| Planted some this spring, based on the recommendations of a fellow fruit enthusiast. They made a few big berries this year. Here's my friend's recommendation, from the NAFEX discussion list, back in '99: "At Southern Fruit Fellowship Meeting in Jan 1999 in Savannah (as part of GA Fruit and Veg Growers Meeting) a bramble session had discussion on blackberries. John Clark of U. of Ark spoke of several new releases from their program. Kiowa was released last year(1998) and has 10-12 g berries, which are twice the size of Triple Crown, Choctaw, Navaho, Chester, etc. I put in 10 Kiowa this spring and was impressed with the vigor of growth and berry size. Now have canes 8-12 feet in length with no irrigation beyond mid-June. UA also released two new ones this year, Apache (8-10 g, thornless) and Chickasaw (10 g, thorny). Apache is more vigorous in trials as compared to Arapaho and Navaho. Gerard Krewer, with U. of Georgia extension, also has a U-Pick bramble place in south Georgia. He is impressed with Kiowa at 10-12 g, and so are his customers, as one can pick a gallon "in a few minutes" according to Krewer. Clark calls these a "two-bite berry". |
