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zone 4 hardy wild blackberries

 
steve bossie
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Location: Northern Maine, USA (zone 3b-4a)
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posted 1 year ago
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hey folks. I'm trying to find zone 4 hardy blackberry plants for breeding stock for this nursery in new york thats trying to develop a commercial variety that will grow in that zone. I'm in zone 4 and we have no blackberries around here. if you zone 4 folks have some  wild ones around could you dig 2-4 sprouts and send them to me? i would pay your shipping and a little for your time / labor. if this nursery is successful we would benefit from the cultivar this nursery develops. I'm not doing this for personal gain. just trying to get these guys the most breeding stock they can get to make this dream of a zone 4 blackberry come true! thanks for your time.
 
Bryant RedHawk
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Unfortunately such a variety will be a long time coming because the cane fruits are notoriously non cold hardy.
Usually zone 5 is as far north that they can be found and even then the canes have to be protected somehow over the winter months.

This paper black berries grown in the north from the Cornell University is about the only solution other than an intensive propagation program.

Developing such a plant would indeed be a worth while undertaking but it will most likely take a minimum of ten years and more likely 20 years, if it can be accomplished at all.

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Mike Jay
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Luckily the wild blackberries around here don't read studies  I'm sure I can find some to dig up.  Do you want them now or in the spring?  Not sure how they'd handle transportation in the summer...  PM me with shipping details, etc.

"Hundreds of years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in or the type of car I drove... But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that it becomes a tourist destination"

 
Bryant RedHawk
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Good to know that there are some that will make it that far north Mike. Thank you for that information.

Redhawk

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Mike Jay
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My pleasure!  Last year I found a huge patch that had really long berries so I'll get some from that area and from a "normal" patch.

"Hundreds of years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in or the type of car I drove... But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that it becomes a tourist destination"

 
William Schlegel
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It's true here in Montana that the true blackberries don't grow in zone 4. However there are some native berries that do. I don't know where they could be collected though as it was when I was working in a park. However I would describe these species as somewhat blackberry like in growth habit but not flavor. Rubus pedatus and Rubus pubescens. Perhaps if hybridized with Rubus ursinus the west coast native blackberry a non-invasive hardy blackberry could be developed? Or if invasiveness is desirable for this project hybridized with Rubus armeniacus.
 
Bryant RedHawk
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posted 1 year ago
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those sound like thimble berries William, they look like a black berry but are far tarter than true blackberries are.

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William Schlegel
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Bryant RedHawk wrote:those sound like thimble berries William, they look like a black berry but are far tarter than true blackberries are.



No they are not like Thimbleberries which are Rubus parviflorus. Thimbleberries are awesome in their own right but are nothing like a blackberry neither in taste nor growth habit. The two of which I spoke are similar in growth habit to blackberries not taste. So the breeding goal if the cross even proves possible would be to get the flavor of a blackberry and the hardiness of one of those two species.
 
Francesco Delvillani
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Blackberry are grow in warmer climate than other small fruits...On the Alps (up to 1500 m) i found raspberry, but not true blackberry....anyway, Rubus is a very big group, for sure there will be some species with black Berries for zone 4

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David Livingston
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cloud berrys grow in Finland so if you can find some could be worth a look  

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