Charlie:

I grow Doyle, and it is an amazingly productive blackberry, far outstripping any other I have seen. In my climate, it is also disease free. Doyle may not have quite the quality of some other varieties such as Triple Crown, but it's a close call, and in some years it is indistinguishable from TC, although the berries do become somewhat smaller and seedier in its long producing season.

Summer heat would not bother this blackberry at all, and if there is any one issue that could concern you it would be chilling hours. I have heard some reports from the Texas Gulf Coast that lack of chilling hours can lead to poor blossoming on this and other trailing thornless blackberries. You should be able to put doubts to rest by contacting your local extension service.

I don't know why commercial growers would be unaware of this variety unless they have been out of the country for the past 30 years. Sale of the plants has been closely controlled by the Doyle/Severtson families for many years, even though the variety has been out of patent for quite a while. The name "Doyle" is trademarked. I don't know how the distributor would deal with commercial quantities, since I believe they still air-ship tissue cultured, growing plants. I always have extra spreaders and tip-rooters at the end of the season, but not for 5 acres. It might be best to grow a small test plot first before going whole-hog on any variety.

What varieties do your local commercial operators grow? It seems to me that Doyle would be ideal for a PYO operation.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I'm retired commerical grower stay as for as can from Doyle blackberry plants in commerical orchard backyard orchard is ok if in zone 6b or 7a.
Natchez is new variety for commercial and homeowners you should talk to Gary Pense about production in your zone call at 7 pm for phone to ring earily in day it be switch to fax phone/fax number 479.369.2007 you may want talk about your plant needs like price for 4,000 plants. If e-mail through garden web I'll try find in my junk mail.
Thanks Darwin

If you're going to grow commercially, you'll need something with good firmness and shelf life...Doyle doesn't deliver in this area.

The thornless cultivars from Arkansas, while less productive than Doyle, have great qualities for commercial production. Do check on chill hours in your area to make sure that you get enough for whatever variety you choose.

What zone are you in? I am along the Gulf coast 8b/9a. Doyle requires too much chill for me near Houston, TX. The people who sell Doyle lied to me that it would produce here. Don't believe a word they say and don't waste your money on Doyle! If you are near the Gulf, thornless won't work either. Call your local or state ag agent to get a good recommendation. Roseboro produces like gangbusters here.

We have a blackberry U-Pick near Montgomery AL and bought 20 Doyle Thornless blackberry plants 3 years ago to see if the advertisements were true about getting 10-20 gallons of berries per plant. The big reason we bought them was because they ripened much later than our other varieties (Arapaho, Navaho, Apache, Ouachita, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Roseborough and Boysen). This they did do. On average they start to ripen around the 20th of June whereas our others start ripening from the middle to the end of May, with the Navaho being the latest around June 6th or so. As far as production goes, this is by far the best year we've had, but no where near the advertised volume. Right now we've pick off those 20 plants a total of 50 pints (i.e., a litlle over 6 gallons) and they're about halfway through their ripening cycle. However, we believe the reason for this "bumper crop" is because our temps in July so far have been in the high 80's which is unseasonably cool for us. However, the mid 90's are coming back this week, which is normal for this time of year, and we expect only one more picking before they stop ripening all together because of the heat. Bottom line, if your average temperatures are like ours in July and August (e.g., low to mid 90's with high humidity), I would not recommend spending the money buying the Doyles. By the way, our chill hours, for what it's worth, range around 800-850. If you want more information about developing your U-Pick and about the blackberry experiences we've encoutered developing ours, send me an email directly and I'll tell you all I know.

Hope this helps,

Ken Barber
Barber Berry Farm
Millbrook AL

I have Doyle berries and my harvest is about 9 gallon per plant. If you plant 5 acres you would need 3300 plants. You would need to invite the whole state for your harvest. You would need several people just to take care of before and during harvest.