Thanks for the follow up Scott. The_gurgler - actually the ones that are growing now are on the first year of growth, so there's no fruit yet, they're just growing fast and tall, so like scott said, I might cut it down to 5-6 feet. On the other hand, the ones that are growing fruit this year, my wife cut it accidently last year to 5 feet (she didn't know, but turned out ok) and there's a lot of fruit on the side growth and the bush is saaaaaaaging. not touch the ground yet. i don't think it will, but seems to have a good 200-300 fruits growing. I did stake the center cane though, but the side growth is drooping with the fruit on it. I also noticed last year, that the bird didn't really come to eat this fruit (I don't think) and hopefully they won't this year either. I have a guava tree that had 3 guava and the birds ate them all. Do you guys have birds or animals eating your blackberries?

but can you just use 100% canola oil that you use for cooking, or what's the difference? Here the differences. Essentially all commercially available horticultural oils (e.g., SunsprayR, ScalecideR, VolckR) are refined petroleum products also known as mineral oils. Impurities in the oil that are associated with plant injury, such as aromatic compounds and compounds containing sulfur, nitrogen or oxygen, are removed. Filtration, distillation and dewaxing complete the production of the finished base oil. Final formulations of horticultural oils are normally combined with an emulsifying agent that allows the oil to mix with water. This mixture usually is used at about a 2 percent dilution. Vegetable oils also can be used as insecticides, although the type of oil can greatly affect its activity. Cottonseed oil is generally considered the most insecticidal of the vegetable oils. Soybean oil, the most commonly available vegetable oil used in cooking, has often provided fair to good control of some insects and mites. You mix 1.5 to 2% oil with water your cooking oil may not mix with water.

I got a "free" Jewel black raspberry from Raintree because I ordered before January 1st and spend enough money. It came in a tiny pot (I presume from tissue culture?). Very wimpy but had a note that it would grow like a weed. It sure did! This year being year 2, I finished picking the crop a week ago. Next year should even be better as the primocanes are much bigger stemmed and Lots of them. I did not realize how huge one raspberry plant could get. I am impressed. Even though I cut off all the tips of the primocanes late last summer when they got to ground level, a few got missed and rooted in giving me 4 free plants this year. A friend was very happy to receive them. My only bad news is birds! The fruit started to turn black but not sweet enough to pick. Suddenly 1/2 of the crop was gone. I assumed my children had picked them but they had not. I then netted the plant with black netting which was successful but some fruits had bird pecks in them. I had anticipated the neighborhood children might be the biggest problem to getting fruit not the birds. Next year I will be more diligent to net them as soon as they start turning ripe.

How long they take to bear fruit depends on what type they are. Fall bearing raspberries (like Caroline & Anne) bear fruit on this year's canes so I will have some fruit this fall. I can't remember if they will bear a light crop next summer on the same canes as well - I'll have to look up when to prune them. Those canes will die and need to be pruned out. The patch will continue to grow as the plants send out suckers and fill in the area. Summer bearing plants (like my Canby and Triple Crowns) bear fruit on one year old canes. I got a couple of berries from my Canby this year and have a few trying to ripen on the Triple Crown as well - they are growing on the part of the plant that was above ground when I planted them this spring. Next year's berries will grow on the canes that grew this summer. If you have summer bearing plants, you'll likely need to bend down the canes (though Triple Crown may be too thick) and mulch them or if they don't bend, try to shelter them somewhat from the dry winter winds to protect next summer's crop. If those canes die, no fruit for you next summer! Also, Caroline and Anne aren't thornless although my Anne bushes don't seem to have very many thorns. I would like to try some black raspberries too but I think it's advised to plant them quite a ways from the reds. I can't remember exactly why, but it may be a disease issue. I'm waiting on getting those for a little while.