Doyle's Thornless Blackberries

Does anybody have any experience with these? I ordered three plants. They are pricy, but are supposed to produce an abundance of berries. I'm thinking at least three feet between each plant. Can I propagate more for my own use, not to sell?

Rose, If they are like my Chester thornless they will set root at the very tip of this years new canes in the fall. Those will be exact 'vegetative' copies. Any seedlings that come up should be discarded.
3 feet apart is the bare minimum, they can easily grow 15+ feet long.
They will likely take 2 or 3 years to give you 'big' crops. I planted 6 and couldn't get rid of all the berries in the 3rd year.
Andy P

Thank you for the input. I guess I should plant them about 5 feet apart. How is the flavor?

Not as good as the wild ones, Try the Doyl's.

Thanks Andy. I am expecting three Doyle's in the mail in a few days. Now I have to figure out where to plant them. I guess the birds and the japanese beetles will help me eat any surplus once the plants get established. :-)

Rose, If all you are planting is 3 you can try putting them in at 3 ft apart. I'm sure they will come with instructions. I think 5 ft is a bit much.
Andy P

Thanks, Andy.

Rose, You should take a look at the 'Fruit and Nut' Forum. There are a few threads on blackberries there.
Andy P

Thanks Andy, I started to look for a berry type thread before I posted on the vegetable forum but wasn't able to figure out where it was. I will find it now that you reminded me there is such a forum. I'd like to grow raspberries too. I already have blueberries. I have the room on my place but it's all in meadow grass and weeds and getting it cleared is overwhelming for me since I am on my own here, but we'll see what happens. Thanks again for your input, it's been very helpful and encouraging.

I know what you mean about opening new beds. My home was built on what had been a 'Sand and gravel' yard. Two inches of topsoil above sand and rocks.
Step by step, inch by inch.
Andy P

Hey Andy, I is following you!!!
Rose if I may...you could lay down some black plastic over them weeds and grasses of yours and use tent stakes to hold it down and smother it all dead! Thats gonna take a while but it sure beets tring to dig it all up.
: )
Dena

GREN, are you talking about 'Solarizing'?
That works great to kill all the growth, I've done it.
Just mow everything down real low and cover for 6 weeks in the sun. Then all you have to do is the 'back breaking labor' part. LOL
Andy P

yeah I guess thats the smart guy term used for it, I just call it a darn good way to get rid of stuff. I like it better than trying to yank, pull, sweat, cus, swear, yank and pull!

Lets not hijack this thread, But.
The first year I planted corn in a new bed I solarized it, used my spading fork to make little holes and dropped the seed in. I didn't even turn it over. It worked great.
The second season is when I did the hard work of digging, clearing and amending.
Andy P

Thanks, folks, don't worry about hijacking this thread. When I first joined DG I think I did it a lot, not realizing what I was doing or that it was a problem for some until I was reminded. But I actually like to see where things go and how they evolve and who shows up. Usually it gets a lot more helpful, more interesting and a whole lot more fun. I have thought of solarizing; I'd like to add at least another row to my garden but I really need to find a suitable place right now when these plants arrive this week, maybe even tomorrow. I know if I put them "temporairily" somewhere, they might either die out from being weed choked or end up always being in the wrong place and too large and unweildy to move.
I had planned to mow an area very short last month and dig out the fescue and have it all ready, but my mower battery was dead. By the time my son took it out and and charged it and brought it back and re-installed it, it was dead again. I guess I need to get out to my shed and get the thing out myself and trade it in for a new one and see if that will work.
Still haven't gotten to the fruit and nut forum but this is working for me now so we'll see what happens?
Rosemary