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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Blackberry Problem

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  • From: Willie McKemie <mf AT austinfarm.org>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Blackberry Problem
  • Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 08:00:49 -0500

On Wed, Jun 07, 2006 at 06:23:38PM -0500, TxBeeFarmer wrote:
> Last year I planted lots of blackberry bushes. This year, they are
> blooming
> very well, but no berries. I get a small, green, fuzzy, egg shaped, ball.
> I thought these would get larger and become berries, but no. The green
> fuzzy ball just dries up. What's happening? If I didn't know better, I'd
> say the blooms weren't being pollinated, but I'm a beekeeper and the area
> is
> literally swarming with bees. Hope there's an answer out there.

I haven't seen anything like that. Nor have I seen berries that bloom
that late. We are now at the peak of our harvest; as I recall, we were
blooming in March. You are only a couple of hundred miles away? I
would have expected you to bloom by April. Remind me what varieties
you have? Probably, those varieties are just not going to work in your
area.

I'm not aware of the mechanism of berry pollination; they don't seem to
attract insects during bloom. Berries are evident as soon as the
flower opens; even before, if you peel a bud open.

One can evaluate freeze damage before bloom by opening buds; dead buds
will have black rather than green tiny berries inside. Freeze killed
buds will open and look normal, except the centers will contain the
black dead berries.





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