Get rid of them sooner rather than later, because later you might find the task impossible. Illini will expand into an impenetrable thicket with nasty thorns.

On the other hand, they do produce well for me on my site. The berries are fairly large and tasty. I think I got the plants from Miller Nurseries.

I gave up and tossed them. I think the problem is that most blackberries are wild plants. You must have found a good spot to plant them.

You could try raspberries, although they too are great at spreading out of control. Still both raspberry and blackberries rock for taste. Raspberries are a lot more winter hardy, and in 6a, it may be a concern. I have to protect my blackberries here.

OK people. Illini are hardy to -23 degrees. They are an upright thorned variety. I've had them for ten years. They produce extremely well and fruit heavy when I mulch them VERY thickly with goat manure bedding. They were developed to send out very few shoots. I give my shoots to friends; when we are fortunate to have a runner to two. I grow mine using the same technique as for grapes. In rows 3 feet apart. I put in two poles about 10 feet apart. I run cloths line about 1 and 2 feet about ground. I take the canes and weave them into the line. This makes picking the berries a breeze. I'm in zone 6A. I should mention they like well drained loamy soil. Mine are planted on a hill in red clay, and as I said, I lay a thick layer of goat manure bedding, maybe up to a foot deep.

Yeah- I have no doubt that if I'd been patient enough they would have produced fine. Although they'd take up tons of space without serious pruning and in parts of the country you can just pick wild blackberries.

I agree, the problem with the blackberries hardy in the colder zones is they are not that great, say compared to boysenberry, or marionberry. Which are blackberry-raspberry hybrids. Some new ones are around too. Columbia Star and Newberry. I grow all of these but have to protect them in 6a. So you might as well pick the wilds. Although I want to try this one and Darrow and Nelson all very hardy blackberries. I heard Darrow is better than illini, and a bigger berry, less thorns too.