Based on research it looks like Triple Crown is probably the best choice for me to try besides Chester, and I'll no doubt plant some next spring. However I am also curious if anyone in Zone 5, or colder, has comments on how other hardy varieties such as Darrow and Prime-Jan, maybe others, compare with Chester and TC with respect to flavor and yield. I'd love to try a Boysen but I'd rather not risk it dying at -20 F, as I see they are rated for Zone 6. I am not concerned about thorns, or trailing vs. erect. I am just interested in best flavor and yield of the hardiest varieties. Unfortunately, there just don't seem to be a lot of good options for cold climates. Perhaps I should just plant everything I can find and see what works best here; but if anyone else in Zone 5 or even Zones 3 or 4 has the experience, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks much.

Since they prefer a bit of acidicy in the soil, I put some peat in the ground before planting, and multch with some every spring, along with compost. I dont do anything else.

I find the taste of chester to be tart, but not too bad.

The berries have had severe challenges every year I've had them. Failed to get frequent watering so they drouthed out a few times, then they were discovered by deer, and the last 2 years they were also discovered by grasshoppers.

Due to the deer and grasshoppers, I've had no canes survive into fall so don't know how the canes will overwinter, but the roots seem to do OK. With all these challenges, the Prime Jim has had better survival.

I think I've gotten a decent handle on the deer (electric fencing) and grasshoppers (bio-control & regular spraying) so I'm hopeful that next year I'll be able to keep them regularly watered and get some real results.

Glenn

I've been happy with my TC. Before winter, I lay the more pliable canes on the ground and cover them with straw. The stiffer canes stay on the trellis.

I've always had some canes survive. One year it was just the ones I had covered.

Last year, every cane overwintered and I had a bumper crop. And that was a year went most of my other fruits were affected by the crazy weather.

Also sounds like Prime-Jan is no good here as the canes absolutely won't survive a winter unless very well protected, and if expecting fruit on primocanes (this is one of those primocane bearing varieties), the berries will still be green and unripe when the first frosts hit in October, so that's no good either.

So I'm still considering TC, plus protection. And maybe I'll just plant a few more Chesters as well, as I know they are capable of surviving, even though I can't get them to fruit very heavily so far here.

I'm in zone 3 (Alberta) and I've been growing Chester Thornless for the past 4 years. I put in 2 plants in a south-facing location in spring 2009 so no production that year, just getting floricanes. Canes laid down along the ground and mulched heavily with leaves for winter.

In spring 2010, only one of the 2 plants came back and by the time a killing freeze came in mid-September I had only picked one ripe berry, with about 30 unripe berries left on the vine to freeze. Got another Chester to plant in a west-facing location, which did not produce as it was just establishing floricanes. Another leaf-covering added in early November, on canes that spread up to 8 feet long.

In spring 2011, the long trailing canes died back to a central core area that survived on both plants. The first berry was picked at the end of August, but a warm fall with the killing frost not until mid-October made for a harvest of 449 blackberries from the two plants, and totally hooked me on blackberries. The blackberries we can buy in the store here are grown in Mexico and picked before full ripeness and shipped north, often sour, half the time rather bland. The stuff I can grow -- when I can grow it -- is so much more wonderful! Sweet, and oh so full of flavour! Mulched these plants heavily in the fall with every leaf I could find. Plants now getting big, with a 15 foot spread from end-to-end on just one plant.

Spring 2012 -- despite mulching last fall, only one plant survived above ground. The other plant died to ground-level, but came back strongly with new floricanes that might yield a crop in 2013 if I can keep them alive. As for the plant that lived -- a warm summer combined with a killing frost that held off until early October, resulted in a harvest of 524 blackberries from just the one plant! I remain hooked. In Fall 2012 I skipped the mulching with leaves that tended to compact quite a bit over winter, and went with a thick layer of fluffed-up straw, covered with burlap. Winter came early and hard, permanent snow cover was around October 20, earlier than I've ever seen it. I got the blackberries put to bed in the first days of November, just before some big snowfalls. Now everything is buried under a foot of snow, so I await April to see what's up, or what isn't.