I’m still in the process of deciding. Here are 3 thornless blackberries for your garden. I was worried when I got them if I picked some decent blacks. Prime Ark Freedom might be its replacement but it is to early to determine. Arapaho is a 1993 release from U of AR breeding program. Through the years we’ve grown small test plots of different blackberries to. I would like to settle on about three varieties that cover late spring through fall. Its the berry my customers ask for by name, Unfortunately it gets orange rust. High-yielding thornless, erect canes with medium-sized fruit with enhanced sweetness and good post-harvest handling traits. When planting, make sure the crown is about 2 inches belo… ‘Helen’ – thornless, relatively compact. Araphaho is one of the earliest fruiting varieties in FL: about 10 days earlier than Navaho, from mid July to August. I found out this year that Triple Crown is also a bit winter tender. Their big negative is that their season is late enough that the second half is squarely in SWD’s crosshairs. Plants are strong upright growing, highly heat and humidity tolerant, and consistent producers. How’s the taste of your Triple Crowns? get rid of any wild blackberry close by. If my Freedoms do well they might be my early and late berries. The key to growing blackberries yourself is to start with 'domesticated' thornless varieties; they will be the easiest and most productive fruit you have ever grown. Ouachita. Navaho is tolerant of rosette but susceptible to orange rust. of Sunset Publishing Corporation. Bill. Thanks for the info! Most all these new varieties have native American tribe names. Thornless blackberries have vigorous canes that must be staked or trellised. Plants ship between January - July, depending on zone. "Black Satin," a notable thornless, mid-season blackberry, produces very large, juicy and sweet fruit. If you like blackberries, these too can be grown successfully in containers. Basic Blackberry Behavior. They tend to be more sensitive to winter injury than thorny varieties and are … I put them where Caroline raspberries used to be (another SWD fodder) and put summer raspberries where Prime Jan (also gets lots of SWD) was. Of my existing thornless: Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our. One of my daughters/grands live in Powder Springs so we pass nearby when we visit. The many varieties come in either upright or trailing plants. And the best part about these—they’re thornless too! Fruit are small to medium-sized with fair flavor. find the best blackberry bushes zone 4 that were easy to care for and provided a good harvest. Not widely available. They did come through the harsh winter better, with growth up to ~4’ and only some dieback.  In the shot above from the Sunset Test Garden, I’ve set up a very simple trellis of wire running between redwood stakes. Rest assured, when you buy blackberry plants for sale online from Wilson Bros Gardens, we safely ship the highest quality container-grown specimens that are ready upon arrival to plant and thrive for years to come in your gardens - Guaranteed! Picking fruit is a summer enjoyment but the prickles can become too much. • Medium size – 7 g • 9-11% SS, reduced acidity • Shipping potential for distant markets • Target use is shipping, local markets and home gardens Raspberries and Blackberries are also known as aggregate fruits, because the whole berry is formed of a cluster of many juice filled sacks called drupelets. Here’s a listing of the best hardy raspberry and blackberry varieties, and what you should consider before selecting which cultivars to plant. Grows like an aggressive wed around here. I agree that Navaho is a good choice, as the berries always taste good and it’s consistently, if not highly, productive. It has firm berries with perhaps the best post-harvest shelf life. Willis Orchard Company offers eight different varieties of these berry plants for sale, as well as three hybrids, thorny and thornless varieties. My Ouachita are large plants too. The canes should be topped at shoulder height a couple of times during the season. It’s good to see others posting that are in a similar zone. Plant blackberries in early spring, about 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost. Like the blackberry varieties from the Navaho® family, most classic blackberry varieties are completely thornless. A lake for everyone, confessions of a pool crasher, and the BBQ king of California. Hardy and vigorous, it is also grown commercially. lime sulfur. Like most other bramble fruits, blackberries bear best on one- and two-year-old canes, or woody stems. The Navaho thornless blackberry shows disease resistance against double blossom, a fungal disease that attacks blackberries. Most blackberry plants available in garden centres are the thornless variety. Generous cropper of medium to large sized fruit with excellent flavour. Triple Crown hands down. ‘Adrienne’ – delicious fruit on strong, thornless stems ‘Black Beauté’ – sweet, fragrant berries with few prickles ‘Loch Maree’ – pretty pink flowers, followed by a good crop of juicy berries. Since then, several different thornless blackberry varieties have been cultivated for fruit gardens. However, these differ mainly in their growth character. Individual testing at a proposed site is the best way to determine if blackberries are adapted to a given site. It has a late ripening period--later than Arapaho and Apache, sometime in late June or early July. ‘Illini Hardy’ has thorns and an erect habit and is probably the most cold hardy blackberry plant available. Thornless vines present a solution for the backyard berry grower. For my area, Navaho by a wide margin. I expect Columbia Star to be excellent also. Individual site considerations include the following: soil characteristics, air drainage, water availability, the previous use of the site, labor availability, and market considerations. Thanks Blueberrythrill. from left). Ouachita- not impressed with the flavor, but I find a good one every once in a while. A neighbor has some triple crown, and they’ve been very productive and very vigorous plants. It produces its high yield of fruit in July—from jam to wine, the Chester thornless blackberry is a winner for gardeners in many climate zones. Copyright © 2020 Sunset Publishing Corporation. varieties of thornless blackberry Compact growers – Loch Ness, earlier fruiting Waldo , and to a lesser extent, Loch Tay are good conservative growers that are happy with a spacing of 4-6’. What is your favorite variety of thornless blackberry? A vigorous but exceptionally manageable variety due to the thornfree branches making maintenance simple. Attractive, small black berries with traditional blackberry flavour, but the eating quality can be variable. that most limits blackberry production in Missouri. Ouachita has also done well, with plants that produce a decent crop of good tasting berries even in partial shade. Yields are 60 percent to 75 percent of those of Shawnee. The Natchez Thornless Blackberry fruits are very large, elongated and glossy black in color. A commercial cultivar with good potential as an early-market berry for shipping, local market production and home garden use. SUNSET is a registered trademark Huge plant. It is considered thornless, but you may find a spine here and there. In addition, studies have shown that this fruit can help fight cancer, decrease cardiovascular disease, and … - Penn State reccs. Does anyone here have experience with Osage? Bill. Are you located anywhere near me in central Alabama? Where the Navaho® varieties have a taut, upright habit, the classic varieties have the typical, arched overhanging habit, with a strong formation of tendrils. It has medium-size fruit with high sugar content and excellent flavor. Nice errect structure, so I haven’t gotten rid of it yet. Navaho has great potential as the first upright, thornless blackberry having the best flavor of any blackberry. The University of Arkansas Blackberry Breeding Program has put forth much time and effort into developing several varieties of thornless blackberries. Quite simply, it is a berry that grows on a cane. I’m testing a few varieties to see if I can work around the peak SWD periods. It was the first semi-erect thornless blackberry to be developed. Good luck, Bill, Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. Weighing in at 8-9 grams each, it only takes 3-4 berries to make an ounce. That’s why I planted the above varieties. Plant these cuttings about 2 feet apart. Fruit quite large, attractive, very good flavour. Growing thornless blackberry plants means you and your family can leave the gloves and long … It is winter hardy with an erect growing habit that requires no trellis. Navajo is the sweetest thornless blackberry plant produced by the University of Arkansas. It might take another season or two to decide. I like the berry but I would really like to try Navaho. Erect varieties are usually established by planting root cuttings. ‘Chester’ is another thornless variety but is probably more foolproof in USDA zone 5. It has been a vigorous and productive plant that starts ripening about mid July. Ponca is the sweetest cultivar released to date. I will get a taste this year. Grow it in full sun or part shade. I believe you will like the Navaho.  For the last three seasons, we’ve been rewarded with bucket-loads of large, conical-shaped berries with a delicious, sweet flavor. I’m in Carroll County, GA, which is right next to Alabama. Thorn free and ideal in a big pot ‘Loch Ness’ – vigorous, with high yields of large fruits on long thornless canes All Rights Reserved. I have one Navajo, one TC and one Osage and will probably just go with one of these for my small patch, but it is first year and no berries. The TC seems to be just slightly sweeter than my others. Apache has done poorly for me, with great looking plants but berries that appear partially pollinated or get white drupes. A good berry for shipping. "Nova" grows in USDA zones 3 to 8. Get fresh recipes, wine pairings, weekend getaway ideas, regional gardening tips, home design inspiration, and more. Wilson Bros Gardens carries a large selection of thornless blackberry varieties. Of my existing thornless: Triple Crown- They have the best flavor of any non-trailing blackberries I’ve seen (Boysenberry and Marionberry are better). ‘Karaka Black’ – thorny, compact plant, suitable for smaller garden. Natchez Blackberries have a 9.5% sugar content which makes them great for jams, jellies, juice mixes or just eating fresh off the bush. Two ‘Apache’ plants are planted either side of the trellis and their upright canes form the walls of what we’ve come to refer to as the berry room. Mid season thornless variety. Good autumn foliage colour. Navaho is the only thornless blackberry variety that has canes that need no trellising. ... Chester Thornless Blackberry. TC has been a heavy producer for me but I share your concerns with the ripening date. Plus, the vines are not only thornless but they’re also upright-growing, making them easy to trellis into a relatively compact space. As anyone who has grown blackberries can attest, finding a suitable spot for a tangle of prickly vines in a backyard can present a bit of a challenge. What is a caneberry? No thorns, no tears! And, in our opinion, the ‘Apache’ variety we’ve grown in the Sunset Test Garden is the best one around. Blackberries thrive in most soil types and tolerate a wide range of moisture conditions. They can handle a little shade but prefer full sun for best … Navaho is an erect blackberry with thornless canes. Fruiting is not quite as plentiful as other thornless varieties of blackberry, but the fruits are known for excellent quality and taste. The vines are a mess most of the year, but then just as you consider pulling them out (or attempting to, blackberries are notorious for returning from runners after being removed) you’re rewarded by a harvest of sun-sweetened berries. There on there way out of my yard as I put in replacements. And, in our opinion, the ‘Apache’ variety we’ve grown in the Sunset Test Garden is the best one around. Pick an area with full sun and be sure to add plenty of compost to the soil before planting to give the plants a good start. That’s why I planted the above varieties. Triple Crown is doing well for me but I’m concerned about it ripening during July and August (planted about 20 more this spring). We sprayed lime sulfur (I hate the danger and the smell) during the dormant period along with multiple doses of fungicide to try to control the leaf and cane rust but the sprays have no impact on the orange rust as far as I can tell. In hybridizing for the absence of thorns, the breeders did not give up berry flavor as is so often the case with thornless varieties. Raspberries and Blackberries are Caneberries. We have grown blackberry a long time but this is the first year we have had a problem with it effecting about 10 out of 300 plants. To ensure success, it is best to buy plants from a garden centre to establish the desirable characteristics. This thornless blackberry plant produces excellent quality fruit, with firm, sweet attractive berries. Thornless vines present a solution for the backyard berry grower. I noticed your in zone 7b. Auburn, have you decided on a replacement? Their big negative is that their season is late enough that the second half is squarely in SWD’s crosshairs. Erect, thorny canes, best supported with stakes or trellis. I have it and Navaho and hope for a decent early berry. I’m getting rid of my Apaches and Kiowas, the Apaches for the reasons mentioned and the Kiowas because I’m continually fighting Anthracnose and Septoria leaf spot. The semi-trailing varieties should be planted 6 to 8 feet apart in the row, with rows 10 feet apart. Arapaho and Navaho both have nice berry clusters formed. Jim rates Navaho as the best-tasting new blackberry. Some blackberry varities grow on erect canes and do not need any support while others are semi-erect and will need trellising. By next summer, you’ll be enjoying the berries just as much as we do. All seem to be growing well in part sun, part shade. In hybridizing for the absence of thorns, the breeders did not give up berry flavor as … The flavor isn’t as good as TC. We have planted test beds of Prime Jim/Jan, PrimeArk, Chester and Black Satin. They produce a huge berry, but you really have to wait until they are very dark before they sweeten. Maybe I should include them in dormant sprays? Few blackberries are ideally suited to container growing. These two similar varieties of blackberries come to us from the University of Arkansas. Due to our really harsh winter this past year my crop is going to be smaller than usual. The First Primocane-Fruiting ,Thornless, SHIPPING QUALITY Blackberry - EVER!!! This maneuver will cost me fruit for a few years, but it will be worth it to lessen SWD’s impact. For best results, plant in half shade or full sun although Merton will tolerate shade and soil with less than efficient drainage. Blackberry Helen, N.Bigandearly or … Arapaho and Navaho are thornless, grow well as far south as northern Florida, produce upright canes for easy picking, and show good disease resistance. Plant Cold-hardy "Nova" is one of the earlier of the summer-bearing raspberry varieties, and bears medium-sized berries. Waldo gives superb quality fruit, but is Calico virus prone and is brittle to grow. Here’s my newly planted thornless blackberries (3’ spacing. Varieties. It was taken this afternoon, after I weeded the bed, but before I applied a good layer of woodchips. Varieties of Thornless Blackberry Plants. The trailing types are less vigorous and should be planted about 4 feet apart, with rows 6 to 8 feet apart. These and other thornless selections don't spread as aggressively as thorny types. Maybe if I decide not grow potatoes any longer, I’ll turn that bed into more blackberries! Their big negative is that their season is late enough that the second half is squarely in SWD’s crosshairs. ‘Prime Jim’ and ‘Prime Jan’ are highly thorned and produce a late crop. Picking ripe blackberries straight from vine has got to be one of the sweetest parts of summer. Blackberries are a member of the Rubus family along with raspberries. If the thought of fighting thorny canes is the only thing between you and a summerlong supply of homegrown blackberries, you're in luck. Triple Crown- They have the best flavor of any non-trailing blackberries I’ve seen (Boysenberry and Marionberry are better). Apache has done poorly for me, with great looking plants but berries that appear partially pollinated or get white drupes. Glad to hear a vote for Arapaho. Unfortunately there is no cure or even a good preventative for orange rust, The only solution is the dig the plant out ASAP, get it out of the field and hope it does not spread to other plants, Orange rust is real common on wild blackberry so. And I will watch for any signs of rust. My canes died back to ~2’ (snow level), but are still flowering and look like they will produce at least a partial crop. Hoping my Freedom primacanes ripens after there peak period. Ship dates are selected during checkout process. It has yields as high as 8,000 pounds or more per acre. Same here with Apache. If you’d like to grow ‘Apache’ at home, ask your local nursery if they can order ‘Apache’ or order online for bare-root vines to plant in January. So I will keep an eye out and hope Navaho stays rust free. I need to try more but so far Navaho, and Triple Crown. The first two varieties may also be grown as self-supporting if need be as the stems are shorter and almost shrubby. Natchez. Apache- it has been a bit of an afterthought for me. Fruit is produced at the tops of the canes where the plants receive the most sun—making harvesting berries a cinch as the ripe clusters dangle at shoulder height. Each variety has it's own set of characteristics. However, the berries are the smallest of all varieties. Navaho. Blackberries, thornless. The blackberry has a much shorter fruiting time than other berries, and the fruit can be quite insipid and tasteless towards the end of the season. Breeding programs have released a number of thornless varieties that are large, taste great, and because they have no thorns, are much easier to harvest than berries found in the wild. Best Blackberry bushes for USDA Zone 4. Cropper of medium to large sized fruit with high sugar content and flavor! Other thornless selections do n't spread as aggressively as thorny types berries that appear partially or! As other thornless varieties of blackberries come to us from the Navaho® family, classic! 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