| Hello all,
Interesting discussion. Most - perhaps all -commercial blackberries are not hardy enough to fruit regularly in zone 4 as far as I can tell. Over the years we have discovered a small number of old large-fruited cultivated varieties in central and even northern Maine. When the blackberries are in bloom, study the roadsides and you will be rewarded from time to time. This past season was a banner year up this way. We find them on abandoned farm sites and as heirlooms on old family farms. They usually no longer have a varietal name, although most probably did so long ago. We trial them around amongst ourselves and offer them in the catalog from time to time. While easy to propagate in small quantities from root pieces, blackberries are not super easy to propagate in large quantities without resorting to TC. We have worked with Tim Nourse (Nourse Farms) in the past in that regard and may do so again this year with one that we like very much. Check out our catalog now and then if interested, or contact me off-list.
Best regards, John Bunker Fedco PO Box 520 Waterville ME 04903 207-873-7333
On Nov 30, 2010, at 12:11 PM, Sherlock Terry wrote: Hi Everyone,
Around me (northern VT) we have lots of wild blackberries (in addition to wild red and black raspberries). The blackberries are ok if you find them at the right time, but don't produce all that well, are pretty small and seedy, and are not overly delicious in my opinion. Based on my experience with the wild ones and the difficulty in finding hardy cultivars, I thought I wouldn't plant any blackberries. Last year I started hearing about some folks with old patches of now forgotten named varieties and this year there were absolutely perfect flowering conditions. You could spot abandoned farmyard blackberry patches a mile away and there were a lot of them. At a local county fair in late July I saw overflowing bowls of giant blackberries entered in the fruit competitions from a number of folks. I also ran into a couple of people with their own stands. The berries were a whole different world from the wild ones! This fall I dug some up from a neighbor and will see how they do on my site. She said they produce consistently with no dieback. They are ultra thorny and about 6' if left unpruned, but I don't thinking the picking is very difficult if they are well managed.
I think there was some discussion about the hardiest blackberries on the list before and I saw that the last couple of years Fedco is selling a similar sounding blackberry to the one I tried and transplanted. Here's the Fedco link:
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/trees/search.php?item=2751&listname=Blackberry
From Lewis Hill (old VT nurseryman b. 1924)
"Few Nurseries carry the older, hardy kinds anymore, so growers in cold areas may have trouble locating a blackberry that will produce fruit. Snyder, an old-time hardy one, is still being sold, but unfortunately, its size and quality are inferior to modern blackberries. Northern growers sometimes find some of the old cultivars on abandoned farms and transplant these to their gardens." Fruits and Berries...p 168
It would be interesting to learn some more of the history around the old varieties. I guess I've never tried non-grocery store blackberries to compare mine with, but I wouldn't describe the ones I tried as small or of poor quality.
-Sherlock
z4 VT
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