The berries came back very strong this spring. We thinned out the canes while they were still dormant and several varieties showed strong growth, although several also froze back to their bases. This winter was relatively mild, with low temperatures never below 0 so the die back was surprising and I am considering a protective cover over these more sensitive varieties (see below). Several varieties were frozen back to their bases and some varieties came back only partially up the cane. Here is a summary:
- Heritage was frozen back to the ground., all new growth is coming from the roots and we will need to thin these as they are very thick.
- Polana was frozen back and came back from the ground
- Kilarny showed strong early growth with no winter freeze damage.
- Triple Crown gap crown came back strongly but longer canes were partially frozen, these were very long canes and the top half are frozen.
- Chester was frozen back even further down, lower on the canes.
- Bristol showed little sign of any damage.
- Nova showed little sign of damage.
- Encore showed little damage.
The slideshow below shows each variety. The photos are in pairs, the 1st being the row end label, the next being a shot of the canes around May 21st 2012.