Do any of you on here raise blackberries? What varieties do you raise and like the best? I am looking to raise some and want a variety that is winter hardy with good flavor that doesn't need supported. thanks for any and all replies

X2.Been trying for years with nothing making it thru the winter.Thought I had finally found some last year until they grew berries and turned out to be raspberries instead of blackberries

I'll tell you what I know. There are a lot of newer thornless varieties out there and they have been bred to be very productive, very large and to produce early to late. But from what I have tried the flavor is a bit insipid.

For good flavor I like some of the older varieties. The "Marion" is a great flavored blackberry and my favorite. Boysens and Logans are also great in jams and jellies. All these are varieties that need trellising.

Kentucky should be fine for growing blackberries but northern Maine I think would require lots of effort to get them through the winter. They don't like to get down below zero too much, it burns the flowering buds.

Apache is the only one of the two varieties that I planted last year that survived for me. They were second year plants. Raspberries didn't survive either

Look to the older thorny cultivars for upright structure and better flavor. I've got Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw.

Any blackberries good for zone 3?

Yall talking about planting briars? why would anyone want to do that. Dang things grow eveyrwhere here. Ditches, fields, and especially right exactly where a deer will run if you dont drop him. My wife has been wanting to plant the stupid things...she already has some growing in her flower bed..wild. They are great to drive around in the woods and pick some. Just dont want to mow around them in the yard.

I have a few acres of Himalayan blackberries, please feel free to come dig them up and transplant them.

I certify my himalayas as organic and pick them for my farmers market stand. Far more flavor than most domestics.

^^^^^
I eat lots of them, but they sure are a nuisance though....as I'm sure you know.

If you can't beat 'em you join them. We get them starting everywhere and since we're certified organic I can't spray them. Murder to get out of the vineyard and blueberries once they get started.

We have very few good wild blackberry briars or patches around here anymore. Too many catlle pastures and bush hogs and sprayers I guess. I will try some of the varieties mentioned. thanks to all

I'm going on my 4th year with black berries. I planted Shawnee. Lots of huge berries the last 3 years. Got them from Indiana berry company. This variety is hardy and does have thorns. Was told the thornless varietys are not as sweet.

My brother and his family live near Chehalis, Washington. The Himalayan blackberries are all over the place near him. I really like the flavor.

The wild blackberries on my farm and neiboring farms taste bad. They have very little sugar content.

The wild black raspberries on my farm taste great. I just finished the last of the black raspberry syrup we made.

A friend of mine gave me a yellow raspberry bush and another type. Both plants made it through the Winter and are budding out now.

I have planted a large red raspberry and a thornless blackberry in the past. The red raspberries had tremendous fungus problems. The thornless blackberries died almost immediately.

I am cloning my elderberry bush a whole lot this Spring.

I want to clone my catawba grapes too.

I would love to get more varieties of berries.

Keith

You're your supposed to plant more so you dont have to mow.

just happened to see this, it might be useful

https://indianaberry.com/info_blkberry_variety.php

I have Chester Thornless black berries.
I have been doing well now for a least 12 years.

Check into them

I have grown apache for a few years now they do good for me. winter over well. I also have dewberries smaller berries but very sweet and come in earlier.

Nothing wrong with raspberries bud. Nothing at all!

We had a big red raspberry patch in central NY where I grew up. Was originally my grandparents. My mother used to mulch the entire patch with maple leaves every fall. It was also treated with milky spore to prevent the Japanese beelte larvae from eating off the roots in the spring. Your over winter problem may not be temperature related. Central NY often sees winter temps of -20°F.
Wild blackberries grew everywhere there, and here.