North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Scott Smith <scott@cs.jhu.edu>]

Melissa, in my area we usually have snowcover only a few weeks of the year 
(last year being a mammoth exception) so I can't rely on a regular snow cover 
as Jim can.  Depending on how reliable your snowcover is you may also need to 
cover them.  I also don't know how they will do in 5a, that is more than a 
zone warmer than mine.  That said I'm happy to sell you a few to trial, just 
send me an email to reserve them.

Scott z6/7 MD

On Dec 14, 2010, at 12:37 PM, Jim Fruth wrote:

> Melissa wrote, "............I've also been hearing good things about laying 
> the canes down and mulching them................."
> 
> 
>   From my experience, you don't need to mulch your blackberries.  All you 
> need to do is weight them down to be covered with snow.  A downside to 
> mulching would be having to remove the mulch from all of the prickles.  I 
> tried mulching a few plants once and never again.
> 
>   As for how much sunlight blackberries need, I have some that only receive 
> filtered sunlight and they perform as well as those that receive morning 
> sun that perform as well as those in full sun.
>