Larry:

You have built the classic Triple Crown support system. Mine is now 10 years old and strong as an ox. I hope you used treated lumber throughout. I think 3 wires is about right, although it could be reduced to 2 if spacing is appropriate.

You will soon be picking buckets of Triple Crown berries, but now you need to focus on mulching, preferably something with manure in it if you can get it. Cow manure, horse stable manure -- anything you can get. Compost is good too. Wood chips alone will not supply enough nitrogen to get the canes up to a really thick caliper. The thicker the canes, the healthier the laterals, the more blossoms, etc. etc.

When new canes get to the top of your structure, lop them off with your pruning shears, unless you want them to arch down and tiproot to produce more plants. This is a very vigorous variety of blackberry, and needs to be controlled or it will turn into a tangled mess. When your laterals start to grow in (2nd season) they will completely fill up your wires. I tie mine up with plastic covered wire, the cheap kind you buy in small reels.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Nice thick looking cane there. I have a blackberry (not sure of the variety) that throws canes of over 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Silly question, but are the blooms white or pink on Triple Crown?

~Chills

Chills:

Triple Crown blooms are white. Doyle blooms are pink. That's how you can tell the difference if they get mixed up. Of course, the other way is to wait until they produce, when Doyle production is about double or more that of TC, but seedier, tart berries. Doyle is a great winemaking berry.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I guess mine are Doyle then (I have a TC I bought last year, but it has not done much yet as I have moved it three times). They are tart and produce like gangbusters. I got mine from tip rootings from my mother-in-law's plants.

~Chills

Thanks for the advice on the mulching. There are both cows and horses pastured nearby so I shouldn't have any problem getting plenty of manure. I'll pull back the woodchips that are right around the plants and replace with the manure.

Don, my "Triple Crown" blackberry has light pink blossoms.

The site I linked says the blooms are white but shows a very slight pink tinge. The blooms I saw yesterday on mine seemed more clearly pink than those. I wonder if weather or other conditions may have some affect on the color?

This is the first year mine have bloomed and the blooms seam significantly later than my other blackberries, most of which have decently sized fruits on them.

Hmm, I wonder how credible the site I linked is. They claim a height of 3-5' :)

Here is a link that might be useful: link with picture of Triple Crown blossom

Murky:

3-5 feet for Triple Crown? More like 20 feet, it allowed to grow unchecked. Not a joke. I have actually had them go over 20 feet. That's not a good thing though; they should be chopped back well before that. And mine are in ideal growing conditions, in full sunlight and soil built up for years with stable manure.

I don't know why your TC blooms would be pinkish. Sounds a little suspicious. If, when they bear, they have racemes larger than normal with many, many berries they might be Doyle or something else.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Yes Don,

I've heard your tales of TC growth and production and in large part that inspired me to plant them when I found the space. That's why I put the smiley after the "3-5'" statement and why I made the comment about the credibility of the site.

I can't easily think of how they could have made that type of mistake other than perhaps they considered 3-5' a reasonable spacing between plants and accidentally printed that in the "height" category.

I have been reading your posts with interest, as I have a boysenberry patch that is just coming into maturity. As of now, I have them draping themselves over some concrete reinforcing wire in a circular pattern. The vines are coming up through the openings and there is significant space to allow for air movement underneath.

Actually, while not a convenient system for picking, it seems to be working fairly well for the plants/vines overall developement.

This summer, however, there is a significant number of large thick vines developing, which someone in these forums described as "growing up" but apparently these are the developing vines for next year's growth - but significantly thicker, more thorny and longer than any previous growth. At first, I thought of sucker growth, but on inspection of the pictures posted above, these are apprently natural next year's growth.

So - I appreciated seeing the nice trellis work. I would like to utilize some timber bamboo that grows in my yard - and to date, other than use as compost and bean poles, is not utilized for anything else. I'm wondering if this bamboo can be set into concrete as - say 2 x 4 wood, or is it not suitable for this type of construction. I've searched for bamboo construction - but there seems to be a lack of stability on ground contact as far as strength is concerned.

Anyway, I appreciated seeing the pics of the trellis that larry_t posted, and it has cleared up questions about my own overgrowth of vine structure, and perhaps how to treat in the future. By the way, I had a bumber crop of boysenberries, best ever.

Thanks for nice postings.

Bejay

Bejay:

Bamboo set in concrete would break down very quickly because of the alkalinity. Same thing happens to wood, which is why it is a bad idea to set wooden fenceposts in concrete.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I agree with Don, I don't think bamboo would work.

My trellis is made with 4 x 4 treated lumber, 10' long and set three feet into the ground, which leaves 7' above. The 2 x 4 on the top are treated 16' long, which gives a total of just under 32' long for the trellis. The wire is high tensile electric fence wire. I used that because I had some extra around the house from putting a fence around the garden.