can tell.
TC would be most susceptible to SWD, being that it ripens the latest. Mine usually aren’t ready until late July/early August.
Earliest ripening varieties are Arapaho, Natchez and Osage. Caddo and Ponca are supposedly earlier than these.
PA Freedom produces floricane fruit in late May/early June. Being you’re in a warmer climate your canes should survive the winter, unlike mine, which have problems with that. It also produces primocane fruit, but in late July until first freeze.
Thanks for all the advice! Looks like I’ll need to squeeze a spot in for the Osage. Hopefully my pots will put out a decent crop. Obviously it wont beat in ground, but I just want a decent crop. Having 15-20 in ground will give me more than enough to make up for the pots giving out less. With your pots, how did you trellis them? I’m still working on figuring that out. As far as the prime ark freedom, I think my climate is suitable. I’m in a rather cold zone 8a, but zone 8a nonetheless. I hear the summer heat can halt production so I may face that. Hopefully I dont have this SWD you were talking about.
Where are you located, if I may ask? Sounds like we both have trouble growing Freedom.
How is Chester taste and production wise?
Trellis is kind of up to you how you want to do it.
You can do a single row of T-posts and 2 wires or two rows of t-posts and 4 wires. Barbless 14ga is the best wire for the money unless you are ok with barbed wire.
With the single row you will by tying canes alot, with the double row you will not.
Triple crown deserves 6 foot spacing and double t-posts if you want to maximize it.
Pruning is up to you… if you want maximum production let the canes go… if you want easy to manage prune at 4ft.
Health is related to pruning weak canes and small canes that dont go past the first wire.
Disposal of all spent canes is a high priority…either very hot compost, biochar, burned as brush or removed from the property.
You will eventually run into every known bug and disease known to exist…its just gonna happen.
Dont go crazy with the chemical fertilizers… try to rely on woodchips and compost if you can. Thats all they really want to be honest.
Be patient with your young plants…they need time to form deep lasting roots. Year 3 is when your mind starts being blown at how prolific they can be.
You dont have to use t-posts…but whatever you use will need to support 100s and 100s of lbs of weight lying on the wire but that depends on your spacing and how you manage the plant. Depending on your post spacing and the gauge of wire. Some varieties are more erect and need less trellising. Triple crown is not that variety.
That’s how I trellis my Triple Crown. One wire strung at about 2 foot and another at about 4ft above ground. There were originally 6 plants (in 2018), spaced about 5-6ft gauge. There are three 6ft t-posts spaced about 12-14ft apart to accomodate the whole row.
Since TC is a trailing variety, I weaved the canes along the wires. The wire is single strand plastic coated clothesline. Think it’s about 14 or 16 gauge.
I usually kept the old or dead canes pruned out, but the last couple years, it’s been somewhat neglected and is a big mess. Also a lot of the wayward canes tip-rooted, so I’ll be moving those to new locations.
Here is a really new review of all the newest berries on the market.
Horizon is at about the 26min mark.
I’m planning out my blackberries for next year and wanted to share how my primocanes are doing:
Prime Jan will be going away this winter. No more thorns for me. Especially when PA Freedom is producing larger, sweeter (the worst PA Freedom was about the same as the best Prime Jan) berries from more erect canes.
At 17 grams, my largest PA Freedom were actually bigger than the videos “up to 16 grams in cool areas”.
I’m planning to get more PA Freedom at Pence, along with more Ponca. I have some Ponca at a rental and they just produced for the first time. Smaller berries and not super sweet, but they weren’t bad (lower acid) and I liked their growth habit (erect, not so vigourous that they need too much tipping/maintenance). I have to tie up most of my erect varieties, but Ponca might be OK on it’s own.
Is PA Traveler worth looking for? Pence doesn’t have it.
Pence does have Twilight and Galaxy. Even though they are supposed to be only semi-erect, I may give one or both a try. I like the idea of a firmer berry. When I see a soft berry, it’s always a question of: is it going to be very ripe and sweet, or is it soft because it is infested with SWD. Having a blackberry which is good without getting soft would help…
I dont think so. Almost everywhere has pulled it… Lowes etc had them for a year or so and still nobody talks about them hardly.
I would wait on Twilight and Galaxy (i have plants going)… for Zodiac and Celestial…which may hit nurseries next year. However go with Twilight and Galaxy if you want a different version of Triple Crown. I think Twilight Galaxy and Eclipse will all fade away soon… nobody really talks about them or seems interested as far as i can tell.
My Prime Ark Horizons are ripening now and they are fantastic flavored. But you dont like thorns…
Yup, no more thorns for me. And I am working to get rid of what I have. That’s mostly Prime Jan, but also Boysenberries, which also have another strike against them of being trailing. Trailing is a lot more work- they go everywhere and I make a mess of things trying to not mow them, then break them later when trying to move them onto a trellis, all while poking myself with thorns.
I added Colombia Giant due to the massive berries (hopefully I get to try some next year), but don’t see myself doing any other trailing ones. So, Zodiac is out. Celestial looks like a possibility. Where did you hear about it? I only found the patent application.
Ponca is the latest from the U. of Arkansas program. I bought a pair of them from Ison’s earlier this year. I believe U. Ark is currently working with Pair-Wise on their next cultivar which will feature genetically suppressed genes. This is different than previous genetic techniques with plants.
By the way, most of us refer to the spikes on Rubus as thorns but the research community calls them spines since they are not true thorns.
I have it, it’s a decent primocane variety, but the berries are smaller than PAF. It’s been producing pretty well on the primocanes now, but PAF is really putting out the berries, and big ones too. They are both not ideally suited for my location as I’ve got a lot of winter kill of floricanes. But they do produce well on the primo’s. If you are getting rid of your thorny Prime Jan’s, Traveler is a decent replacement, unless you want the massive PAF berries. PAF also suckers like crazy here.
My Ponca are a couple years old also and for some reason producing some berries, even tho I thought all the floricanes got fried last winter. Some folks on here suggest maybe it’s laterals off those floricanes that are producing, but I don’t know. Fruit taste experience is similar to yours, not overly sweet, but also doesn’t have that ‘wang’ of the other UA berries. Fruit size is small, probably smallest of all my thornless varieties, and I grow 7 of them. Ponca seems to sucker quite a bit, compared to my other floricane berries, and also has shown to have a pretty upright growth habit.
‘Thunderhead’ will be the USDA’s first Primocane Variety release.
https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=395507
Other options available are Black Gem, Black Magic and Sweet Giant which are all grown under private names by Gurney’s and Stark Bros…and are all U of Ark releases that they send to the rest of the world under other names.
Reuben is a variety grown in Europe and the rest of the world and is being talked about heavily in those markets. Its a U of Ark variety also… and i think its very likely PA Horizon. PA Horizon will not make it in the US market due to thorns… so financially it is a failure here. However by changing the name i think the Europeans and the rest of the world are thrilled to have it. I think its a fantastic plant and berry… but it does fruit very late like late Sept/Early October and Americans dont really think about blackberries in the Fall. So its not popular here and i doubt that it will be.
At this point U of Ark is mostly competing with itself with primocane varieties… so it makes sense for them to market to the rest of the world mostly.
I think Thunderhead will be a great addition… and welcome competition to U of Arks.
‘Thunderhead’ is the first primocane-fruiting blackberry variety released by the USDA-ARS breeding program in Oregon.
This statement does not match what I observed at the XIII International Rubus and Ribes Symposium in July.
You are correct. I will amend my statement.
At this point U of Ark is only competing with itself in primocane blackberry plants available for purchase by American citizens.
This is incorrect for multiple reasons.
First of all, primocane blackberries released from U Ark have been a research community effort. Its principle players are from several university and governmental sites, including Oregon State / NCGR Corvallis, U. Arkansas, NC State, and USDA-ARS Beltsville MD – plus a few from overseas, including Harvey Hall of New Zealand.
Second, the funding of these efforts is from both U.S. government and industry grants, primarily Driscoll.
Third, the major talent in this effort are graduates of Corvallis, including the director of the program at U. Ark.
Nearly all the players are listed as authors in this recent publication:
Please list all primocane fruiting blackberries that are available for purchase by me an American citizen that does not have the Prime Ark trademark or wasnt bred by the University of Arkansas Fruit Breeding Program for sale by Gurneys or Stark Bros under their private label names such as Black Gem, Heaven Can Wait, Sweet Giant, Black Magic etc.
Please give correct answer… I am a serious buyer.
Please list all of them.