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| Gurney's is selling a blackberry, called "Heaven Can Wait" but I'm curious if it's simply relabeled like many of their other berries? They list the cultivar as "A-1960" and some quick googling revealed it's part of the Arkansas breeding program but I can't find if it ever received an actual name or if they simply sold the rights to Gurney's. Anyone try this blackberry? It's said to be productive in zone 10. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Gurney's Blackberry
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I planted one about a year ago,but the growth has been kind of slow.There may be some fruit in 2015 and I'll report if that happens. Brady |
This post was edited by Bradybb on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 11:16
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- Posted by Jay-Part-Shade 10A Los Angeles (My Page) on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 12:19
| Thanks Brady, I assume you ordered from Gurney's? Did it arrive in a 4" pot or a 1 gal? |
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| Yes,Gurney's, and a 4 inch pot was about the size. Brady |
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| Jay-Part-Shade, You may want to check to see how many chill hours you get at your planting site. You may have to get a very low chill variety blackberry. Kiowa and Tupy are the lowest chill varieties that I know. 200 or less chill hours needed for these. |
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- Posted by Jay-Part-Shade 10A Los Angeles (My Page) on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 21:17
| Hey JT, Thanks for the info. Just checked it out, my area gets roughly 350-550 (though last year we only got 230). My hope with the "Heaven Can Wait" was to find its common name so I could check out chill hours. Not many blackberries are pitched for zone 10. That said, I just looked at the listing and Gurney's says they can't ship to CA. I have two Prime-Ark Freedoms (one in an aquaponics system) but not sure how many chill hours those need. Also just got a Baba Raspberry and thornless boysen. Kiowa and Tupy are on my list for future acquisitions. Annoyingly, Driscoll's is phasing out their Tupy fields and replacing them with their own varieties that are said to be low chill and better tasting. Of course, they're not releasing those varieties for others to purchase. |
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| Jay-Part-Shade, I stopped by a Home Depot in Woodland Hills last year and they had both blackberries and raspberries for sale. I don't recall the varieties but they may have some with lower chill requirements. I also purchased a Marion Blackberry in San Diego (another Home Depot) a couple of years ago and I believe it has a chill requirement in the 300-500 hour range. I have purchased mail order from groworganic.com and they are based in CA. They only ship in Jan and Feb I think. |
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- Posted by Jay-Part-Shade 10A Los Angeles (My Page) on Tue, Dec 30, 14 at 23:15
| Good to know, I need to make a trip to HD and see what they got. I'm thinking the hybrids are a good bet -- boysen, marion, tay, olallie. I can't seem to find any reliable info on Prime Ark Freedom chill hours. Anyone know? I read initial trials rate it roughly with the lower chill hour AK varieties. I guess I'll find out in a couple of months if my floricanes fruit. |
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| Jay-Part-Shade, I learned something new. I did a little research on Prime Ark series of blackberries. According to a HortScience abstract written by John Clark and Chad Finn, primocane fruiting blackberries do not have a chill requirement for the primocane crop, only the floricane crop. The floricane crop for the Prime Ark series is between 300-500 chill hours, depending on the variety of primocane fruiting blackberry. Prime Ark 45 and Freedom have a 500 chill hour requirement according to Agristarts website. One additional note...the primocane crops tend to not produce as well when they flower during really hot weather (>85F). That might one additional factor to consider. |
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- Posted by Jay-Part-Shade 10A Los Angeles (My Page) on Wed, Dec 31, 14 at 10:38
| Thanks for digging that up! I guess it makes sense the primocanes don't need chill -- there's no way for them to get any chill hours if they're popping up in spring. Good point about the high temps. One reason I'm excited about the primes is I read the berry size is said to be very large in CA trials. If I get enough chill hours, I think our climate is temperate enough to get the large, productive floricane crop. |
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| My Prime Ark 45's usually have good floricane crops with large (10-13g) berries. The primocane crops tend to be not as good in productivity and berry size. Despite that, it is nice to have fresh blackberries until frost (usually mid-to-late October). At frost, I usually have about half my primocane crop still unripe, so you may have blackberries well into December and that's pretty cool. |
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