All the wild blackberries, at least in the broad area of Ga. where I live, have been ruined by blight for last 10 yrs. or so. Plants grow rampantly, but when berries should ripen, they turn to hard seedy knots. Don't know anyone who has any that aren't affected. If I were to buy some non-indigenous ones, would it be inevitable that they'd get it, too. Rather not grow them than to have to spray chemicals. Would loganberries, boysenberries, raspberries, etc. also be prone to get the same disease?
Will blight get my domestic blackberries like it does wild ones?
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hoodat
Garden Addicted
I know there is a dewberry with really big juicy berries that is immune to it because I grew it in Oklahoma. I can't give you the name since I got my start from a neighbor. I wish I had brought a start to San Diego with me.
Check the Stark catalogue for blight reistant varieties.
Check the Stark catalogue for blight reistant varieties.
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hoodat
Garden Addicted
They're pretty much the same in looks and taste but the dewberries sprawl more. I tied mine up on a fence but otherwise they will sprawl on the ground.elf said:
Ridgerunner
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Dewberries and blackberries are from the same family and can be used the same. I found the wild dewberies in East Tennessee to be sweeter than the blackberries, with the individual globes bigger and the seeds bigger than blackberry seeds. The grow different too. The blackberry canes will kind of stand up while the dewberry canes sprawl on the ground. From what I understand, there are tamed cultivars of dewberries, which means there might be some pretty big differences from the wild ones I am familiar with.
Hoodat, how prolific were your dewberries? The wild ones had delicious berries but I never saw a lot of berries on any one plant, nothing close to the wild blackberries.
Hoodat, how prolific were your dewberries? The wild ones had delicious berries but I never saw a lot of berries on any one plant, nothing close to the wild blackberries.
hoodat
Garden Addicted
The wild ones in Oklahoma were the same, sparse berries, but I'm sure the one I had in Oklahoma was a cultivar. It had berries as big as the first joint of my thumb with thick canes (and really mean thorns) and bore heavily from first really warm weather till it cooled off in the Fall. It grew in the same place the wild blackberries had died from blight but never showed a sign of it. I wish I knew the name of it.
