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Anyone else have experience growing blackberries despite orange rust?

Ginda

 

 

I have been growing some blackberries for the past several years. Last year I put in ten of each - Prime Jan and Prime Jim and six Triple Crown. Last fall I had a fairly good crop of the "Primes", they were great, large and very tasty, they are also very thorny. I cut them back to the ground except for four plants of each that I wanted to maintain as usual blackberry culture and see what the floricanes would produce this year. I thought that I would get an earlier crop from the older canes. I do not see a great deal of difference. I liked them so much that I put in 25 more this spring.

 

The six plants of Triple Crown grew like gangbusters, on a trellis. Early in the spring I cut much of the runners back to a more manageable size and they are producing right now. Great berries, lots of them and no thorns. There are also a lot od new canes growing that are a bit hard to manage on the same trellis as the fruiting canes now, but it is doable.I am well pleased with the whole project.

 

Both the blackberries have produced excellent fruit and a good yield. I think that the "Primes" may be a bit sweeter and better taste, but it is pretty much a toss up.

 

I have a lot of wild blackberries and raspberries in the general area and have tried to keep them cut out where I can because of the orange rust. I have not seen any of it on the cultivated plants at all.

 

 

Ed Mashburn
Central PA
Zone 5A