Yay! The dewberries started getting ripe right after the first of the
rains last week. We've been able to pick some for several days and
most of them were plump little guys. If the rain keeps up, maybe this
will be a good berry year.

The wild blackberries, for the most part, aren't ready yet but I
picked about a half dozen while we were looking for dewberries. They
still look smallish and I don't know if they're going to plump up. On
the other hand, DH picked one berry off the Kiowi we planted last
year. It's HUGE! It's about 2 inches long and 1 inch across. It was
billed as a whopper blackberry, with berries getting up to 3 inches in
length, but I didn't believe the hype until now. Has anyone else
grown Kiowi? It has some wicked thorns on it. We also planted some
thornless varieties (Arapaho and Ouachita) at the same time but they
seem to be less vigorous. Anyone with experience with thornless
blackberries?

We bought another set of blackberry gloves today, the kind that go all
the way up to the elbow. We fought over the single pair we had last
year. Maybe another pair will keep down the squabbling.

Personally, I think berry picking should be done in an air conditioned
suit of armor.

bluechick

On 6/2/2014 6:42 PM, bluechick wrote:
Yay! The dewberries started getting ripe right after the first of the
rains last week. We've been able to pick some for several days and
most of them were plump little guys. If the rain keeps up, maybe this
will be a good berry year.

The wild blackberries, for the most part, aren't ready yet but I
picked about a half dozen while we were looking for dewberries. They
still look smallish and I don't know if they're going to plump up. On
the other hand, DH picked one berry off the Kiowi we planted last
year. It's HUGE! It's about 2 inches long and 1 inch across. It was
billed as a whopper blackberry, with berries getting up to 3 inches in
length, but I didn't believe the hype until now. Has anyone else
grown Kiowi? It has some wicked thorns on it. We also planted some
thornless varieties (Arapaho and Ouachita) at the same time but they
seem to be less vigorous. Anyone with experience with thornless
blackberries?

We bought another set of blackberry gloves today, the kind that go all
the way up to the elbow. We fought over the single pair we had last
year. Maybe another pair will keep down the squabbling.

Personally, I think berry picking should be done in an air conditioned
suit of armor.

bluechick


I wonder if you might be able to help me identify this plant?

http://globalgulag.us/id157.html

It grows near Gold Hill in Boulder County, Colorado, at elevation 8,000
feet approximately. I've lived in the area for decades and never
noticed them before, although we've had lots of rain this year after
many years of drought.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

On 6/11/2014 5:17 PM, Steve from Colorado wrote:
On 6/2/2014 6:42 PM, bluechick wrote:
Yay! The dewberries started getting ripe right after the first of the
rains last week. We've been able to pick some for several days and
most of them were plump little guys. If the rain keeps up, maybe this
will be a good berry year.

The wild blackberries, for the most part, aren't ready yet but I
picked about a half dozen while we were looking for dewberries. They
still look smallish and I don't know if they're going to plump up. On
the other hand, DH picked one berry off the Kiowi we planted last
year. It's HUGE! It's about 2 inches long and 1 inch across. It was
billed as a whopper blackberry, with berries getting up to 3 inches in
length, but I didn't believe the hype until now. Has anyone else
grown Kiowi? It has some wicked thorns on it. We also planted some
thornless varieties (Arapaho and Ouachita) at the same time but they
seem to be less vigorous. Anyone with experience with thornless
blackberries?

We bought another set of blackberry gloves today, the kind that go all
the way up to the elbow. We fought over the single pair we had last
year. Maybe another pair will keep down the squabbling.

Personally, I think berry picking should be done in an air conditioned
suit of armor.

bluechick


I wonder if you might be able to help me identify this plant?

http://globalgulag.us/id157.html

It grows near Gold Hill in Boulder County, Colorado, at elevation 8,000
feet approximately. I've lived in the area for decades and never
noticed them before, although we've had lots of rain this year after
many years of drought.

Thanks in advance.

Steve



Never mind. Someone in alt.survival identified them as sedum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedum

On Monday, June 2, 2014 7:42:25 PM UTC-5, bluechick wrote:
Yay! The dewberries started getting ripe right after the first of the
rains last week. We've been able to pick some for several days and
most of them were plump little guys. If the rain keeps up, maybe this
will be a good berry year.

The wild blackberries, for the most part, aren't ready yet but I
picked about a half dozen while we were looking for dewberries. They
still look smallish and I don't know if they're going to plump up. On
the other hand, DH picked one berry off the Kiowi we planted last
year. It's HUGE! It's about 2 inches long and 1 inch across. It was
billed as a whopper blackberry, with berries getting up to 3 inches in
length, but I didn't believe the hype until now. Has anyone else
grown Kiowi? It has some wicked thorns on it. We also planted some
thornless varieties (Arapaho and Ouachita) at the same time but they
seem to be less vigorous. Anyone with experience with thornless
blackberries?


I've been very happy with my thornless blackberries which I planted perhaps 20 years ago. Don't make the error I made and plant them next to a fence because of course they will spread and soon will be right up against the fence and then you won't have the access to keep the weeds under control. This is a good damp berry year here. I have been picking raspberries and the thornless blackberries are just turning pink now.

On Mon, 23 Jun 2014 19:42:13 -0700 (PDT), Davej
wrote:

On Monday, June 2, 2014 7:42:25 PM UTC-5, bluechick wrote:

We also planted some
thornless varieties (Arapaho and Ouachita) at the same time but they
seem to be less vigorous. Anyone with experience with thornless
blackberries?


I've been very happy with my thornless blackberries which I planted perhaps 20 years ago. Don't make the error I made and plant them next to a fence because of course they will spread and soon will be right up against the fence and then you won't have the access to keep the weeds under control. This is a good damp berry year here. I have been picking raspberries and the thornless blackberries are just turning pink now.

Hi, Dave!

Are your thornless blackberries as prolific as the thorny varieties?
Our Ouachita is weak so we pinched the flower buds to keep its
energies to reviving itself. Arapaho is thriving. However, it
doesn't seem to have as many berries as the Kiowi (large thorny type).
All of these were newly transplanted earlier this year so I realize
none of them will be as prolific as the established plants are. Just
wondered how yours are doing after a few years.

All our berries are planted near a fence so...too late. However,
we can get to both sides of the fence as it's on our property. We
haven't had a problem weeding yet.

We were told that raspberries wouldn't grow here but our lone plant
went nuts and produced its little heart out. It must be very happy in
the location where we put it. I intend to get another raspberry plant
or three next year.

We had lots of rain early in the spring when the plants were flowering
but then went into a dry spell, then we thought we might need to build
an arc. It's been literally feast or famine where rain is
concerned. We've had very little rain the last two weeks but had a
sprinkle today. I was afraid this would be like last year when so
many berries dried up on the canes. Even with the uneven rains this
has been a much better year.

bluechick wrote:
On Mon, 23 Jun 2014 19:42:13 -0700 (PDT), Davej
wrote:

On Monday, June 2, 2014 7:42:25 PM UTC-5, bluechick wrote:

We also planted some
thornless varieties (Arapaho and Ouachita) at the same time but they
seem to be less vigorous. Anyone with experience with thornless
blackberries?


I've been very happy with my thornless blackberries which I planted
perhaps 20 years ago. Don't make the error I made and plant them
next to a fence because of course they will spread and soon will be
right up against the fence and then you won't have the access to
keep the weeds under control. This is a good damp berry year here. I
have been picking raspberries and the thornless blackberries are
just turning pink now.

Hi, Dave!

Are your thornless blackberries as prolific as the thorny varieties?
Our Ouachita is weak so we pinched the flower buds to keep its
energies to reviving itself. Arapaho is thriving. However, it
doesn't seem to have as many berries as the Kiowi (large thorny type).
All of these were newly transplanted earlier this year so I realize
none of them will be as prolific as the established plants are. Just
wondered how yours are doing after a few years.

All our berries are planted near a fence so...too late. However,
we can get to both sides of the fence as it's on our property. We
haven't had a problem weeding yet.

We were told that raspberries wouldn't grow here but our lone plant
went nuts and produced its little heart out. It must be very happy in
the location where we put it. I intend to get another raspberry plant
or three next year.

We had lots of rain early in the spring when the plants were flowering
but then went into a dry spell, then we thought we might need to build
an arc. It's been literally feast or famine where rain is
concerned. We've had very little rain the last two weeks but had a
sprinkle today. I was afraid this would be like last year when so
many berries dried up on the canes. Even with the uneven rains this
has been a much better year.

We've had a lot of rain here , and it's been fairly well spaced out to
benefit the plants - my garden has exploded . The sorta-cultivated wild
blackberries here are loaded , though for some reason the berries are small
.. Blueberries are apparently being snatched by wildlife as quickly as they
ripen , because I sure as hall ain't gettin' any . I need to check the
muscadines , but if anywhere near 50% of the flowers make fruit we'll be
almost literally knee deep in fruit . I was out in the woods today marking
trees for firewood easier to tell the dead ones this time of year and I
don't think you can go anywhere this side of the creek and not have
muscadine vines in sight .
--
Snag
And greenbriers ...

On Thu, 26 Jun 2014 22:35:09 -0500, "Terry Coombs"
wrote:

bluechick wrote:

We had lots of rain early in the spring when the plants were flowering
but then went into a dry spell, then we thought we might need to build
an arc. It's been literally feast or famine where rain is
concerned. We've had very little rain the last two weeks but had a
sprinkle today. I was afraid this would be like last year when so
many berries dried up on the canes. Even with the uneven rains this
has been a much better year.

We've had a lot of rain here , and it's been fairly well spaced out to
benefit the plants - my garden has exploded . The sorta-cultivated wild
blackberries here are loaded , though for some reason the berries are small
. Blueberries are apparently being snatched by wildlife as quickly as they
ripen , because I sure as hall ain't gettin' any . I need to check the
muscadines , but if anywhere near 50% of the flowers make fruit we'll be
almost literally knee deep in fruit . I was out in the woods today marking
trees for firewood easier to tell the dead ones this time of year and I
don't think you can go anywhere this side of the creek and not have
muscadine vines in sight .

We sorta cultivated some of our blackberries too, the ones near the
garden and they've benefited from runoff from the garden. They are
very plump and we have to pick them every day. I don't know why more
birds and other wildlife aren't getting more of the blackberries but
they're stealing our blueberries every chance they get. We did
get bird netting but too late, I'm afraid.

I wonder why your blackberries are small? That usually means they
haven't had enough rain, as far as I know. Are they sweet? Ours were
small and tart last year but are plump and sweet this year. I wonder
if all the ran we got when the flowers were blooming and when the
fruit was first developing made a difference in the sweetness.

We have several muscadine vines here and many have tiny grapes but the
wildlife can have them. I grew up with a big muscadine arbor out the
back door and I think I had my permanent fill of them back then.
We've asked the neighbors to pick the muscadines when they get ripe
but I think it will be like the blackberry situation: they want
someone else to do the pickin'. I hope you have great luck with your
muscadines. Maybe the wildlife will see the error of their ways with
the blueberries and will share the grapes.

On Thursday, June 26, 2014 10:02:02 PM UTC-5, bluechick wrote:
On Mon, 23 Jun 2014, Davej wrote:
On Monday, June 2, 2014, bluechick wrote:

We also planted some thornless varieties (Arapaho
and Ouachita) at the same time but they seem to be
less vigorous. Anyone with experience with thornless
blackberries?


I've been very happy with my thornless blackberries
which I planted perhaps 20 years ago. Don't make the
error I made and plant them next to a fence because
of course they will spread and soon will be right up
against the fence and then you won't have the access
to keep the weeds under control. This is a good damp
berry year here. I have been picking raspberries and
the thornless blackberries are just turning pink now.



Hi, Dave!

Are your thornless blackberries as prolific as the thorny varieties?


Prolific? They are vigorous and productive if they get full sun and adequate moisture. There are plenty of berries per year-old stem, and with enough watering they make big berries. The berries are probably not as sweet as the thorny types. Last Winter was very cold and killed the ends of some of the stems. Adding a layer of mulch to the row every year is a good idea. My berries are now pink so I should try to cover them with bird netting soon. I had a thorny variety also but they were so difficult to tend and mow around that I finally mowed them down. I do have raspberries but they are nothing compared to the hook-shaped thorns of the blackberries.