>> Pinching the primocanes (removing the growing tip) in July to >> stimulate growth of laterals will also delay fruiting. This is sometimes >> done to delay harvest until after the intense heat of July. Thanks Shazaam, That's a helpful tip. We definitely have hot dry weather during July and August here in the Shenandoah Valley. A bit of a delay might improve my berry quality.

Gmshack - I have read of using both plastic and Agribon, but haven't gotten around to the plastic part yet. There are two main issues with overwintering and some studies suggest that dehydration is a bigger problem than cold tolerance in cold climates. I used drew 51's technique of Wilt Stop this fall, so we will see if it prevented desiccation. I also used two layers of Agribon. I find that one layer does not provide the protection that the company claims. I start covering mine around late August when our first frost hit. This is both to protect berries and reduce temperature shock from early season frosts. In the spring, I am leaving the Agribon on for a few weeks. This next spring I will leave it on until each variety begins to flower. This substantially increases growth for me (in our very cool Mays) and hastens flowering by a few weeks. I do remove it on days with temps over 70F. Desiccation is a real problem for me since our ground is frozen solid for at least 6 months out of the year. Add to this that preliminary probing this last summer suggested that blackberry roots up here only extend 3 or 4 inches into the ground (it is too cold below that, with an average annual temperature at 3 ft of around 31F). In this situation I believe that the roots cannot take up water to replace what the canes transpire during the winter and they end up desiccating and dying way back (from 8-10 ft long to about 2 ft). We will see. As far as the weed block, it will probably not increase the soil temperature as much as removing it. I'm not sure of this as I don't have experience with it in the Lower 48. Up here, it must be removed in the spring for about 4 weeks to allow the soil to thaw and then reapplied. Your soil is already thawed and substantially warmer, so you shouldn't have to do this. What I think I get from weed block is increased heat above it = though I have no data to show that. I just know that of two Wild Treasure plants I have (that are one year different in age), the one grown over weed block is much more vigorous than the other. I trellised the very vigorous one last year and it continued to grow strong even though most of the canes were not directly lying on the weed block. A study at Oregon State Univ. also supports this. However, Wild Treasure is a crown-forming variety, not a spreading variety like the ones you have, so covering around it with weed block is a simple process. I do not grow primocane blackberries because the season is too short and there is insufficient heat. Everyone of them has died completely. I have one Triple Crown left and a very wimpy (it grew 2 whole inches this year) Chester. Neither has canes that survive - but then I have not covered them. I am guessing that if your TC canes survive and leaf out, but don't flower, that the flower buds are damaged by the cold. Flower buds on many plants are much less tolerant of cold than non-flowering buds. I have two varieties of erect blackberries that I am trialing that might be of interest to you. They are Nelson and Stenulson. Stenulson has been in the ground for several years, but moose have browsed it down each year and voles girdled anything that was left. Thus, I don't have an idea of its ripening season, but it is likely too late for me. It grows pretty well here and is spreading (unlike TC and Chester which only get smaller each year). I have had a few green canes survive the winter and start to leaf out and then die because they were girdled by voles at the base, so it is pretty hardy (though these were covered by snow mid-winter, when air temps dropped as low as -35F). I just got Nelson last year and it actually flowered earlier than any other erect I have. Its berries are somewhat frost tolerant, as well, to at least 28F. It still did not ripen early enough, but it was in a pot and not established. The timing could change in the future, especially if I put an Agribon "sack" over it early in the season. Both of these are thorny. I got Balsor's Hardy Black from the USDA germ plasm repository this fall, but it failed to root before it rotted. This is another possibility, but it is not commercially available in the US. Happy New Year!

You need to fill in the basins. I know what you are trying to do, but unfortunately the basins won't serve your goal. The ground around the basins is saturated anyway, so the basins are only prolonging water saturation around the roots/crown. Wet feet is a strange phenomena that may be somewhat counter intuitive. Excessive water kills/damages roots. Roots not only supply nutrients, but also water. So the damaged roots can't supply enough water (even when they're standing in it). Then the dry season comes and the situation is exacerbated because the damaged/underdeveloped roots struggle to pull water out of the already dry soil. It would be the equivalent of starving someone of water, then forcing them to drink 3 gallons, overloading their system. Neither of which does the person very good. The answer is to try to drain the prolonged soil saturation away, so the roots remain healthy. Healthy roots are better positioned to pull water out of drier soils. If you want to collect water, I'd suggest storing it in rain barrels, then using it when the ground is dry. All that said, my experience with blackberries is that they will tolerate fairly wet soils, but I would avoid letting them stand in water as your photo shows.

Well good to hear your Freedoms doing so well in SoCal, i double pinched last year and i got nothing due to frost so i'm guessing the warm weather is in your favor since tipping twice delays the fruit set quite a bit in New York....but yes these are monsters alright, the Primocanes are over 4 foot tall already it's still May so hopefully i'll get a Fall Crop this year. I did notice after pinching the Primocanes at 12-15 inches early that they set a lot of laterals as intended, great new variety this Freedom can't wait as my Floricane berries are about Almond sized now and lots of em too !. here's a pic below of my Apaches ( Left) and Freedoms....lottsa blooms