Prime Ark Horizon Blackberry Starter Plug – Everbearing Live Plant

Overview

Bring the joy of fresh, homegrown fruit to your garden with the Prime Ark Horizon blackberry live plant. This exceptional variety, developed by the University of Arkansas, is renowned for its high yield and unique everbearing nature. As a primocane-fruiting blackberry, it produces fruit on first-year canes, offering an extended harvest season that delights gardeners with both a summer floricane crop and a bountiful late-season primocane crop. Known botanically as Rubus ‘Horizon’, this plant is a fantastic addition for anyone looking to enjoy delicious, large blackberries over a longer period. Its vigorous growth and reliable fruiting make it a top choice among everbearing blackberry varieties, promising a rewarding harvest for years to come.

The Prime Ark Horizon blackberry live plant is ideal for gardeners in USDA Hardiness Zones 6-9, showing particular success and vigor in the mid to upper South. This robust plant provides a continuous supply of sweet, firm berries, perfect for fresh eating, baking, jams, or freezing. Investing in a blackberry starter plug ensures a strong beginning for your berry patch, allowing you to establish a healthy, productive plant that will yield abundant fruit. Experience the satisfaction of growing your own berries with this outstanding primocane fruiting blackberry.

Key Benefits

The Prime Ark Horizon blackberry live plant offers numerous advantages for the home gardener, combining high productivity with ease of care and delicious results. Its unique fruiting habit ensures a prolonged season of enjoyment.

• Extended Harvest Season: Enjoy blackberries over a longer period with both a summer floricane crop and a late-season primocane crop. This means fresh berries from summer well into fall, maximizing your yield from a single plant.
• High Yielding: This variety is known for its impressive productivity, providing an abundance of fruit. You’ll have plenty of berries for fresh consumption, baking, preserves, and sharing with friends and family.
• Large, Firm Berries: The ‘Prime-Ark Horizon’ produces substantial blackberries, averaging 7.8g, with some individual fruits reaching up to 10-15g. These berries are not only large but also firm, making them excellent for handling, storage, and transport.
• Delicious Flavor: These blackberries boast a delightful, sweet flavor profile, perfect for eating fresh off the vine, adding to desserts, or incorporating into various culinary creations. The quality of the fruit makes this everbearing blackberry a garden favorite.
• Developed for Reliability: Bred by the University of Arkansas, this variety is developed for strong performance and adaptability, especially in its recommended hardiness zones. This ensures a reliable and consistent harvest.
• Versatile Use: Whether you’re making pies, jams, smoothies, or simply enjoying them as a healthy snack, the berries from your primocane fruiting blackberry are highly versatile and delicious.
• Strong Growth Habit: As a Rubus Horizon plant, it exhibits vigorous growth, quickly establishing itself to provide a productive berry patch.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Caring for your Prime Ark Horizon blackberry live plant is straightforward, ensuring a bountiful harvest with proper attention. These plants thrive in conditions that mimic their natural habitat, requiring well-draining soil and ample sunlight. For best results, choose a planting site that receives full sun, meaning at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day. Adequate sunlight is crucial for fruit development and overall plant health. Ensure good air circulation around the plants to prevent fungal diseases. When planting your blackberry starter plug, amend the soil with organic matter to improve fertility and drainage.

Watering is essential, especially during dry periods and when the plant is establishing and fruiting. Aim for consistent moisture, but avoid waterlogging the soil. A good rule of thumb is to water deeply once or twice a week, checking the soil moisture regularly. Blackberries prefer a slightly acidic to neutral soil pH (6.0-6.5). Fertilize in early spring with a balanced slow-release fertilizer designed for berries or fruiting plants. Pruning is key for productivity with this primocane fruiting blackberry. Since it’s primocane-fruiting, you can choose to prune all canes to the ground in late winter for a single, large fall crop, or selectively prune floricanes (canes that fruited in summer) after harvest to encourage new primocanes for a dual crop. The ‘Prime-Ark Horizon’ is best suited for USDA Hardiness Zones 6-9, so protecting it from extreme winter conditions in the lower end of this range might be necessary.

Size & Details

Each purchase includes one Prime Ark Horizon blackberry live plant provided as a healthy starter plug, ready for planting. This robust young plant is carefully cultivated to ensure a strong root system, providing an excellent foundation for growth in your garden. The ‘Prime-Ark Horizon’ is a moderate to vigorous grower, and with proper care, it will develop into a productive bush capable of yielding abundant fruit. Berries are notably large, averaging 7.8 grams, with many individual fruits often reaching an impressive 10-15 grams each. This variety is known for its extended harvest season, offering fruit from summer into the late fall, thanks to its primocane-fruiting nature.

Once established, the plant will produce canes that bear fruit in their first year (primocanes) and their second year (floricanes), depending on your pruning strategy. The ultimate size of the mature bush can vary based on growing conditions and pruning, but it typically forms a substantial, upright plant that benefits from trellising or support. This everbearing blackberry is a long-term investment, providing delicious harvests for many years when given appropriate care and growing conditions within its optimal USDA Hardiness Zones 6-9.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big will my Prime Ark Horizon blackberry plant get? A: A: The Prime Ark Horizon blackberry live plant is a vigorous grower. With proper care and support, it can grow several feet tall and wide, forming a substantial bush. Pruning can help manage its size and encourage better fruit production.
• Q: Is this an indoor or outdoor plant? A: The Prime Ark Horizon blackberry live plant is an outdoor plant, best suited for garden planting. It requires ample sunlight and space to thrive and produce fruit.
• Q: How much sunlight does the Prime Ark Horizon blackberry need? A: This primocane fruiting blackberry requires full sun, meaning at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight per day, to produce the best fruit yields and ensure healthy growth.
• Q: Is this plant easy to care for? A: Yes, the Prime Ark Horizon blackberry live plant is considered relatively easy to care for, especially for gardeners with some experience. Key aspects include consistent watering, proper pruning, and adequate sunlight.
• Q: What condition will the blackberry starter plug arrive in? A: Your blackberry starter plug will arrive as a healthy, well-rooted young plant, ready for transplanting into your garden or a larger pot. It will be carefully packaged to ensure its safe arrival.
• Q: How long until it produces fruit? A: As a primocane-fruiting variety, your Rubus Horizon plant can produce fruit on its first-year canes, meaning you could see berries in the first year after planting, with larger harvests in subsequent years.
• Q: What is an everbearing blackberry? A: An everbearing blackberry, like the Prime Ark Horizon, produces two crops per year: one on floricanes (second-year canes) in the summer and another on primocanes (first-year canes) in the late summer/fall, extending your harvest season significantly.
• Q: What USDA Hardiness Zones is this blackberry suitable for? A: The ‘Prime-Ark Horizon’ blackberry is best suited for USDA Hardiness Zones 6-9, performing particularly well in the warmer regions of this range.
• Q: Can I grow this blackberry in a container? A: While possible, growing this vigorous Prime Ark Horizon blackberry live plant in a container would require a very large pot (at least 20-25 gallons) and consistent attention to watering and fertilization due to its size and fruiting capacity.
• Q: What kind of soil does it prefer? A: This primocane fruiting blackberry thrives in well-draining, fertile soil with a slightly acidic to neutral pH (6.0-6.5). Amending with organic matter is beneficial.