Prime Ark Freedom blackberries - Primocanes starting to bloom along with ripening floricanes

For you Prime Ark Freedom growers. What’s going on here? I thought primocanes bloomed late summer/fall.

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And here’s my next question. This happened after I pruned them to branch out. If I keep tipping, am I able to get continuous blooming until the summer heat kicks in? Everbearing blackberries?!?!

you’re in a pretty warm zone. maybe the primocanes mature sooner in your warmer environment?

@k8tpayaso is close to you and grows PAF, she could comment. IMO, if you tip the primos, that will induce fruiting laterals, which looks like what you have. But, yeah it seems early for primos to start blooming already, but it may have something to do with your climate.

My PAF floricanes were killed to the ground by the cold, but I have over a dozen primos, some getting close to that 30" topping point.

My other primocane blackberry, Traveler, did better with the cold, and is blooming on the floricanes, even has some very small berries forming. There were two primos that were over 3ft, so I topped them yesterday. There are some other canes coming up.

Osage and Ouachita floricanes are blooming too, and some of their primocanes are up over 3ft, but I’m going to wait a bit before I top those. Osage lost a lot of canes this winter, but are making up for it with lots of primos.

Our strawberries have been producing for about a week, bet I’ve eaten close to 2qt already! Almost getting foundered on them. They still have a ways to go, so ready to try some other berries.

Mine are doing the same. Primos fruit about 2 months after floricanes. You can keep tipping them back and delay fruiting. You gotta stay on it everyday. I just gave up…kinda… still try to keep them short or tie them up better. Primos just trickle berries through October/November. It’s not just a big harvest of them.

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It’s not just a big harvest of them.

Hey, I’ll take them. These things are so big and delicious! 60838073_3012175085464962_4380791926668918784_n

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Mine are just now starting to ripen and yes they are big and delicious! And I think primocane berries are even more delicious.

Really nice blackberries and big! How is the flavor on them?
I planted triple crown and Arapaho last year but I still haven’t tasted mine yet. Let me know about the taste and hardiness zone for those Prime Ark Freedom I might try them too.? Thanks

I just noticed that I have a few Primo canes starting to put on bloom buds as well. I still have many more flora cane berries yet to ripen. I just planted them in February. They grow fast…

TFN

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Taste is subjective, but I’m liking them picked right when they turn black or the day after. Sweet and sour seems nice and balanced. I have Osage, Ouachita, and Natchez that still have a ways to go for ripening. This year will be the first year to taste them, so other than the store bought ones( that I have no clue of the variety), I don’t have anything to compare them to. They seem a bit more flavorful than store bought and seem to have a smaller seed. After eating about a quart of the things things morning and seeing how many are still ripening, I think I’m going to be overwhelmed, lol.

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They’re monsters. One of my canes I caught late and it hit at least 7 feet or so. How it was still standing after yesterday’s storm, I have no idea. We had 40+ mph winds.

I gues we are on the same boat but at least you got to tasted those, I still haven’t tasted any of mine yet. Let me know if you want to trade some canes on the future. Thanks

I have seen similar behavior from mine as well. There is an initial floricane crop that is green right now… but I already have new buds emerging on new growth that look like they will bloom and fruit soon.

It may be that in at least some environments PAF doesn’t so much produce two distinct crops per year as it does fruit almost continuously.

I will keep a close watch this year.

I am in zone 7a and mine survived a relatively cold winter last year, low single digits.

I think if you are in zone 8a you will have no problems.

Yeah, zone 8a here. You’re fine. Some of mine even kept their leaves through winter.

I’ll be curious what you think of them, as I have these as well. Do you recall the color of your Osage? Mine had a light purple tint to them.

About how long between flowering and ripe with your PAF?

How many PAF do you have? You may have to buy a freezer just for all your berries when all your varieties ripen!

I recall @Isaac-1 has these varieties, I wonder how they’re doing for him. He’s in your part of the country.

@Ruben Mine have never gone dormant. 2017-2018 had some zone pushing cold for us. 8-9 F on my hill and leaves stayed on. We had a mild winter this last year and I had blooms and small berries that froze in January

I haven’t had a berry from any of the other plants. They started blooming for me at the end of March/beginning of April. 6 or so weeks from bloom to berry seems like such a long time, but that’s when they started according to my notes. We had a late deep freeze(low 20s) and I’m wondering if that might have set them back a bit.

I planted 5 bareroots. I think I could have gone with 3 in the same area and been fine. Absolutely crazy how fast these things fill in a spot.

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Here’s what mine looked like during winter.

And here’s before they started turning.

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Yes I’m on zone 8a and your right they did great through out the winter, they didn’t die down. I know they do well here because other people have them but me because I planted them late on the season last year didn’t get the chance to try them. Hopefully this year I will they are looking good.