North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Bob Hartman" <hartmansfruittrees@wport.com>]

Don,

Where does one buy the Doyle Blackberry?

Thanks,
Bob

> Pat:
>
> My experience with the Doyle blackberry has been much more positive than
> Hector's.  I have been growing Doyle, more or less side-by-side with
> Triple Crown for 6 years now, after have rid myself of various thorny
> blackberry varieties (Darrow, Shawnee, Cherokee etc.).
>
> Here in northern Virginia, the Doyle is a blackberry producing machine,
> outproducing TC by a factor of four or five.  Doyle berry panicles are
> much larger than anything else I have seen, and will continue to ripen
> large quantities of berries at least 10 days longer than other varieties.
> I started with four Doyle plants, and by the third year those plants
> produced over 25 gallons of blackberries.  We filled the freezer with
> them, and I made blackberry wine, using over 5 gallons of pure juice.  I
> have had no sign of disease on either Doyle or Triple Crown here, which
> was not true of the thorny varieties, which regularly suffered from crown
> gall, and various wilts, including, I suppose, anthracnose.  They seem
> bulletproof to diseases here.
>
> The quality of the Doyle berry is not quite up to the Triple Crown
> standard, since it produces a slightly smaller berry, which makes it seem
> a little seedier.  And it can be more tart than some other varieties
> unless allowed to fully ripen on the canes.  But this is true to some
> extent of all blackberries, and if you want a lot of berries for jelly or
> winemaking, or just for freezing for winter consumption, Doyle is hard to
> beat for the sheer volume of berries it will produce.
>
> Both Doyle and Triple Crown require a very strong and tall support trellis
> to achieve their maximum design potential.  Mine is over 6 feet tall,
> using treated 4x4's supported by 2x4's across the top, and three No. 9
> wires stretched across at appropriate heights.  Both are vigorous growers,
> TC slightly more so than Doyle, and will grow thick main canes nearly an
> inch across at the base in rich soil.  The more mulch you can give them,
> the better they like it.  I use stable manure right from the riding
> stable.
>
> I would expect you to be able to winter over Doyle pretty well in northern
> PA, although there could be a little tip dieback.  This is not, however, a
> serious problem if the main canes stays healthy, since these berries fruit
> on laterals that grow in rapidly in spring.  Floricanes can and should be
> removed fairly promptly after fruiting so you can keep them out of the way
> of incoming primocanes.  Don't buy too many of these plants, since they
> tiproot so readily you will soon be able to make all you want of your own.
>  I pull them out and discard them all the time.
>
> Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
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