Lynn Marie, please go here and read about blackberries before you rip them out

This is what I went by when I grew them and btw, mine didn't fruit till the third year, I think had it not been for grasshoppers eating the blooms, they might have in the second

aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/files/2010/10/blackberries

Sounds more like lack of pollination than a virus. Pics would help. Do your plants otherwise look healthy? Did your plants shoot up new canes? Also, what zone are you in? If you're far south, it might be chill hours being too low as well. Also, blackberries planted from bare root can take 2 years (or longer) to get established; you really shouldn't be expecting much right now.

I planted that variety last year and it is blooming and also has some fruit on it. I did notice it took longer to bloom after the leaves budded out than the thorn type. Since mine are doing well it should not be a lack of chill problem (I live in SE Texas). I would give them another year before digging them up. Next time maybe take pictures of the blooms and see if anyone can tell if they see something wrong with them.

Oh, also... I planted some prime ark freedom last year and I'm very impressed with the vigor of these! After planting, they adjusted to the climate and soil in no time. This year, huge canes popped out of the ground. I haven't measured, but they're roughly 1.5-2" thick!

I had the opposite happen. I planted a couple of bare root Natchez this winter, and I was stunned to fund myself with flowers and fruit (well, they're still pretty small) on all of them THIS SPRING on 3-foot lush vines. Turns out those vines came off of the side of the bare root that was sticking out of the ground, and so were biologically floricanes. I've seen maybe one vine come out of the ground so far, and that one is likely to be a primocane.

Ouchita requires rather few chill hours, and it was a cool winter, so I find it hard to believe that's the problem. Too-few chill hours (at least in fruit trees) results in few flowers also.

I agree it sounds like a pollination issue.

Sorry for not giving complete info... I live in Mesquite, near Dallas. The plant is very healthy and the blooms looked perfect; but when the petals fell off, no fruit started forming. I'll try to wade out there and get a picture to upload. Also, there were a LOT of bees on the Indian Hawethornes just a few feet away, so I can't imagine that none of them found the blackberry.

Thanks for all your insight!

The thing that seems odd to me is that mine are still blooming and I am 200 miles south. But this has been a strange year with so much cold weather. I have no idea why yours did not pollinate but would give it another year. My vines grew about 8 feet each direction and I had to trellis them up in the fall. They were more trailing than I thought they would be but it was their first year. I over fertilized them due to a peach tree problem in the same raised bed that showed a lack of potassium. So even if you over fertilized they still should have set fruit.

It's not that none of them found the blackberry, it just may be that the blackberry wasn't superior to the Hawthorne.

Bees sample many plants but they send the gatherers out to the plants with the best nectar. In order to have the best nectar, the plant must be pulling the best nutrition from the ground and be at its prime state. It's a competition, with the winning prize being the ability to pass on your genes to the next generation.

It's possible that your plant was mature enough to produce blooms this year, but has not yet developed the extensive root system capable of delivering powerhouse nutrition to compete with other flora in the nearby vicinity. And keep in mind that plants are also competing for a much smaller number of bees year after year.

Agree with others, give it another year for sure, as long as the plant look healthy. Fortunate this year in Denton, all mine are covered in berries (and birds). I have full trays of Von and Freedom scheduled for delivery and will wait very impatiently for a couple years for them to produce

I've found that things are not as easy as they used to be. Like inserting photos... Anyway, here is a picture of my lack of blackberries.

Looks like it's back to the whining. :)

ETA: Score! Lack of blackberries. Those are male and female blooms so they're practicing apomixis. The lack of bees is not an issue.

Question: Where did you get the cane? From a nursery? I'm wondering if they haven't been overbred and now you've got severely diminished fertility.

Get some ribbon and attach it to the canes where the flowers appeared, then see what happens to those particular canes. In their proper cycle, they'll die. If it was a stress-bloom, they won't die.

Also, if you find you have a lot of issues with pollination, get a Q-tip and go out and wiggle it around in the blooms. Extra bonus points if you sing a Barry White song while you do it.

Just give it some time. I'd recommend some fertilizer though. Your leaves look like they're a little yellow. Are you using any fertilizers? Blackberries are ok with fertilizer treatments. Just follow the directions on the pack. I like the Alaska fish; it stinks, but it's pretty good stuff and it's a little more forgiving than nitrate based stuff.

Those leaves should be dying off in a couple of months though (if they're the ones flowering) and you should have a new cane coming up

I think that they did pollinate and it will just take a while for the berries to fill out. Give it time and in about 30 days you should have ripe berries. They start out small, as long as you have some green (that is the berry) it should continue to grow and will turn red, then black. Some of mine look likes yours and some are older and will start ripening in about a week.

Barry White, lol

Y'all don't think it looks like something ate the flowers

Petals drop off after pollen has entered the ovule. The plant doesn't need pollinators any more so doesn't advertise that it's "open for business".

All that's missing is the petals. It looks like the ovary is still there. I can't think of anything that would eat the petals so entirely and leave the ovary.

Certain pollens also require certain temperatures for proper fertilization. Such as solanaceae pollens that supposedly melt above 95 F. If your weather has been as wacky as ours has been, it may be a case of out-of-band blooms where the ovary wasn't properly developed enough to receive the sperm.

I agree with Gary in that you need to give it some time. In about 2 weeks you should see a swelling of the ovaries that will become a green, aggregate berry. It won't be on every bud, but it will be on some at least. Otherwise, give it another year.

It looks like more than the petals have been eaten but hoppers used to eat my petals every year and another bug that I don't recall the name of, I believe it started with an "L" anyway, you will get berries.

Without Barry White this time, maybe, lol

Male and female blooms?!? Blackberry flower contain both sexes, no?

Yes. Each flower is both a male and a female bloom.

After taking a closer look at the picture, it looks like the vines are still putting on blooms and the close up pictures are just the first stages of the fruit developing. I have ouachita berries now blooming, some looking like yours and some are just starting to turn. They do not seem to be very large but most thornless tend to be smaller than the thorned varieties.

Blackberries are considered a weed out here and if they bloom they usually always make fruit. It does look like they could use a little fertilizer but mine have been very vigorous and with all the rain we have had some things look a little lacking in nutrients but actually it is just water stress. They do seem to take a while to bloom and at first I thought mine would not bloom. I have plants with thorns and they were producing ripe fruit 10 days ago.

Y'all sure do know a LOT about blackberries! Do you think it could be a lack of sunshine??? I was thinking about what everyone has said, and I haven't had many bugs (other than bees), I've given it lots of slow release fertilizer, but it is getting a lot of shade. In normal years, I would think this would be OK, but with all the rain and clouds, it could just be too much shade. (Although I've seen dewberries produce under a forest canopy.) Also, the grapes that are right behind it are producing like MAD! I have thousands of unripe grapes! Thanks again for all your opinions. I really value the advice I get on this site!

How much sun does it get? Also, what do you mean by "lots of fertilizer?" Blackberries are usually ok with heavy feedings, but too much of that granular stuff can go wrong. Be careful, it's best to follow the directions on the package.

TRBRMC, probably 4 ish hours of direct sun, then it's shaded by a crepe myrtle. Not too much fertilizer.

It must get some sort of indirect light thereafter. As long as it's growing, it should be ok I guess. I doubt lack of sunlight has anything to do with lack of berries.

I do have another question though:. Do I see thorns in that pic?. Or maybe do you have another plant planted really close? That thing (blackberry) can put on canes in excess of 8 feet, so just keep that in mind!

Yes, trbrmc, it does have thorns! I've been keeping it in check so far, but if it doesn't produce next year, I'm going to put on long sleeves and gloves and yank it out! Thanks for all your advice!

I'm sorry to inform you that your plant is not ouachita variety. Ouachita is thornless.

There's a lot of great thorny varieties though. Depends on where you purchased it, but you could contact the nursery and ask. Or, just study the growth habits and compare to the literature that's free in the Internet.

Ultimately, it's just a name though.