They are aggressive growers though, and you can expect canes to reach 10' long (some say even longer) after the plant is established. However, for me at least, these trail on either side of the crown, so as to form a line of canes rather than a circle of canes. That may be because my plants are trained along a trellis, but that's pretty easy to do. They aren't hardy in my zone so I have to protect them over winter, but you should fare much better.

I'm also still interested in other opinions, plus any insights anyone might have on Latham raspberries. Thanks again!

I planted 3 Chester, 3 Triple Crown, and 3 Illini (not thornless) in Spring 2010. Then I pretty much ignored them. There's a corner of my property that I devoted to berries of all kinds at that time. I built a barn that summer, then a house the next year, and my priorities really weren't with the berries.

Fast forward to 2014. when the weather broke, I mowed through the mass of tangled brambles trying to establish rows again as they had originally been done. I had forgotten that I planted thornless blackberries.

I don't know whether it's the Chesters or the Triple Crowns or if it's both, but I have thornless blackberry canes all over the place. Mostly in the row in which I wanted them, so that's good. But they're at least 12 feet from where I planted them. And they're all delicious! I'm picking more than a gallon every 3 days. I'm going to try to refurbish the blackberry portion of the patch this fall after they go dormant. trellises, transplants, etc. I've been tying ribbons on the ones to dig up. I can't see the crowns in the mass of tangled brambles. I just hope I don't kill them all trying to get them in order.

All that said, I believe if you tend to them and don't do what I did, you won't have any problems.

I planted them a few years ago. The plant was maybe a foot tall my the end of the year. The following year it pushed canes over 10 feet because I didnt prune them, yet they still managed to produce. The area they are in was too small and I had more uses so I ripped the plant out and mulched the area with bricks and black plastic. It still managed to spread beyond the three feet and came up along the foundation and in the lawn. In my experience they spread just about as aggressively as raspberries.

I will say it seems the less you do the better behaved they are. They are only coming up in a small patch, which I am going to dig up and plant in more shade to try and control them a bit.

The only reason they survive up here is because of deep snow cover. IF you dont get snow you may want to mulch the canes for the winter. They are super flexible.

Lastly, even unpruned I managed to get about half a quart off of a young plant. With more care I could have doubled production.