Chester Thornless Blackberry vs Red Mammoth Raspberry - TreeTime.ca

Chester Thornless Blackberry vs Red Mammoth Raspberry

Rubus fruticosa Chester

Rubus idaeus Red Mammoth

Chester Thornless Blackberry
Red Mammoth Raspberry

Chester Thornless Blackberry is a self-pollinating fruit-bearing shrub. In mid-summer, the Chester Thornless Blackberry produces large, sweet-tasting, heart-shaped blackberries that are perfect for fresh eating. It is a semi-erect blackberry plant that requires little support from a trellis to keep its fruit off the ground. Don't forget to protect your berries. The birds love this shrub almost as much as you will.

Chester Thornless Blackberries are floricanes, primarily fruiting on second year canes. Each spring cut back all two-year old canes, leaving only the last year’s growth.

Red Mammoth is a high-yielding variety released in 1999 by the University of Saskatchewan Fruit Program, SK. It produces distinctively large bright red berries about 1 inch wide. It is also more cold hardy than older raspberry cultivars. Red Mammoth is firm which makes it suitable for commercial production and sweeter than Boyne. Needs to be trellised as canes are not as sturdy as other varieties.

Red Mammoth Raspberry is a floricane-fruiting variety, meaning it primarily produces fruit on second-year canes (previous season’s new growth). They are also referred to as summer-bearing. In late winter or early spring, cut back all spent floricanes, leaving only last season's canes.

Raspberries are self-fertile, meaning they do not require cross-pollination from another variety to produce fruit.

Chester Thornless Blackberry Quick Facts

Red Mammoth Raspberry Quick Facts

Lowest Price: $12.49 - SAVE UP TO 26%
Lowest Price: $11.49 - SAVE UP TO 23%
Zone: 3b
Zone: 3a
Height: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Height: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Spread: 3 m (10 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Light: full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: normal, wet
Moisture: normal, wet
Growth rate: fast
Growth rate: medium
Life span: short
Life span: short
Suckering: high
Suckering: medium
Maintenance: high
Maintenance: medium


Flowers: pink
Berries: heart shaped black
Berries: very large
Firmness: firm
Firmness: firm
Flavor: sweet
Harvest: July
Harvest: June-July
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Other Names: chester blackberry, hardy blackberry