My brother, who lived in East Texas near Gunpowder, had blackberries and he claimed that copperheads were attracted to them and ate them. In my view you should plant thornless varieties to make pruning and harvesting easier. I like the Apache and the Natchez best and both are suited for zone 8.

I like the thorny types better..just think they have a better taste. I like Kiowa and trying Tupi. Blackberry quality and taste seems to be very much affected by local sun and soil. Far as how many you can expect from 25 plants...that is hard to say. It would be better to tell us how long of a row they will get then you could get a better estimate of pounds to expect.

I'll leave it to others to answer your thorny vs. thornless question, but I can comment on Pense Nursery. I received an order from them in late November, and I was very happy with the experience -- good customer service (I asked a few preliminary questions), good prices, prompt shipping, and the plants look to be in good shape. If you're shopping around, another good source for bare root cane berries is Indiana Berry.

Has anyone ever bought blackberries from Pense Nursery?

I have a lot they high elevation no viruses in plants. Osage one newer ones has good blackberry flavor and berries same size on plants. You want need to plant 2 types blackberries are self fertile. Its been said many time 15 plants to family of 4. If grow plant real well they heavy feeder like most things in vegetable garden. They need good soil drainage black sandy soil best black meaning a lot organic matter. Its good idea to bed soil high as can they want live in wet soil in winter are summer kill roots, I used small front end loader to bed my rows with flat top. 5lbs. 4oz. is a gallon of blackberry fruit. On 25 plants You can pick every day and get 3 to 4 gallons per day you first picking belite then can do every other day picking the fruit turn black ever 24 hours.

Gator, can you say any more about Osage? I have two plants but have not had the fruit yet. I'd be interested how its flavor compared to Triple Crown or the other better tasting ones. Bamboo Rabbit, how about Tupi? Flavor any good?

I ordered from Pense a long time ago and the plants were fine.

Scot

Scott,

I have never tried Tupi but heard from Gator and Blueboy that they are very good so wanted to try them. I have root segments of them in the fridge now chilling. They are not the easiest plant to find.

I believe Tupi/Tupy is the primary variety in grocery stores now from Mexico. Granted, it is probably picked early to enhance shelf life which may not provide the best state to sample the flavor.

gator's sentence means "You won't need to plant 2 types, blackberries are self fertile."

And his harvest estimate is very reasonable; certainly with 25 plants you could get a seasonal total of hundreds of pounds starting at year 3 or 4, assuming robust growth and good conditions.

I have 11 plants and they take up a lot of room! Over 40 feet! Good luck controlling them, they grow like crazy!
I expect hundreds of pounds,well at least 100 pounds, they are still young :) . You can't have too many blackberries!
I may lose some as we got down to -14 degrees. See what is truly hardy here! I will try a few more, i ordered three more for next year. I will everntually fill spots with tip rooted new plants from those that survived, once I try all i think will work. Here are three planted last April, so first year plants. I'll trim them up before bud break.

From the very back to the front, you're looking at 8 plants. Good luck with 25!

This post was edited by Drew51 on Fri, Jan 10, 14 at 0:05

Although I have not used Pense Nursury, I checked out their website and I like the fact that they are family owned and operated. There prices are very competitive. I would give them a shot.

Scott I never tasted Osage, I'm trying our new planting of Osage and Von Blackberries. Tupy tasted real good 2013 harvest at picking time, Tupy more suited for South, because double blossom disease I have small trial planting two more years I should know if disease free. If Tupy fails because double blossom I'll go back to Chickasaw and spray.