Any thorns this time year in zone 7 should be from last year and be hard. Soft thorns are on raspberry plants. Thorns be on plant between buds of blackberries if you seeing this soft thorn around bud union its not thorn.

Keepitlow,

Apache is genetically thornless. I've not seen anything that even hinted at being a thorn on Apache. Considering the source, my guess is you got something other than Apache.

Thanks.

How disappointing. Lowes can't seem to be trusted for dependable labeling.

I bought a Heritage raspberry last year and got something else. (I think it was a Latham) Their bare root berries I bought also died. Their nectarine tree I bought never sprouted. Also has similar problem with bare roots from Sams.

But these blackberries looked nice, so I thought I'd give them a try. What sort of blackberry has thorns?

KeepItLow-
Unfortunately, this story has been repeated many times here... the Big Box stores mislabeling plants, selling plants that won't fruit (or even grow) in your zone, and not knowing about the plants their selling. I got suckered into the carton'd raspberries from Home Depot way back and that was a big mistake. (wound up digging up all the dead canes and got my money back what a waste of time) That said, I have gotten other plants from the big box stores and been OK. I may get some Boxwoods at HD tomorrow... but never fruit plants.

Wow, confusing a Latham (a summer raspberry) for a Heritage (a fall bearing raspberry) is a big disappointment. It means you'll have to wait an extra year for your berries. I do know that HD does often sell Latham in those cartons though.

Kiowa, Shawnee, Illini Hardy, Chickasaw, Prime Jim, Prime Jan are all thorny. But, with such good thornless varieties out there, I'm really not too interested in trying them.

I'd be disappointed too. How long have they been in the ground? You could try to get your money back, but then you're in the "wait for another full year for blackberries" cycle.

-Glenn

Thanks Glenn.

They are not in the ground yet. Yes, can take them back.

Is there any advantage to planting thorny blackberries over thornless?

Hi Keepitlow. I'm glad to hear that they're not in the ground yet, and you didn't loose 6 months of growing time before you realized the mistake. For me, I haven't found a reason to grow Thorny over Thornless... but then again, I've never grown Thorny ones. At the local U-Pick, the Thorny ones are vicious! Most of the blackberry advice here is Triple Crown for best flavor, Doyle for insane production. I planted both a couple days ago. I already have Chester, which I like, because I have nothing to compare it to... but others diss it a lot. Maybe someone else can come up with a good reason to plant a Thorny blackberry... but I can't.
-Glenn

Agreed, no thorns on any of my hundred of so Apache Blackberry plants. One advantage of some (i.e. Kiowa and Chickasaw) thorned varieties is an real advantage in production over the thornless varieties. But considering my great experience with Apache's, I would recommend this variety.

> Maybe someone else can come up with a good reason to plant
> a Thorny blackberry... but I can't.

Having tasted Kiowa and Triple Crown, I decided to grow Kiowas in addition to Triple Crown. I only tasted them one season, and not at the same time, but my experience was that the Kiowas were considerably better. There were other thorny berries that tasted as good as the Kiowas. But the size of the Kiowas blew me away. I dig big berries, what can I say. I wonder if I'll feel the same when I'm tearing out the dead floricanes.