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.

Gina,

I like Arapaho and Apaches thornless blackberries.  The Arapaho is a good producer.  I like a sweet blackberry that has a little tartness, without the bitter aftertaste of some of the blackberries I've tasted.  Thornless is great for these old hands.  I didn't like the thorns when I was young, but now, my skin is even more tender.

This is a good thread.

noss

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.

[QUOTE=tylerj]My Navaho blackberry looks like that also. One of my favourites :)[/QUOTE]

I think you are right now that I think about it, they are Navaho.

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)

[QUOTE=Chivas]Those are huge, how do they compare to the taste of the wild blackberries?[/QUOTE]

They compare well to wild blackberries in central USA but not to wild in PNW. I've had both and there's no comparison. That's why the trailing blackberries from Oregon are the best tasting IME.

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.

Marion berries in OR are great but triple crown in OR were at least as good and much bigger and more juice.  I'm trying triple crown in MO now and I hope they taste great.  I planted them last year.  They came back without problem and are putting on fruit.  SWD have been found in St Louis but not KC yet as far as I know. 

I love blackberries, a form member gave me some canes in the fall and I managed to grow them for a bit but they became a victim of my vacation...I got a couple of plants this year I hope they grow well and I have some for next year..

Triple crown does good in the entire lower 48. You just need to lay them down and cover them with something if you are below zone 6. I use a bed sheet and a tarp with a few big rock to secure the tarp. Some years (like this past winter) I still get some damage, but not much. My parents have been able to grow TC in North Dakota from starts I gave them.

Hmmm, come fall/winter/spring, I smell some possible fig/blackberry trades.  ;)

The wild blackberries I've tasted here, usually called dewberries, were ones I never like raw because they all had a bitter aftertaste that drowned out the sweetness.  I really don't like that bitterness.  When I tasted the thornless blackberries, a couple of the varieties didn't have the bitterness and they're so good!  People have said that the large ones are dewberries and the smaller ones, blackberries.  I don't know.

Could someone clarify that for me?

Thanks,

noss

[QUOTE=Gina]Hmmm, come fall/winter/spring, I smell some possible fig/blackberry trades.  ;)[/QUOTE]

I started 25-30 blackberry plants last winter, it was super easy. I gave them to family and friends at church. I would be glad to do it again this year and trade some bareroot BB starts for new fig varieties later in the year.

The berries in OP are similar to my Navaho and Ouachita, both of which I got at Lowe's (Duarte was the wholesaler on the tag). 

I agree with above posters Marionberry is the best tasting berry out there. It is the only thorny thing I've kept, although Boysen/Ollalie were good too just didn't want that many thorny things around.

My wife loves Marionberry, asked me why I didn't just grow a bunch of this one instead of all these varieties :)

Sounds like I need to try growing some marionberry next year

I used to grow Brazos blackberries developed by Texas A&M that were a little tart but great for making jelly.  Noss, the dewberries are the ones that grow in bush form and grow like vines and the blackberries make the thick canes and grow more upright.  I've picked loads of wild dewberries and if you don't have a real dry year they are great.

Hi Chapman,

Aha, never thought about the effects of dryness.  When we were first in Lafayette, way long ago.....  A friend and I and our kids would go along the fencelines, or ask farmers if we could go in their fields and pick.  That was when there was open land all around us and we were in the country and it was so much fun to go and pick the berries.  I remember some very large berries on trailing bushes.

These days, they spray weed killer all along the roads and I don't know where the country went, but it's gone.  I know places need to grow, but this is ridiculous.

We sure did make some good blackberry jam, though.  We would use paraffin to seal the jars, but now it isn't recommended anymore from what I read.

Every time I read the name, marionberry, it makes me think of the mayor of DC who was Marion Barry, I think his name was.

Thanks,

noss

Hi,
A neighbor years ago had a thornless bb and threw her canes to my side where they rooted ... and that was the start of blackberries . The problem is they ripen in August and we
can have too much water or not enough, which leads to sour or bland bb .
I now bought  a new strain : "Jumbo" - supposed to have big fruits. To my big surprise they have started ripening two weeks ago ... Cool !
But as already written I'm more on Tayberry - they are earlier - for me that season is almost over - and once more it was a good season !
Tayberry don't stain as bb do ... on tongue teeth and shirts :( ... For me Tayberry have a superior taste - so I'm happy with them.
For now my Jumbo hasn't shown were it got the name :< . I was expecting the fruit to be really big and for now that's not the case. They are just about the same size of my other BB ... Just earlier ripening.

My grandparents and their sisters still used parafain to seal the jars, wild blueberry, strawberry jams are the best I have veer had, too bad they stopped making them a few years back.