Karaka Blackberry Request

Hey guys, I'm just wondering, is anybody on this board growing this cultivar? It was bred in New Zealand but the vast bulk of the nurseries I've found that have it online are in the UK or Ireland [and absolutely none in the US.]

If anybody has it in surplus, is there any chance you'd be willing to take a few root cuttings and sell them to a fellow Permie in the states?

I haven't seen these in the states, but something similar would be the Kiowa, by description, sounds identical.

http://store.isons.com/product/kiowa-blackberry-plants

It sounds similar, and I do intend to grow some Kiowa at some point, but the two are distinct.

Kiowa is a far more blocky-shaped composite berry where Karaka is significantly more long and cylindrical.

Basically I'm after the quickest easiest harvest and I intend to trial these two [and Black Butte as well] to see which does best for me in terms of production and harvest in my soils.

Hey Kyrt

Why do you want to restrict yourself to growing one variety ? I would imagine that you might loose your entire harvest to mold, insects or other pests if all your plants grow and ripen fruit at the same time?

For example : I have raspberry cuttings from my sister and my neighbour. His berries and the cuttings he gave, had problems with mold and raspberry beetle larvae. My other raspberries came trough fine. If every plant was of the same variety i would not have harvested much.

Greetings from Belgium.
Erwin

I don't want to restrict myself to one variety. In my last post I mentioned three varieties I want to grow.

When I said trial I meant moreso making sure they all function well and eliminating any losers, rather than testing for a single variety.

Sounds like the Chickasaw Blackberry, but the Natchez is stated to be the earliest fruiting(and no thorns).
There's one called Prime Ark(thorn less), which if the season's long enough, the new canes will fruit in the fall, meaning, two crops.

But have you considered mulberries? A tree, not a vine that you have to prune out the old every-year. Tho it can be invasive, you can harvest the inner bark and make mulberry paper from pruned limbs, or cut down trees.

http://store.isons.com/product/chickasaw-blackberry-plants
http://store.isons.com/product/natchez-blackberry-plant
http://ediblelandscaping.com/products/berries/Blackberries/PrimeArkFreedomBlackberry.php
https://www.jungseed.com/P/30373/Prime+Ark+Freedom+Blackberry

I have indeed considered mulberry. I've got a Pakistan Mulberry on order and might be getting a few more mulberries if I like it.