Here is what I am getting off my blackberry bushes right now, about a quart of these a day:

   

What variety?

I bought these at Lowes and now I can't remember. They are one of the "indian" themed ones developed at the University of Arkansas. They are thornless and form HUGE canes, some of them much bigger in diameter than my fat thumb.

Anyone try Kiowa? They're huge, but I've heard mixed reviews of the flavor.

How sweet are they? Thats a nice size!

Wow!  I might have to re-think growing blackberries... those look GREAT!

My Navaho blackberry looks like that also. One of my favourites :)

They look more like bunches of grapes than like blackberries!!  My mouth is watering....

Looks like Navaho variety,
time of the year and size of berry is correct for this variety.

They are making me hungry!  Look great.

Kiowa is bigger than Navaho. Neither tastes nearly as good as the western trailing blackberries like Marion. I'm growing the thornless Black Diamond and Columbia Star. Berries of those are about the size of Navaho but smaller than Kiowa. The downside of trailing types is they aren't very hardy.

A guy in Kentucky I know posted a photo of Kiowa blackberries today and they are huge.  He said the flavor is very good and that they are the largest variety he is aware of.  He said he can pick a gallon in about 10 minutes.  I may have to give it a try!

For productivity - Triple Crown

Harvey:

You might want to consider the two trailing thornless I mentioned above. They taste way better IMO and you won't need a blood transfusion after picking. Kiowa has fish hook thorns. I grew it near Fresno about 12 yrs ago. It's big but pretty tart. None of the richness of flavor of Marion types.

What do you all think are the two best tasting thornless blackberry varieties for warmer areas. Good taste trumps almost everything else.

Triple crown has best production and best flavor for me. Kiowa is huge but lacking sweetness. Apache and Arapaho Are good all around.-

Gina and noss:

I agree totally!! You give up nearly nothing in taste to the very best I've eaten (Marion, Obsidian, Metrolious) by growing the thornless Black Diamond and Columbia Star. What they are is less hardy and need a trellis as compared to Kiowa, Navaho, Triple Crown, etc. But they taste better than any of the hardier types I've tried.

Those are huge, how do they compare to the taste of the wild blackberries?

They are pretty close. But in ease of dealing with them they are a mile apart. These are thornless and semi-errect, so they are easy to pick. I would take these over wild ones any day. (and I have picked gallons and gallons of wild blackberries over my years)

Steve, I've given up growing blackberries.  The spotted wing drosophila that loves cherries so much also attacked my black berries so I got rid of them.  There are still wild blackberries around my ditches and I sometimes pick from those.  It seems that SWD prefers to attack ones in my yard. :(

I grew up in the fraser valley and used to pick the "wild" black berries on the sides of the roads used as windbreak, they were good but my favorite are the wild blackberries in northern ontario, small but packed full of flavour, I am thinking about some black berries again so I appreciate the feedback, I love the wild ones but hate the thorns so if they taste similar that is a no brainer.

I got the same or similar varieties.  I was shocked when the new canes came up - some of them were over an inch thick at the base!

They produce great berries, large, and thornless is a must!

Congrats on a nice harvest!

This has been very informative and now I know what kind to start growing! We have the little wild ones growing all over the property, but the thorns are relentless! Thanks again for starting this thread.