Blackberry Winter Survival 2015
calfee20
9 years ago
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jtburton
9 years agodrew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Blackberry winter survival in zone 6a/5b 2014
Comments (11)Update on blackberry winter survival (three weeks later)… Uncovered Plants - Black Satin (no winter damage). These were low to ground so maybe some snow protection. - Triple crown (some winter damage) - approx. 20% die back). Seem to have handled the winter fine but some dieback, primarily on the thinner canes). - Ouachita (some winter damage) - approx. 10% die back). Almost no dieback…surprising because I thought they would be less hardy than other erect varieties. - Kiowa (significant winter damage - approx. 75% die back). At first I thought these had overwintered well, but two of the four plants didn’t leaf out and the other two were significantly damaged. This variety has had some health problems over the last two years with (2 of 6 previously dying). Since this year’s crop was a loss and I have had problems with this variety in the past, I decided to replace them with a newer, thornless variety: Von Blackberry. - Prime Ark 45 (significant winter damage - approx. 50% die back). Honestly, some of the dieback may be from the primocane fruiting sections from last fall, but what is left seems to be growing well now. I think I’ll make these a primocane only crop after this season. - Wild Treasure Trailing. In ground planting - left uncovered and plant died back to ground. Potted planting (covered) lost most of its cane length. Given space and effort, not sure this variety is worth keeping. - All raspberries were uncovered and nearly all had no noticeable winter damage. I even had a blackhawk black raspberry and two double gold raspberry plants in pots just sitting in the open and both plants are growing really well and blooming. - I did have two canes on the Cascade Delight raspberry that died during the winter but I believe that was partly due to exposed roots from some soil erosion in their raised bed. Covered Plants. - Black Diamond. I decided to give it a reprieve and let it grow again this year but spray it for cane borers. I had to remove all of last year’s growth due to cane borers but this year it has three times as much growth (e.g. canes) and looks healthy. There’s already a 8” of growth this season and that’s a lot for this variety in my climate. - Siskiyou. No winter damage. Both plants look good and have been putting on amazing growth (well, at least amazing compared to my previous attempts). These second year plants each have 5 or more canes and the cane diameter has doubled since last year. The primocanes are already about ½ inch thick (e.g. diameter) and about 12” in length so far. Yeah! Last year’s growth is getting ready to bloom. - Kotata. No winter damage and the plants are growing new canes. I have 2-3 new canes per each plant and there’s about 6-8” of growth so far. Less vigorous growth from these plantings. - Thorny Boysenberry. The non-potted plants suffered the trifecta of cold weather, cane borers, and voles, so I have maybe 10% of the canes from last year but they are getting ready to bloom. I have had problems with leaf spot on these but I gave them a good lime-sulfur spray treatment this spring, so hopefully this will help. New growth has been outstanding with the cane diameter doubling, much like the Siskiyou blackberries, and there are 8-10 canes per planting with 12-18” of growth already. I’m going to do a better job of protecting these in the winter this year. - Marionberry. I lost about 50% of the cane length from the overwintering period but have learned more about what not to do while preparing them for winter. Plants seem fine but not as vigorous as Siskiyou or Boysen but more vigorous than Kotata. - Loganberry. I lost about 75% of the canes on these from cane borers and the cold. These may be the least cold hardy of the trailing berries that I own. The primocanes are growing vigorously though....See MoreWill winter weather kill my container blackberries?
Comments (4)They might die if the soil in the pots freezes. One way to protect them would be to put them inside an unheated garage. If you don't have a garage, set them right next to your house, cover them with cardboard boxes filled with leaves. Weight the boxes down with a heavy stone or a brick so they don't blow off in a storm. Mound some soil around the edges of the boxes where they touch the ground and your plants should be snug for the winter. I would expect to even see some new growth on them by Spring. I've used this method before and it worked for me. The only time it didn't work was when there was a really long hard freeze, like -10 for several days. We won't get anything anywhere near that here in Texas. I can't tell where you live, so it depends on your zone how cold your winter will be. Cheryl...See MoreBlackberry and Raspberry Production 2015
Comments (235)SWD hit my garden this year. At first i was very bummed, but using organic sprays with a 1 day PHI worked very well. Also refrigerating the berries removed most worms. I really don't see it as a major problem. I didn't spray my raspberries because of constant flowering but the blackberries take a long time to ripen and were flowerless when ripening. Also the SWD seemed to like them better anyway as my raspberries were left alone for the most part. The spraying controlled them well. Although you do need to spray as much as possible. I would suggest planting Chester blackberries as a trap crop. Even if left they would be effective. You could spray them with anything if you had no plans to harvest. I like them as a trap crop because berries form early (so no flowers at all when ripe) yet take a long time to ripen and ripen over a long period of time. Just about when SWD is the worst here....See MorePrime arc 45 and Prime arc freedom rhizomes survived Quebec winter 4b
Comments (2)Will be interesting to experiment with this variety of Everbearing Blackberry PAF, they grow like a beast and put out some Huge Berries...i'm into my second crop now which ran concurrent with the early crop overlapping like some Raspberries. And yes, if your worried about dieback because of extreme cold you could cut them to the ground in winter and they will come back big an hard in early summer. Cornell told me if you use Row Cover in early spring it will help start the growth cycle once the last freezes hit. Mine are doing so great i may replace Apache all together....See Morelarry_gene
9 years agodrew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
9 years agoGreg
9 years agojtburton
9 years agojtburton
9 years agojtburton
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agodrew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agojtburton
9 years agodrew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
9 years agojtburton
9 years agodrew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
9 years agojerry63
9 years agodrew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
9 years agojtburton
9 years agojerry63
9 years agojtburton
9 years agodrew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agojerry63
9 years agodrew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
9 years agodls250
9 years agodrew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
9 years agojtburton
9 years agotomato_dude_mi
9 years agodls250
9 years agojtburton
9 years ago
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