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Thornless blackberry.

Rob DRob D Posts: 9
in Fruit & veg
Having battled a thorny blackberry in my previous garden I planted a thornless one (Merton  Thornless) last year. It has cropped very well but once cooked in crumbles etc, the berries seem very woody compared to the ones that I have grown previously.  Is it just a factor of this year's weather or is this variety prone to that?

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I've had a similar experience.
    The edges of the fields where I walk with my dog are edged with brambles which I pick but I decided to grow a cultivated thornless variety in my garden (Reuben).
    When the Ruben berries were fat and black I started picking but also found them a bit woody as the core remained inside the berry when I picked them, whereas those I picked in the fields the core remained on the stem.
    I tried leaving the Ruben for about a week, then the berries came away leaving the core on the plant and no woodiness in the middle.
    Maybe the cultivated varieties need a bit more time on the stem to ripen properly

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    How do they taste? I really would like some we had thorny cultivated ones at our last house but compared to wild ones they were watery and sour.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    The most noticeable thing is the size of the berries - about 2-3 times bigger than the wild ones.
    This was the first year of fruiting for my Reuben Blackberry. I chose that variety after reading several reviews that said it had the best flavour.
    I picked a few berries that I wasn't overly impressed with flavour-wise but I think I picked them too early, but then building works blocked off access to my plant, so I'll really have to wait until next season to get a proper idea of taste.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Rob DRob D Posts: 9
    The taste of the Merton Thornless is as good as the wild varieties (to my taste, at least) but I was concerned about the woodiness of the seeds, which doesn't lessen much on cooking.  I agree with Pete.8 that picking them too early may be a factor, but leaving them too late may result in their going off!
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    I think it was the very dry weather in many parts that caused this, remember most berries are 90% water. I have a thornless blackberry and had the same issue this year with some of the early ones, but after some rain in August they got better. My biggest issue is they are cropping earlier and earlier almost every year but that is climate change not the fault of the plant.
    AB Still learning

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