@ Drew, thanks for your information.  Do you also winter protect the figs or do you just use this product?

Out of all the blackberry plants I have Marion Berry is by far the best tasting.  It is in a league of it's own. It really is not hardy here so requires a lot of protection. 
I also grow a ton of raspberries.

Thought I'd chime in on the TC pruning topic. I've topped mine at five feet and I've let them ramble and then tied them up to my trellis, five wires, 6' at the tallest wire, so I have the space to do this without pruning. It does require bundling multiple canes and tying or weaving them into the trellis. I didn't notice much of a difference in fruit size, as I get plenty of large TC either way, but I wasn't exactly scientific about it. The same is true in the flavor area.; they seem to taste great regardless. I think I'll experiment in the upcoming season and prune one or two of my plants while leaving the remainder unpruned. I also grow Chester, which I think tastes a little better than TC. It sets a lot more fruit thanTC but they are significantly smaller, especially last year when my two mostly unpruned plants set upwards of 3000 fruits. They were mostly the size of raspberries with a few larger ones tossed in for picking excitement: "look at this whopper" while plucking a berry twice the size of a raspberry but 1/3 the size of your average TC fruit. It was a lot of work picking over those plants. I'll be pruning the Chesters hard at 6' with short laterals this spring to see if I can reduce the number of berries and increase their size. If their flavor improves too, so much the better.

I also have sprayed my potted figs with Wiltpruf as I prepped them for their winter nap in my garage. I did that for four years before my collection grew large enough that it became a burden. This will be the third winter in a row I haven't sprayed them. I don't think it makes any difference out here. It's not as cold here as it is in Michigan, but it is a good deal less humid, which was my big concern during their dormant period. Unless something terrible happens that can't be attributed to over or under watering the dormant trees, it is not worth the time to spray the figs here in the intermountain, high desert west. I can, however, see the potential benefit in doing it for marginally hardy plants that are over wintered outdoors. Any little advantage to the plant may be the difference between a crop or no crop and maybe even losing the plant entirely.

    I've tried to send a PM to all of you that requested berry cuttings...  in case I've missed you, this is just a 'heads-up' that I cut berry vines yesterday (they completely filled up two 5 gal buckets) and I left them soaking in water preparing to ship...   today they were entrusted to our postal system and are in route to you.   After packaging them all up, I have enough cuttings here for one more mailing, if there is someone that would like to receive them.  (Please post a reply here, so we know that they are claimed)

   I was able to dig up enough tip rootings to send some with each package of cuttings as well.

   Enjoy.......

    Blue

am I too late for the last late mailing mentioned above?

   They're yours, Greg.     ...And, it's kind of interesting that these will be shipping back to their home of origin!   I received these as cuttings myself, eighteen years ago, from someone that lived next to the USDA trial station that tested the Triple Crown there in Arkansas.

    PM me your shipping address, and I'll get them off to you.


   Blue

How cold hardy are the triple crown blackberries. I live in central Arkansas

    Amanda,

     These plants were test-bedded by the USDA in Arkansas.    The friend that sent the starts to me from there would cut the spent floricanes down to the earth, and then lay the primocanes over and cover them with thick grass clippings and other mulch.  This would insulate them from much of the bitter cold, and he was able to produce 30 gallons of berries each year from just a small patch of plants.

     Your other option would be to use the primocane cultivars that Scott discussed above, which would provide you with a fall crop each year at least.


   Blue

Ok thanks i have some planted this past spring this will be the first winter for them. I can probably take the off the trellis and try to mulch tyem on the ground but i have field mice that may chew them

   I'm glad that they arrived safe, Cindy.   We had about 2 dozen jars of the jelly left from the Triple Crown harvest, and so we included them with the first shipments to members...  it'll give you a preview of coming attractions to look forward to with these berries. 

The rooted vines can be potted immediately and allowed to be in a warm, sunny window-sill or under lights.  They will shoot right up for you and be a strong plant by spring.

  Any method that you've successfully used for rooting figs will root these berries.  I have used moist sand, Pro Mix, coconut coir, perlite, a cloner, and also a mix of the first four mediums...  each container covered for humidity; and they all work.  These plants simply want to grow for you.

Here is another grower's procedure: 

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/blackberries/propagating-blackberries-cuttings.htm

  And here's wishing to all a prosperous and Very Berry New Year...   Blue 

Cuttings looked great thanks again!

Bluemalibu (or anyone knowledgeable about TC),
Maybe you can help me answer this.  I planted a small Triple Crown plant this summer here in zone 8b.  As it grew, I wrapped it around a small post in the ground near a wooden fence.  Then it got so tall, I decided to run some wire horizontally along the wooden fence and weave the TC around the wire.  I'm questioning whether this is a good idea or not.  Should I have just cut it off at 5 feet or so and let laterals form?  I've read about people doing this, so I'm wondering if the laterals give you more fruit than the main vine?

  Visceral -   In post #29 above, PostureDoc explained having tried both pruning TC and allowing it to grow freely, and couldn't discern much of a difference in fruit production.  He plans to do a side-by-side closer comparison for a more definitive answer.

   Stay tuned...

    Blue

I guess I missed that post.  I'm just gonna just let mine do its own thing for now.

Thanks

Hi Visceral,
Here we have a small bug that lays its eggs in the canes.
If it lays its eggs at the base of the cane ... The rest of the cane is toast. And the part after the hole of the bug will dry.
So I want the canes to be shorter. That will allow the bush to bush more. The idea is, if 2 canes get attacked, I'm still left with 3 remaining.
If I just have a long cane ... I may lose it all ... And that's not what one wants.

I also noticed that the berries appearing farther on the canes get smaller and have a hard time in my hot summer days.
This is just my own experience with black berries and tayberries.

That's an excellent point that I didn't consider Jdsfrance.  I will try to tip root in the spring to get some new plants to use as backups.

I loved reading this posting.

I've tried

Triple Crown
Navaho
Ouchita
Arapaho
Natchez
Apache
Chester
Heaven Can Wait


I found most of them to be seedy and sour.  And if you wait for them to get sweet, fruit flies lay their eggs and you get a mouth full of larvae.

Maybe I gave up too soon?   The only two I kept were Chester and Heaven Can Wait.   I have the Heaven Can Wait in a pot because its a dwarf variety and I haven't tasted fruit yet.   The Chester I kept because a special person gave it to me and I like the pink flower color and thought it might make a nice landscape specimen.

Thanks for the Off topic discussion.

Dan

  Dan,

   You might try touching base with Drew (Drew51) ;  ...he's also there in SE MI, in Sterling Heights, and seems to have found the secret to the berry puzzle:

Quote:

Originally Posted by drew51

Wow! So many berries!!

Just potted the rooted tips to grow in the berry patch (potted so it doesn't overwhelm the slower raspberries), and set up the cuttings for rooting. 

Thanks again, Blue! The time and effort you put into sharing these with others is much appreciated. :)

Got them potted up! Looks great blue thank you again.
Do you recommend they stay dormant or get them growing now for spring?