“lhe Ebouy Kiug Glackbernry 
General Information 
The Ebony King, origination unknown, is an upright Black- 
berry which produces a very heavy crop of jet-black berries of 
the Eldorado type, el he bushes are very strong and carry a 
heavy crop without breaking down. 
In Southwest Michigan they have withstood winter tempera- 
tures of 22° below zero without any damage to the buds. The 
berries are large and firm and have the very sweet true black- 
berry flavor when ripe. Under test they have canned very 
successfully, and processors are well pleased with the flavor, 
size and canning qualities. 
CULTURAL INSTRUCTIONS 
The Ebony King, like most upright Blackberries, is very 
shallow rodted, and when choosing a site for them, the soil 
should be of the sandy loam type. They will not root deep 
like trailing varieties, therefore, the soil should be well sup- 
plied With moisiure. 
As the roots grow mainly in the upper 4 inches of top soil, 
deep tillage should be avoided. Upright Blackberries will 
thrive and produce best crops under a complete mulch and 
will grow well in competition with low growing weeds and 
sod. 
An additional quantity of nitrogen should be used when 
growing under the mulch system. Hay, straw, sawdust, peat 
moss and ground corn cobs are all good mulching material. 
Planting distance in the garden when a single row is used, 
should be about 3 ft. apart in the row. For commercial plant- 
ings the best distance is about 8 to 9 ft. between the rows 
and 4 ft. in the row although rows 10 ft. wide would not be 
too great. 
All sucker plants should be removed early in the season 
when the plant is still tender. If these are left to grow, especial- 
ly when they are being grown under mulch, the field will be- 
come so dense that harvesting is almost impossible. 
Ebony King Blackberry one year after planting. 
When berries are picked for processors, picking about once 
a week is required although when left this long some berries 
may fall to the ground, but the remainder will have gained 
additional size and weight to offset this loss. For the fresh 
market, picking every 3 or 4 days is necessary. 
The life of a Blackberry plantation will vary all the way 
from 10 to 25 years, depending upon its location and soil fer- 
tility. 
STERILITY 
Blackberry sterility is a type of Blackberry plant which never 
produces fruit although it produces an abundance of flowers. 
Sterility is inherited in the plant when grown from root cut- 
tings, and will never produce any fruit. 
Sucker plants taken from fruit bearing bushes never divert 
to sterility. Root cuttings taken from 100% fruiting stock 
will divert to sterility at “the rate of one or more plants to a 
thousand from the first generation of roots. By this is meant 
that the roots are taken from a fruiting size plant. 
If the roots for propagation are cut from one or two year 
eal aeaere W.. AL 
jyiaiits, as is Usda@inry COme 1iT ai TiUtSCTY, the porccitagc oL sterile 
tings was introduced. 
to stop it. 
than the sterile plants. 
A cluster of 
sterile Blackberries. 
plants seems to increase. If this practice of taking root cut- 
tings from planting size stock is continued over a_ period 
of years, the fifth generation may produce 509% sterility; in 
ten years 75 to 90% may be present. 
All upright Blackberries which have ever been propagated 
in our nursery have produced a certain percentage of sterility. 
The Eldorado seems to be more subject to it than some of the 
other upright varieties. In some check stock set out for fruit as 
high as 10% has been present in the second generation roots 
taokan fram 2 wear old nlante 
taKCi trOM) OFC year Ora pranics, 
ORIGIN 
When labor was plentiful and cheap all Blackberry plants in the southwest Michigan area 
were taken from fruiting fields and sterility was unknown. As the fertility of the virgin soil ran 
low, the amount of sucker plants became less so a new method of propagation from root cut- 
Phis method greatly increased plant production and cut labor costs considerably. Thus sterili- 
ty was born and remained unnoticed for many years. 
When it first showed up it was referred to as wild plants which had carelessly been mixed in 
with planting stock. To date no reason has been found for its presence and no cure available 
The result is that the upright Blackberry has practically disappeared in the Central and East- 
ern part of the United States due to lack of planting stock of fruitful varieties. 
SOLUTION 
‘The only method of producing plants from root cuttings, free from sterility, is by rouging. 
‘To do this with any accuracy, the variety must have distinct foliage and plant characteristics other 
The Early Harvest is one of these distinct varieties, so that sterile plants can very readily be 
detected and removed in the nursery row. This variety is not very hardy and will break down 
fast with disease, therefore, this variety is generally not very acceptable. 
