What's happening in your raspberry patch?

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ponyexpress
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What's happening in your raspberry patch?

#1

Post: # 47158Unread post ponyexpress
Thu May 20, 2021 3:50 pm

I have two beds with golden raspberries. One is a variety that I got from a friend whose Mom has been growing it since the 50s. Don't know the name. The fruit is very sweet. I cut the canes to hip height and will get a summer and fall crop.

I have another golden variety that I got from another gardener. Again, no name but she got them a few years ago from a place in Oregon. The berries are very large but not as sweet. The canes don't seem to survive the winter so it's primarily primocane. It also needs support or the berries will land on the ground. If I cut the canes down to hip height, I would say that 10-20% survive the winter and show growth the next year.

Bought three new varieties from Nourse Farms: Double Gold (champagne pink color), Royalty (purple), and Himbo Top (red). Looking forward to seeing how they will be in terms of production.

Also collected some baby plants from my friend so I got Caroline (red), JoanJ (thornless red).

My place is becoming quite the raspberry nursery. Interested in trying new varieties to see which ones work best.

A few of my raspberries are in raised beds. I find that they do a good job in containing the plants. Only get a few runners escaping the beds. Highly recommend this approach.

I don't have any blackberries and I'm not sure that I have any interest in doing so. Should I think otherwise?

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PlainJane
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Re: What's happening in your raspberry patch?

#2

Post: # 47159Unread post PlainJane
Thu May 20, 2021 3:53 pm

Depends on how you like the fruit. Personally I think blackberries have a bit more flavor but you don’t get all the color choices raspberries have.
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

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ponyexpress
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Re: What's happening in your raspberry patch?

#3

Post: # 50099Unread post ponyexpress
Thu Jul 08, 2021 4:13 pm

I've been harvesting some summer berries from my golden variety at home and a red one in my community garden plot. One thing I learned this year is that regular watering will make a difference in berry size. I have never watered my raspberries in the past but this year, we had some dry spells so I did water heavily as needed. It has made a difference in the size for the red berries. Much bigger than previous years.

Haven't had a need to water the past week as we're getting a lot of daily rain here in Massachusetts. Wish Mother Nature would space out the rains better.

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Rockoe10
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Re: What's happening in your raspberry patch?

#4

Post: # 50102Unread post Rockoe10
Thu Jul 08, 2021 5:26 pm

I noticed that this year, the wild black raspberries are doing very well! This looks too be a great season for many of the fruit barring plants.
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Paulf
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Re: What's happening in your raspberry patch?

#5

Post: # 50111Unread post Paulf
Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:02 pm

I have noticed the blackberries that in previous years have been huge this year are plentiful but about half the size of the past years. I did prune them back a lot last fall so maybe that is it.

The raspberry canes we planted last year did not make it through the winter. I will try again. In this area we used to have wild black raspberries all over the place but too many people and the power company sprays them with herbicide since they, well, grow wild. Used to be fun to go along the roads and get a few gallons of berries and scratched all to heck in the process. The blackberries are thornless thank goodness.

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Growing Coastal
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Re: What's happening in your raspberry patch?

#6

Post: # 50113Unread post Growing Coastal
Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:51 pm

My nameless variety red raspberry had berries get burned in our high temperatures recently.
One morning after a scorching day I wondered where all the ripening berries had gone. Memory off? Birds?
When a few did show red again I picked and found that the berries that were ripening had been sunburned during the heat and turned pale, soft and tasted like lemons - yuck. Only burned on the top side. If they had been shaded they would have been alright.
We have never had such high temperatures before, a once in a thousand year event, so no experience with needing to shade raspberries in the past. We got up to 37C - 98.6 F. Hard to believe.

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Shule
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Re: What's happening in your raspberry patch?

#7

Post: # 50121Unread post Shule
Fri Jul 09, 2021 12:56 am

Our raspberries are all gone, now, but our neighbors have blackcaps (black raspberries), which hang over the fence into our yard; my neighbor said we could eat the ones on our side. They're pretty tasty, and they seem pretty easy to grow, too (they volunteer in our yard sometimes, and they grow fast; if it were up to me, we'd keep some). The blackcaps produce once a year. They taste like Black Cherry Shasta.

We've got plenty of thornless blackberries, though.
Location: SW Idaho, USA
Climate: BSk
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ponyexpress
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Re: What's happening in your raspberry patch?

#8

Post: # 50130Unread post ponyexpress
Fri Jul 09, 2021 6:27 am

Growing Coastal wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:51 pm My nameless variety red raspberry had berries get burned in our high temperatures recently.
One morning after a scorching day I wondered where all the ripening berries had gone. Memory off? Birds?
When a few did show red again I picked and found that the berries that were ripening had been sunburned during the heat and turned pale, soft and tasted like lemons - yuck. Only burned on the top side. If they had been shaded they would have been alright.
We have never had such high temperatures before, a once in a thousand year event, so no experience with needing to shade raspberries in the past. We got up to 37C - 98.6 F. Hard to believe.
I noticed some of my raspberries got burned as well during the recent high temps. Some of my varieties are both florincanes & primocanes. I'm thinking that it might be better to just make them primocanes because:
1. It's easier to pick one crop at one time versus having to look through your canes to find the pockets of berries.
2. Cooler weather in the fall prevents sunburned berries
3. Easier pruning as you take all of the canes down to the ground at the end of the season.

Gardadore
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Re: What's happening in your raspberry patch?

#9

Post: # 50131Unread post Gardadore
Fri Jul 09, 2021 7:34 am

Great year here also for the wild black raspberries here. Started picking the red Raspberries yesterday. Got two cups only but the plants are loaded so will see how they continue. We had probably eaten a cup or more directly in the garden a few days ago!
The red, white and black currants have been awesome producers this year along with the gooseberries. They all seem to be ripening at the same time which makes for a lot of work picking and cleaning. I freeze a lot but still need to get more raspberries. Not sure how the heat wave affected the raspberries since there are so many waiting to ripen. Perhaps the fact that there are a number of ripe and even rotting berries starting earlier than usual is due to that heat. They have certainly been well watered recently!

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Rockoe10
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Re: What's happening in your raspberry patch?

#10

Post: # 50133Unread post Rockoe10
Fri Jul 09, 2021 7:48 am

Growing Coastal wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:51 pm My nameless variety red raspberry had berries get burned in our high temperatures recently.
One morning after a scorching day I wondered where all the ripening berries had gone. Memory off? Birds?
When a few did show red again I picked and found that the berries that were ripening had been sunburned during the heat and turned pale, soft and tasted like lemons - yuck. Only burned on the top side. If they had been shaded they would have been alright.
We have never had such high temperatures before, a once in a thousand year event, so no experience with needing to shade raspberries in the past. We got up to 37C - 98.6 F. Hard to believe.
You might try some black raspberries. They can handle the sun a bit better. Though, in my experience, raspberries prefer that woodland line where they can get sun for half the day, and shade the rest.
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