After seeing some at a you-pick-it, I'm planning on putting in some of the thornless blackberries this spring. I'd seen pictures in the seed catalogs for years of these really huge blackberries and didn't really believe them, but there really are some that are an inch in diameter and two inches long. Plus, they grow pretty well in my area (central Missouri). I've found relatively good plant prices at a couple of places in Arkansas, and one place sells root cuttings for about $0.35 @. I've decided on Navaho, in part because that variety is said to have smaller seeds. I want to do at least two varieties, and Arapaho was recommended as a good complement to Navaho because it is earlier bearing and would stretch the season to 6-8 weeks. At the local place where we picked, you could fill a gallon pail without walking more than ten feet along the row, and that included being picky about the berries. You could fill the pail without moving your feet if just any ripe berry would do! I'll be putting in about 100 feet to begin with, and if I can keep the birds and deer at bay, I should have enough berries for a cobbler or two. Anybody got any experience with these berries and know about the trade-offs between plants and root cuttings? I found a blurb on a University of Kentucky site that said crops started with root cuttings produced the same yield as those from plants, but it wasn't specific about time frame to achieve those results. I have questions in to the sources, but haven't gotten responses yet.

Chuck