Blueberrier1, I too don't have any of your wants and nothing much is up/awake up here yet. I'd be interested in a couple of both the raspberries and blackberries...hopefully a little later. Might there be anything of interest on my plant list? Maybe I could send postage for the berries when you need to get them gone/traded, and I could then send you some things for postage when things awaken more here. Each spring I have to delete a few things it seems that either did not make it or suffered from the winter. Where are you located in KY? I am 30 miles north of Louisville. Might you be interested in the Louisville swap held sometime in early June? Sue...chemocurl

Just type in Doyle blackberries on your search engine and their site will show up. They originated here in Indiana and sold to an outfit in Texas. The original familly got it back and I think they are now back in Indiana. You can contack them but you may not get any this spring.

Brian: There is no reason why the Apache blackberry should not do well in coastal South Carolina. I don't think I would be concerned about inadequate winter chilling hours, since this blackberry is grown as far south as Florida. Hot, humid summers is just what blackberries like, so long as the soil they are planted in is not allowed to dry out completely. I know that you have had an unusual dry period in SC this season, and in these conditions you would want to water the plants deeply about once a week, especially if your soil is light and sandy. But you can help this situation by mulching the plants with whatever organic mulch you can find, to help hold moisture in the soil and feed the plants. I use stable manure that consists of about 70% wood chips and 30% horse apples, but chips or sawdust from lumber mills, compost, or even grass clippings would be fine. I grow the trailing thornless Triple Crown and Doyle here, and we are picking their big berries right now, with the season extending to about the last week of August. Apache sounds as good or better than what I am growing, although it is hard to beat Doyle for total production. We just made our first batch of blackberry jelly tonight with a mix of these two varieties, and it is pretty good stuff. You can't buy anything of this flavor and quality. If you like blackberries, put your Apaches in this fall. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I am not sure about fertilizer this time of year. Go to Google and type in growing blackberries, you can get better info from there than I can give you. They will also show how to build a trellis. Our first picking was Wed. Guess I should plant a acre of them, two women have called and requested all the berries we will have this year. In case you forgot they are Triple Crown. Can have you more plants next spring, just be sure and remind me as I am having problems with my memory and age is not helping. My writing is terrible and you a school teacher, please don't fail me for trying to answer you. Norm