Berries

[Dak]

I planted blackberries back in 2011, after researching what type of berries do well with hot summers. After reading all the accounts of berries that essentially take over an area, I grew a cover crop, added organic fertilizer, rototilled it in, then put my berries in and sat back and waited. And waited. Very few canes, and the ones that did appear hardly grew 2 feet. Nothing even reached the first rung of the trellis I had built.

In 2013 I started working with a professional soil consultant and began doing custom soil mineral amendments. This is my second year balancing the soil.

What a difference!

Olallieberry


Boysenberries, leaves are looking a bit anemic in this picture, but you can see the vines are loaded with fruit!


I'm also growing Triple Crown and Navaho Thornless, Triple Crown is just blooming now, so *hopefully* I'll have berries to pick later this summer. TC & Navaho are nowhere near as vigorous as the Olallieberries and Boysenberries are. Though maybe with time?

[BucksCountyGirl]

Wow...those berries looks amazing, DAK. Great job!

[Sun City Linda]

Beautiful!

[Jayc]

They look so good, my mouth is watering!

[Kazfam]

Fantastic!

Ours are wild and we have tons around the property - just starting to turn red - need to be black. I make the best jam out of them.

Japanese beetles LOVE the leaves so we have to act quickly when harvesting. We have an incentive though - knocking off the beetles into a jar of water and feeding them to the chickens. The birds absolutely love Japanese beetles.

Cuts down on the chicken feed.

[drew51]

Good job! I grow blackberries too. My challanges are really different. Mostly a very cold environment. Raspberries do very well here, but blackberries need work!
I have Triple Crown, Boysenberry, Tayberry. Wyeberry, Chester, Colombia Star, Loch Ness, Black Diamond, Natchez, Burbank's White, and Nettleton's Creamy White. I lost Navaho, Apache, and Logenberry to the cold this last winter. Almost all floricanes were winter damaged. I will protect them much better this coming winter. So I pretty much lost my crop this year.
Again great job, maybe feed that Boysen berry well after harvest!

[rags57078]

I'm just getting started with my berries , dang now I have to start looking for suckers or starts . I have a very large tree covered bluff on my north side so I get protected from them north winter winds . Any tips on good places to buy from that is reasonable ?

[drew51]

Indiana Berry and Nourse Farms are top rate, but they may be sold out of many as it is very late to plant. Both are top rate nurseries, you will be happy with anything from them. Best to figure out what works best in your area. Local independent nurseries would be a place to go too.

[rags57078]

I'm in zone 5 but also have a heated greenhouse at work that I can have a few potted plants in

[drew51]

Zone 5 it's not a bad time to plant out. I did notice they are sold out of a number of items. Indiana Berry, you can buy just one plant. My only complaint, as I don't need three of each. Blackberries can be propagated easy, if I did. Still nice superior product for sure.

[rags57078]

In will have to check them out , Thanks

[Dak]

Originally Posted by drew51

Good job! I grow blackberries too. My challanges are really different. Mostly a very cold environment. Raspberries do very well here, but blackberries need work!
I have Triple Crown, Boysenberry, Tayberry. Wyeberry, Chester, Colombia Star, Loch Ness, Black Diamond, Natchez, Burbank's White, and Nettleton's Creamy White. I lost Navaho, Apache, and Logenberry to the cold this last winter. Almost all floricanes were winter damaged. I will protect them much better this coming winter. So I pretty much lost my crop this year.
Again great job, maybe feed that Boysen berry well after harvest!

Drew, could you answer a question for me, right now I have this years new vines trailing laterally underneath the berry vines. Once all the berries are finished, I plan to cut off the old berry vines. Then, should I lift the new vines onto my trellis, would being lifted up expose them to cold damage this winter? Or should I wait until they leaf out again to weave them onto the trellis?

Sad to hear that you lost so many canes, this winter was pretty rough.

[Dak]

Originally Posted by rags57078

I'm just getting started with my berries , dang now I have to start looking for suckers or starts . I have a very large tree covered bluff on my north side so I get protected from them north winter winds . Any tips on good places to buy from that is reasonable ?

I used berriesunlimited when I ordered my berries. I remember I was going out of town and had asked them to ship for my return, and got them the day I left.

All went well though, I just unpacked them and gave them a drink. They were fine to plant when I got back, just a bit of unexpected stress, LOL.

[Dak]

Originally Posted by Kazfam

Fantastic!

Ours are wild and we have tons around the property - just starting to turn red - need to be black. I make the best jam out of them.

Japanese beetles LOVE the leaves so we have to act quickly when harvesting. We have an incentive though - knocking off the beetles into a jar of water and feeding them to the chickens. The birds absolutely love Japanese beetles.

Cuts down on the chicken feed.

Must be nice having wild berries, I bet your jam is wonderful!

[heirloomtomaguy]

I love ollaliberries! They always remind me of awesome pies that we buy from the Avila farm up there on the central coast. Oh great now i want pie.