1st blackberries of the year

We had our first harvest of Black Satin blackberries today. The cobbler is cooling as we speak.

yours are huge! i ate the first one off our bush on the fourth, but sadly we only have 2 left as this was my bush's first fruiting season.

Believe it or not it was our first fruiting season too. I really believe that cutting the vine back to the ground at planting last spring made all the difference in the world. It meant no berries last year but boy howdy we will be eating a lot of cobbler this year barring any raccoons, major storms, insistant birds, neightbor kids...

Man, those look yummy!

For some reason, I read "Black Satan" and thought, geez, what a name for a cultivar.

That's either a tiny kid's hand or a HUGE blackberry. Looks fantabulous.

kerry_in_ky Your blackberries look great that your picking now. I too am picking blackberries from our garden. I love growing them and of course eating them in jams pies, etc. They are great to pull out of the freezer when it's cold and the snow is flying! I need to pick every few days and the heat and humidity are high now so I try to get out there early in the mornings. Your black satin blackberries look huge and I hope you have a great crop.

cuckoo4rblackbe this is my first year for blackberries. I planted the vines last year and am very pleased. I've had to cover them to keep the birds off of them now if i could only keep the Japanese Beetles off the foliage. So far they aren't harming the berries.

I've had two pickings and have picked about 5 3/4 lbs off of 6 plants. I don't know how that compares to others but they are just now beginning to ripen. So far we have had two blackberry cobblers and I've frozen the rest and sealed them in vacuum bags. I haven't really touched what is on there yet. What is a good yield per plant?

We are getting some much needed rain. I went ahead and watered last week but the ground drank that right up.

Do you know what the factors are that affect sweetness? I know the cultivar makes a difference but I also know that there are other factors. I tend to like my berries on the sweet-tart side but some prefer a sweeter berry. I remember when I lived out in Northern Calif. there were some wild blackberries we used to go pick. The ones that grew at about 1000' were much sweeter than the ones that grew down in the valley. Do you suppose that had to do with temperature? rainfall? I've always wondered.

Can't answer about sweetness, but when I had a farm with lots of wild blackberries around the perimeters, all the "shade berries" were the biggest and best.

darius,
Interesting. Perhaps there was a moisture difference in the shaded areas? I'll have to do some research on this.

I just did a search and according to the Univ. of KY http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/ho/ho15/ho15.htm a semi-trailing thornless variety of blackberry (which black satin are) planted in KY can get a yield of about 20 lbs per plant. That is at a planting density of 418-453 plants per acre and a yield of 9000 lbs per acre. Even half of that would be awesome.

kerry_in_ky I think darius is on to something regarding having some shade in your blackberries. If I can't keep the berries weeded well it does'nt seem to bother the amount of berries I pick. I think a little cover(shade) does'nt hurt them as much as you might think. I have a lot of weeds this year and I have'nt worked nearly as hard as I usually do pulling and keeping them cut out. I like the neat clean look but just have'nt had the time to keep them looking like I usually do this season. I'm still getting lots of berries!
We pick our blackberries before they are extremely ripe because(they are slightly tart) they make the best jam,jellies,pies, cobblers,etc. We pick about every 2 or 3 days and this goes on until very late summer. Pickings start out slow but increase quickly until we are picking huge bowls full then as summer wears on our blackberry pickings decrease.

kerry_in_ky I'm picking blackberries and my wife is freezing them up. Are your black satin blackberries still producing in this heat and humidity? I have been watering when we don't get enough rain now and then and we are getting lots of nice blackberries.

Cuckoo - yes I am still picking. The rate has just slowed down a bit. We were getting about 1 lb a day but I just picked today and got almost 2 lbs. It was the first time I had picked in 3 days so that is just over half of what we were getting. If I had to guess I would say there is another week to a week and a half of berries on the vine. About the time they are finished the raspberries should be starting.

We got a really good rain a couple of weeks ago. About 2 1/2" spread over a week. I haven't watered since. I do have them mulched pretty good. I noticed while it was so wet I had more of a problem with rot so I am glad its been dry for their sake. So far, as of today, we have picked just over 26 lbs from 6 plants. No where near what commercial growers get but not bad for the first year of production imho.

Wow! I have no clue how many I got since I just picked them and ate them! But, they were good! None made it to the freezer, oops! ~ Suzi ♥

I have been religiously weighing ours. Ok, the few I ate during picking didn't get weighed but I tried to keep that to a minimum. I am considereing putting some more plants out next year but wanted to get a handle on what yield we were getting from the ones we have. I do have several bags frozen and a couple of gallon ziplock bags frozen to juice for jelly and syrup. Once the harvest is over I'll work on that.

Last year when I planted these 6 black satin I also planted 3 thorn free. I didn't cut the TF back like I did the BS and they had about 6 berries each this year and were about 1/10 the size (vine and berry) of BS. The new canes they sent up for next year though are about the size the BS ones were last year that came up after the initial pruning to the ground. So... I should actually get some berries off of them next year. I was going to pull them up till they started coming up with the new canes. I'll give them till next year to see if they do anything. I could dig up a spot for another 6. I am considering looking for another variety that is a later producer than BS. Don't know if there is such a thing but it would be nice to have a couple of plants for later fresh blackberries.

That's an amazing poundage of berries from 6 relatively new plants!

So do you suppose the yield will go up? It does seem like there are more 1st year canes this year than there were last year.

I read where you said the beetles hadn't touched your berries-is that still true? The reason I ask, is that we are planting some more this fall, and planted several mixed thornless varieties this past spring, that should produce next year. I was wondering if we should worry. Until this year I have bought berries from an older lady the other side of Georgetown, and almost every bag had beetles attached to berries-stuck on! This was despite the fact that she sprayed sevin on a weekly and sometimes bi-weekly basis[make allowances for the wait to pick]. What do you cover yours with, and do you spray? We want to sell some at the farmer's market a couple of years from now, and I can't afford to let the birds and bugs consume them all-they already do that to my 200 plus strawberries we planted.

Tuddye - the Japanese Beetles are pretty much gone now though I do see a few here and there. They did munch on the leaves but I only saw very minimal damage to a few berries and I can't swear it was JB doing it because I only saw one or two on the berries at all. As long as I picked them off the leaves daily (usually once in the morning and again in the evening) the numbers stayed very low. One will attract more which will attract even more and if you can keep them picked off it really does help. Sometimes I would just hold the jar of soapy water under the leaf with the beetles on it and their natural tendency to drop when disturbed would get them into the jar with minimal input from me.

When I used to live in Southern KY I did see a lot of the larger, June Beetles all over the wild berries we would pick. They are attracted to the ripening fruit. I dont' believe I have ever seen one the entire time we have lived up here. There is a blurb on them here http://www.ca.uky.edu/fruitfacts/ffJuly04.pdf

This message was edited Aug 2, 2005 9:33 AM

THANKS!
I have to keep this short, my hubby just came in from weeding and wants lunch. I want to say thanks for your help, and I hope I can ask you other things as they pop up, since you seem so knowledgable--Jackie

I'm no berry expert but I know a thing or two about insects. If I can't answer your questions I am sure there is someone on the board much more in the know who can.

Have you considered planting a mulberry tree near your strawberries? We have strawberries to, both June bearing and Day Neutral. The birds are a problem with our early strawberries only until the mulberry right next to the strawberry patch ripens a week or two later, then they seem to prefer mulberries over strawberries. I have to put netting on the blackberries though or the birds would devour them. Last year the raspberries were ripening later than it appears they will this year. There are what look to be chokecherries all around this area and last year they ripened at the same time as the raspberries. Thebirds preferred the cherries to my raspberries. This year though, it appears that the raspberries will ripen earlier (its their second year bearing) so I may have to net them at least for a while. I'll wait and see if they are a problem.

I have recently(around the 1st of August) picked our biggest picking of blackberries and now they will slowly produce a little less each week. We will pick blackberries in decreasing numbers as our days shorten and our temps. begin to cool down quite a bit at night by Sept. We can always count on our blackberries each year to produce us some wonderful fruit and lots of good eating during the winter when the snow is flying here.That's why I love growing them. I have been fortunate here to not have a bug problem with my blackberries but unfortunate when it comes to the birds. They like my blackberries just the way I do nice and ripe so it's a race to see who gets them first! I have had limited success using kids pinwheels,aluminum plates spinning on fishing leaders, and some plastic owls early in the season. Birds soon wise up though and return..... Still picking blackberries in n.w. Missouri..... cuckoo 1

cuckoo4 have you tried netting them? It has helped tremendously here. The birds would pick them as soon as they ripen. Of course they would rarely eat the entire berry but would trash each one with several nibbles.

I made another blackberry cobbler last night and it is gone already. I noticed this morning that the raspberries are just starting to ripen. Mmmmm

kerry_in_ky I have 3 different kinds of blackberries on 3 long rows(I would guess about 40 0r 50 feet long so it would probably be pretty expensive to cover my plants well). These berries are way more than we could possibly eat ourselves so we freeze them and make lots of goodies out of them that we share with friends and family. Why I grow so many things(fruit trees, garden, blackberries, etc.) is something that I as a gardener can't explain! I really only need a few blackberry plants but here I am growing lots of them and having fun doing it and more fun sharing all the goodies we make out of them.
Why the birds just take a peck or two out of my blackberries then move on is a mystery to me. They are too good to waste............ Must be dumb birds!!!

cuckoo - wow that is a lot of plants. I guess with that many you can afford to lose some to the birds. I only have 6 plants bearing and can't afford to give up any at this point.

Picked blackberries a few days ago and the quality and size are pretty good considering our consistent hot weather. The amount I'm picking though is decreasing as August moves on. I made a blackberry crisp with oatmeal that is one of our favorites and it is going fast. Our drought continues so I watered my blackberries and have been winding the new taller blackberries shoots around wires for support because these will be the ones that will produce next years blackberries. I took T metal posts and drove them into the ground at angles then ran wires between the posts on each side of my row of berries(a few years ago)and it has worked great to support them during storms and windy days.

cuckoo

Anyone still getting a few blackberries? I'm getting some to cook with and thats about it.

cuckoo

Cook with? Mine never made it into the house! ~ Suzi :)

I picked two pounds two days ago and may get another one tomorrow. We are up to between 3/4 and 1 lb of raspberries a day now too.

BriarRose74 We eat fresh blackberries but I love a good pastry (pie, crisp, cobbler, muffins, etc.) too. I love to cook and eat and thats my big vice in life.It's hard to turn down a piece of homemade blackberry anything!!!!
I have a few blackberries to pick in the morning when It's cool and the dew dries off.

cuckoo

kerry_in_ky What kind of raspberries are you picking? A few years ago we had lots of heritage red raspberries but not right now.They were great producers and we miss them. May have to plant a few again. They made an awesome triple berry jam my wife fixed. I must be hungry because I'm talking about food a lot here today!!!!

cuckoo

Ours have already played out about a week now, been turned into Jam, I forget how many pints and half-pints we got, I wasn't on that detail. I do remember it was a bunch I think our peck havest at our far western end of glorious Kentucky was in Mid-July. We got a few this month, but last month there were baskets, pots, cans,bowls of them everywhere. A lot where pan dried in the the freezer then bagged and the rest was turned into perserves. I had a picture somewhere now I can't find it! I bet the DW has it!
Good Stuff!

Later
Dave

cuckoo,

Yes ours are Heritage too. I can't believe how many berries we are getting this year. The jam sounds awesome. Care to share the recipe?

Who me? I'd have to get it from the DW ... I know it's pretty simple or she wouldn't be making it ... LOL


She said it was the one on the side of the Sur-Gel box .... told you it was simple. LOL

This message was edited Aug 25, 2005 6:11 PM