These are thornless blackberries. Sounds nice until you realize those thorns are what keep the deer away. When we planted them two years ago we noticed the deer were eating the tops off these tender little new plants so we covered them up with fence. These bushes will not bear fruit in their first year. They need to spend all their energy on establishing their new roots. The deer stayed away while they were under the fence but the berry bushes got too big for their covers, so we removed the covers and put a 'fence' of fishing wire around the area.
That did not work. Not sure if it was the rabbits, deer, insects, or a team, but we were not able to save our 50 berry bushes that did not have a solid deer and rabit fence around them. Luckily we planted 6 berry bushes in the upper garden and those were protected enough. Last year they grew, establishing their root structure, but barely produced fruit. This year, drum roll please, they have already given us a small handful of delishousness, and looks like we will get a lot more!
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