Author Topic: Blackberries!!!! (Read 12793 times)

poka-bee · « **on:** June 25, 2008, 12:08:16 pm »

Saw the 1st few blackberry flowers yesterday!! We are way behind from the cold, wet spring. The flow should last a long time here. Many mini climates, shade, deep shade, sun, high & low. I live in a valley, as does Sean K so they bloom later right here around the house, buds still very tight. 1/2 m away up the hill they are starting to bloom. We have acres, maybe miles of em within 1/2 mile in any direction so hopefully my bees will have enough honey to make it through the winter. They are the only thing ever set foot on this property that starved...everything else is quite well fed! Call my Manx Cat "my little dim sum" Jody

Alan Forbes · « **Reply #1 on:** June 25, 2008, 12:51:16 pm »

I can sense your excitement in anticipation of the blackberry bloom. Ours has come and gone already and the plants are showing an abundance of many, many small berrylets; the bees have done their work and set the stage for our enjoyment, with plenty of beautiful, light colored honey and promises of pleasant hours of picking and eating the fruit. You learn to put of with the pain of being (endlessly) scratched.

I wish you and your bees a wonderful, prosperous year with many days of purple-stained lips.

Bill W. · « **Reply #2 on:** June 25, 2008, 02:23:35 pm »

We've just finished the salmonberry bloom (which the bees loved) and are now picking buckets full of berries. Black raspberries started flowering about two weeks ago and blackberries started flowering about a week ago and the bees are all over them. The bees are also heavily working Salal right now. I love this time of year - lots of berries on the way.

bassman1977 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 25, 2008, 02:27:38 pm »

Our blackberry flow is over but we are just now reaping the benefits. My wife got 1/2 quart from one of the wild blackberry bushes. The others should be ripening over the next day or two. Each year since we have had bees, the blackberries have been better and better.

Fannbee · « **Reply #4 on:** June 25, 2008, 02:32:37 pm »

We just pick a bucket of blackberries last weekend.

Ross · « **Reply #5 on:** June 25, 2008, 03:37:55 pm »

We're already cutting back the vines here, but it was a good season. My plum tree is loaded down with ripe fruit now.

randydrivesabus · « **Reply #6 on:** June 25, 2008, 04:13:39 pm »

the berries have formed here but still need to grow more and ripen.

Brian D. Bray · « **Reply #7 on:** June 25, 2008, 09:45:50 pm »

Quote from: poka-bee on June 25, 2008, 12:08:16 pm

Saw the 1st few blackberry flowers yesterday!! We are way behind from the cold, wet spring. The flow should last a long time here. Many mini climates, shade, deep shade, sun, high & low. I live in a valley, as does Sean K so they bloom later right here around the house, buds still very tight. 1/2 m away up the hill they are starting to bloom. We have acres, maybe miles of em within 1/2 mile in any direction so hopefully my bees will have enough honey to make it through the winter. They are the only thing ever set foot on this property that starved...everything else is quite well fed! Call my Manx Cat "my little dim sum" Jody

Great, ain't it. I think I can stop feeding my starved bees once the blackberries kick in. Noticed a few flowers yesterday and today, with the temporary warm spell (5 consecuttive days forcast) of mostly sunny weather it should start a full flow this weekend.

BTW, I went to my Dentist yesterday, He lost a hive to starvation too. He described the same thing that happened to Sean and I.

DrKurtG · « **Reply #8 on:** June 25, 2008, 09:53:31 pm »

OK, for us newbies...I take it that the bees love blackberries? We have probably 10 or 12 "wild" bushes on our property. I say wild because they were here/planted by the previous owners and have pretty much done their own thing without us interferring.

bassman1977 · « **Reply #9 on:** June 25, 2008, 11:22:44 pm »

Quote

I take it that the bees love blackberries?

You betcha! You'll see higher yields for sure.

Sean Kelly · « **Reply #10 on:** June 26, 2008, 03:09:54 am »

Jody, I've been watching the blackberry blooms very closely coming down our hill and haven't noticed anything. The Thimble berries are in MAJOR bloom and have been for a few weeks but it looks like the bees are leaving them alone. My two old hives and the new swarm I caught the other day are truckin in something but not sure where it's coming from. Must be the clovers up top of the hill at old Art Kalin's farm.

Can't wait till the blackberries are in full bloom so I can finally toss on my Ross Round kit.

Got another call for a huge swarm at a honda dealership in Tacoma but didn't check my voicemail until this afternoon. I'm thinkin it's too late now. Just two more swarm calls and I'll have my apiary back. That's so weird Brian that your Dentist had the same issue! I'm gunna have to talk to my Doctor's assistant who's also a beek and see how his two hives turned out.

Sean Kelly

SgtMaj · « **Reply #11 on:** June 26, 2008, 06:18:14 am »

My neighbor has blackberries... oh yum I love blackberries. But I don't have enough room for them on my property... :'(

Been thinking about trying to start some from seed and planting them in some of the over-grown patches of land around here, as wildlife feed if nothing else.

poka-bee · « **Reply #12 on:** June 26, 2008, 11:13:27 am »

SgtMaj I pull up, whack & burn tons..they are very invasive here!! If I get any little ones w roots whilst in destruction mode I'll save & send to you! No guarentee which type they will be. Seem to be 3 distinct types, little tiny tasty ones, huge juicy not so in intenlsly flavored, both with wider flatter leaves, not so serrated. My favorite is in the middle, have deeply serrated leaves, both juicy & flavorful. They are not as prevelent as the other 2. Jody

eri · « **Reply #13 on:** June 26, 2008, 12:24:24 pm »

Hey, guys -- there is a thread on transplanting over in the farming forum. Sgt ask your neighbor if you can have some of the young plants.
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,16316.0.html

Sean Kelly · « **Reply #14 on:** June 26, 2008, 02:31:49 pm »

I'm right there with Jody, I couldn't imagine growing Blackberries on purpouse!!! Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have several native species of blackberries and a bunch that were imported and grow wild here and they're all a nuisance! But because of the HUGE abundance of these terrible plants, it's our main nectar flow here. Plus the berries are yummy.... so I guess they're not all that bad, as long as they're not invading my property. As a matter of fact, I need to break out the DR Mower today and get the ones behind my Apiary. Can barely stand behind my hives now without getting scratched.

Sean Kelly

wtiger · « **Reply #15 on:** June 26, 2008, 02:59:30 pm »

Blackberries are great. The bees love them, I love to eat them and if you don't want them in your field a brush hog will take care of them for a few years. I have yet to see a blackberry bush that is resistant to sharpened 3ft steel blades swinging at high speeds. My parents like having a couple patches around their lake; because water foul seem to like them as much as they do. Some years my mother and aunt get as much as 5-10 gallons of blackberries, freeze the excess, and make blackberry cobbler whenever there's a special occasion.

Cindi · « **Reply #16 on:** June 26, 2008, 03:21:01 pm »

Yep, we are beginning the blackberry flowering too. It should be well going in about another week. The blackberry flow usually begins around June 5 in my locale. That is pretty darn late. But there could be an advantage to a late flowering. The weather will be warmer, less likelihood of rain and the nectar should be flowing harder, my thoughts.

We have three species here too. The small little ones that grow on low, low vines out back. I've never bothered to pick their fruit, but they have been flowering for a good couple of weeks. Setting fruit now, that is weird.

I like both of the other species. The fatter, juicier ones, less seeds, and then the one with the really serrated leaf that comes about 2 weeks later, not as juicy berries, more seeds, but a totally different flavour. Bring on the blackberries and ice cream!!! Beautiful day in this great life. Cindi

poka-bee · « **Reply #17 on:** June 26, 2008, 06:37:54 pm »

You have a DR Mower???OOOhhhh, I'm jealous! ;) All I have is a stubborn goat & pruning loppers.. :-x Jody

Sean Kelly · « **Reply #18 on:** June 26, 2008, 07:52:46 pm »

Quote from: poka-bee on June 26, 2008, 06:37:54 pm

You have a DR Mower???OOOhhhh, I'm jealous! ;) All I have is a stubborn goat & pruning loppers.. :-x Jody

Well..... I personally don't own one. A little white lie really. I just borrow either my dad's or grandpa's who both are neighbors.

Just went out and checked the blackberries in my back yard.... still no bloom. Seems really late. So much for global warming, right?!?! lol

Sean Kelly

Kimbrell · « **Reply #19 on:** June 26, 2008, 07:59:52 pm »

SgtMaj,
In our neck of the woods all you have to do is not mow an area for a month and blackberry bushes spring up! Never planted one in my life. Look along any rural roadside; you should see plenty! :)