North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Mark Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>]

Thanks Michael,

I haven't  heard anybody talk about this, so it must not be much of a
problem.  I had wondered if my fairly new blackberry patch is already
contaminated.  This spring  was the first bloom for most of the plants.  One
of the rows (Quachita I think) had one plant that clearly bloomed earlier
than the rest.  It was right in the middle of the row.  Yet in all other
respects (size, flavor) it seemed the same as the other blackberries in the
row.  I had wondered if the nursery where I got them, accidently sent me a
cross.  Around here, I'm told (from a commercial fruit ag extension person)
commercial plantings are replanted about every seven years.  That sounds
awful quick replanting to me, but I suppose it would solve the problem of
crosses creeping in to the planting, if that were a problem.

On another issue, have you ever heard of anyone trying to grow Triple Crown
without a trellis?  I have one row on a trellis, but thinking of adding
another without the trellis.  Looking for a lazy way to grow them.

Mark
KS




Michael wrote:

Well I think it depends a bit on the berry.  The trailing blackberries we
grow here as well as the thornless semi-erects like Triple Crown are crown
forming so it's pretty easy to catch small seedlings coming up between the
plants when managing other weeds either through sprays or mechanical
removal.  For the erect blackberries or for things like red raspberry (black
raspberries too, in commercial settings) which are managed as hedges I
suppose it's more likely to be an issue, but in a healthy, relatively dense,
planting seedlings have a limited chance to get established and are quickly
outcompeted.  I don't think most growers generally worry about it, and I
suspect that a lot of commercial plantings get turned over before the number
of off types in a field would really be noticeable at all.  Having said
that, there are fields of 'Marion' here in the Willamette Valley that have
been in production for 30 or 40 years.

We do have a small problem in our research plots with the occaisional
Himalayan Blackberry getting established in our fields.  When this happens
and we notice it, we generally rely on mechanical removal and a little bit
of roundup.

Michael


Michael Dossett
Corvallis, Oregon