# Wild vs Tame



## goat^farmer (Dec 28, 2005)

Is there a big difference in wild and tame blackberries?

We have some wild blackberries out here at home but was wondering what is the difference in tame ones.

These wild blackberries are not huge they are tiny ones. We are hopeing to have some huge blackberries but these do not look like the type that gets huge :-( Would love to have some huge blackberries instead of tiny ones.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i'm not an expert, but i think both the wild blackberries and wild black raspberries that grow at my house are actually recognized as cultivars even though they grow wild. i forget their names, but the sizes of the berries can vary greatly. i think it has more to do with growing conditions than anything else. when you leave the brambles alone and fail to prune and thin, the berries can get crowded and are small.

look at some pics i took last week of crowded blackberries. they will be small. i have harvested blackberries as long as a quarter is round before...but not this year on this patch.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

If your berry patch is like mine, it was probably planted back in previous years. Same with a lot of "wild" grape patches.


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## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

The wild blackberries I am familiar with are usually smaller and much thornier than most cultivated tame varieties. The flavor is usually great tho.! I think some of our wild blackberry patches were started from seed spread by birds. They were never planted there by man.


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## fretti (Jun 30, 2007)

If the "wild" blackberries are the native species, that might explain why they are smaller. In the PNW, we have both blackcaps and invasive Himalayan blackberries. The blackcaps are smaller and very flavorful. The Himalayan are bigger but less flavorful.

My personal favorite is the Marionberry. You would like it because the berries are huge and the flavor is intense. However, I don't know if they would do well in your area. "In addition to the Pacific Northwest of the USA, these types do well in similar climates such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Chile, and the Mediterranean countries." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberry


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## goat^farmer (Dec 28, 2005)

These blackberries we have here have been here for years an the patches are so thick you can't even get into them much. They have such sharp thorns you can't even hardly pick a berry without getting bite by them.. LOL.. The blackberries are tiny but good. 

Can any of you suggest a really good tame blackberry for our homepad? 


We are going to try to get some other berries started to but want to get a lot started closer to the house. 

So if you know of any really good berries post the names for me or links


Thanks.


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## dirtundernails (Nov 20, 2006)

We have Apache from here: http://www.simmonsplantfarm.com/index_files/Page571.htm

Super happy with both company and berry!


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## Mrs. Homesteader (May 10, 2002)

The blackberries we have just showed up one year. I assume the birds planted them. They are huge.


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## gina kay (Sep 12, 2007)

We have the wild ones in our pastures and I never knew I should thin them out but will this year. This year I saw millons of them in various stages of readiness so I thought great, I'll have blackberries all summer but NO, it's been too dry. I can't drag the water hose that far on a regular basis so they've dried up. I need to plant some closer that I can keep watered. When should I prune these out?


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## Grandmotherbear (May 15, 2002)

www.raintreenursery.com
specializes in edible landscape. They explain the differences far better than I could.
The Doyle has a lot of publicity about how incredibly productive it is. www.fruitsandberries.com I didn't have good luck. The first one died and the nursery replaced it with nohassle. It hung on about 2 years but really didn't thrive. Maybe the container was too small, or maybe it wasn't designed for inytense heat and humidity of a zone 10 summer.


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