Patented Thornless BlackBerry & Raspberry Starter Plant (Plugs)- with Free 24" Greenhouse Miracle Grow Tube

'Columbia Giant' is a thornless, trailing blackberry variety known for its exceptionally large, sweet, and firm berries. Released in 2017 by Oregon State University, it was developed for both commercial growers and home gardeners.

• Size: Berries are described as "gigantic," with some reaching up to 3 inches long and weighing about half an ounce.
• Features and flavor profile: The fruit has a well-balanced sweet and slightly tart taste, with a pleasant aromatic quality. Appearance: Berries have a conical shape and a consistent black, glossy color. Texture: The fruit is firm, making it ideal for both fresh eating and processing. 
• USDA zones 5 through 8.
  
  Growth habit: As a trailing variety, the canes require a trellis or other support system to train them to grow upward.
  
  Fruiting: 'Columbia Giant' is a floricane variety, meaning it produces fruit on second-year canes. New canes can be trained alongside older ones without causing disease.
  
  Harvest time: It is an early- to mid-season berry, with a harvest typically from late June to the end of July. The berries ripen over a period of several weeks, and you can tell they are ripe when they detach from the stem with a slight twist.
  
  Yield: One plant can yield 10-15 pounds of fruit.
  
  Planting and care:
  Sunlight and soil: For best fruit production, plant in a location with full sun and well-drained, fertile soil.
  Watering: The plant requires moist, not saturated, soil. Water well during the growing season, especially during dry spells.
  Pruning:
  After harvest: Remove the spent floricanes (the canes that just produced fruit).
  Winter/Early spring: Thin out weaker canes and cut the most vigorous ones back to 5-6 feet tall. Trim the lateral (side) branches to 12-18 inches long.
  Overall: Regular pruning promotes better air circulation, increases light exposure, and results in larger, healthier berries.
  Mulching: Applying a 2-3 inch layer of mulch, such as compost or pine needles, helps to retain moisture and suppress weeds.
  Benefits of the variety
  Thornless canes: This makes harvesting and pruning much easier and less painful.
  Disease and pest resistant: The 'Columbia Giant' variety is known for its high resistance to common diseases and pests.
  Heat tolerant: It has shown excellent resistance to heat damage

Sweet-Ark Immaculate Blackberry - The Sweet-Ark® Immaculate™ Blackberry is a thornless, late-season, floricane-fruiting blackberry cultivar developed and released by the University of Arkansas. Known for producing exceptionally large, firm, and very sweet blackberries, this variety is an excellent choice for both commercial growers and home gardeners due to its superior post-harvest quality and high yield potential. Patent# A-2718T

Key Characteristics

• Thornless: This makes harvesting easier for everyone. 
  Late-Season: It ripens later in the blackberry season, providing a more extended harvest period.
  Floricane-Fruiting: Like many traditional blackberries, it produces fruit on the second-year canes (floricanes).
  Large, Firm Berries: The berries are known for their impressive size and a firmness that allows them to hold up well during storage and shipping.
  Sweet Flavor: The "Immaculate" name reflects the high quality and superior flavor profile of the fruit.
  High Yield Potential: The plant is a high producer, although cold winters can impact yield.
  Bushy Plant: The cultivar has shorter internodes, resulting in a bushier plant structure.

Kokanee Raspberry-

 Primocane fruiting
 Excellent flavor across a wide range of ripeness
Bright, light red and glossy color
Uniformly well-shaped, medium to large berries
High yielding
Great firmness
Very good shelf life and transportability
Vigorous, upright plant habit
Robust plant health
Fruit & Plant Characteristics

Dr. Chad Finn, plant breeder of the US Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service in Corvallis, Oregon selected the primocane fruiting red raspberry cultivar, Kokanee, for its fantastic flavor, great firmness, and the ability to be picked at a wide range of ripening stages and color types based on the market needs.

Its excellent eating and shipping qualities make the Kokanee raspberry variety an ideal fresh market cultivar. The Kokanee variety produces medium to large fruit averaging 3.3g. The berries have a nice, fresh, bright red color and gloss. Soluble solids average 11.6%.

The Kokanee variety is highly productive with an average yield of 2.3 kg per plant. Larger fruit has been observed in substrate production systems. Its primocane crop ripens 10 to 14 days earlier than the Heritage variety.

This firm and attractive raspberry releases easily from its receptacle across varying stages of maturity. This, along with its vigorous, upright plant habit, facilitates easy management and harvest. In post-harvest evaluations, the Kokanee variety compared favorably with other primocane fruiting cultivars. Its fruit does not darken in storage.

Climatic Requirements
As a primocane fruiting cultivar, the Kokanee raspberry variety requires no winter chill to satisfy dormancy. Thus, production in tropical and subtropical climates is feasible in high altitude or marine moderated growing locations. During the growing season, the average temperature highs should not exceed 28°C. The use of shade cloth may extend the adaptability into climates where the average highs marginally exceed this limit.

The Kokanee raspberry variety has proven to be quite precocious, bearing first fruit approximately 5 months after the initial transplant of 50 cell plug plants. Under a primocane fruiting management regime, first fruit should ripen approximately four months following mow down.

Disease Resistance
The Kokanee variety offers good overall disease resistance. As almost all raspberry cultivars, it has shown susceptibility to Phytophthora root rot, yet the Kokanee variety offers a stronger tolerance than most commercial varieties. In subtropical trials under high tunnel production, growers managed powdery mildew. Even though, the variety has tested positive for Raspberry Bushy Dwarf Virus, drupelet coherence of the Kokanee variety has been very high with little or no crumbly fruit reported. Soil type and planting on beds are important considerations. As with most raspberry cultivars, spider mite management is necessary. Patent# USPP28,666

Each plug includes a Free 24" Greenhouse Miracle Grow Tube, Made in the USA by Tree Pro; tubes will be nested together if purchasing multiple plugs.