Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here in central VA, all of our turtles are up for the season. One of the ladies has already mated (twice!) with her main squeeze (she ignores all but one male).
Weight loss over the winter was minimal...3% or less, some none at all. I haven't fed them yet: there are loads of worms and slugs and snails for them to eat in their enclosure, and judging from the amount of goo they have on their beaks, they've been taking full advantage.
Next month: expansion of enclosure to 1000 sq. ft. (currently 750 sq. ft.
Am debating planting a thornless blackberry in there, or maybe just another bluberry. Has anyone grown one of the thornless blackberries and do they take over the way the thorny ones can? We want to be able to walk around in Turtle World.
Thanks
Stephanie

I have the thornless black berry bushes in my garden. They will take over the whole yard if you don’t keep them in check each year.
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Jack

Yeah, I suspected as much...I don't really believe the literature that says the thornless variety is "less aggressive".
I think I'll get another lowbush blueberry and hope for better yields with more than one (even though the one I have is self-pollinating).
The mayapples are blooming too, so we'll see if they'll fruit this year.
We're working toward a measure of self-sufficiency.
Stephanie

Hi Steph,
I have some strong colored eastern boxies and some Florida's (bauri). I've been using seedless backberries for twelve years and find they don't sucker and are nothing like rasberries. Very little to no suckering; I 'm thinking it may depend on the variety....Mine are black satin. I also have three different kinds of blueberries. Didn't know there was a self pollinating one!
Ric

Thanks for that cultivar name for the thornless blackberry.
There are indeed self-pollinating blueberry bushes, but you get a better yield if you have more than one, which is fairly typical for any self-pollinating fruiting plant.
I don't have a problem finding wild blackberries, so I'll probably stick with picking them and lobbing them into the pen.
All of my turtles are berryholics...

Stephanie