I noticed today that my PA Traveler plant has some blooms on it, so we might get some primocane berries off it this year. Oddly enough, the Freedom plant next to it is almost twice as big and has nary a bloom on it.
I also saw last week that my Killarney raspberry has some fruit buds on it. Which is odd, considering it’s a summer red, planted this spring. I know some summer bearers like Nova or Prelude can give a small fall crop, so I guess this isn’t totally a surprise.
I would say my Preludes produce a huge fall crop.
Picking my Ouachitas today. The bird netting Worked! Will take pics. Jam or Pie? Two quarts and a quarter first day. More tomorrow!
Yellow jackets are all over my blackberry bush. I have a trap but it’s not catching enough. Is there a way to get rid of them but keeping the berries safe to eat?
Are your berries netted? Netting seems to slow down any invaders. Sure helped mine!
Stupid deer stripped some of the leaves off the top of one the Freedom plant’s canes. Pretty cheeky, considering that plant is about 100ft from the front door.
The deer routinely strip the leaves from my azalea mollis which is only three feet from my front door. My sister in California had to fence her yard, because the deer would even come on her deck and eat her potted plants.
something’s been munching on my mystery thornless blackberry (sold to me as a PAF but is probably a floricane variety, though I digress). . . and the critter or critters have been munching on this bush since spring.
and tonight, I finally saw it (possibly one of several) with my own peepers. it might have been the thickest caterpillar i’ve ever come across, tan and easily the color of a dried-out leaf, over two inches long. and it knew how to play dead after being caught.
had to dispatch it before it transforms into a flying, egg-laying adult.
cascade gold tastes very, very noss. thanks again for the rec, drew!
you’re right—it’s not a heavy producer. wondering if that’s so because it puts so much energy into cane and leaf growth, including hydra-like suckering.
Under the right conditions, and left to hang long after coloring, and maybe variety dependant, they can lose most of their astringency and I like to eat them fresh like that. The same bushes achieve that condition some years and not others.
They are plump, juicy, weeping from the scar, and over 20 brix (if I recall correctly) in this state.
I don’t mind a bit of astringency though, especially after the first one. I like strong tea and coffee, chocolate, lemonade, cranberry, quince, rhubarb and some other things that are astringent too
I did let a few hang to the point where they were mushy on the bush. They still didn’t taste great but were not mouth puckering. I had been putting them in smoothies so we don’t taste them.
From my 5 ouachita blackberries I will harvest a minimum of 9-10 quarts. Not bad for a back yard with bushes that only get morning and early afternoon light. I will be picking all fall, as my second crop of raspberries are getting bigger by the day. Off to buy more jam jars!
And sour.
We got 3 berries off our Killarney red rasp, very unusual considering it’s supposed to be a summer red, not a fall bearer. I guess some summer (floricane) varieties can produce a small amount on the primocanes. Anyway, the flavor was OK, definitely a rasp flavor, but a bit bland, prob because of all the rain we’ve had.
I haven’t been keeping close track of my harvest this busy year but here is what I’ve been harvesting daily for a few weeks now. Most raspberries are joan j, prelude, and anne primocaine berries. The blackberries are primocaine primemark freedom and traveler.
Looks good. I planted all 5 the varieties you have, the Joan J didn’t make it. My Anne plant was put in the ground last year, all the others this year. The only bramble berries I’ve gotten this year are a few Killarney rasps. Ok, but kind of washed out flavor, prob because of rain. Our Traveler has set about 8 berries on its primocanes, so we should have some of those soon.
How would you rate the flavors of the berries you’ve harvested?
Joan J is the winner of the group for its sweet, balanced flavor and productivity. It produces a crop at the beginning of June, and restarts late July through frost. Anne just has a flat, sweet flavor with little complexity in my opinion. It also isn’t very productive for me. Prelude is a little too sour, but I will keep it due to its high yields. Traveler is too sour and chewy in my opinion. It’s also a much smaller berry than Freedom. Freedom has good size, and flavor is very sweet. I like its soft texture, but I wish I had more to enjoy since it isn’t productive in my yard.
i put in some anne, joanj and septermber sun last spring. should be able to try them next year. were slow to establish. i have polka , jaclyn and auttumn britten. autumn britten has huge berries and a richer raspberry flavor . not as prolific as the other 2 but if planted closer together , they will produce similarly. they dont send up as many new shoots so they’re easier to keep in the rows and off the lawn. also have killarney, nova and double gold on another property i manage. i got to taste a handfull of double gold. they were sweet and rich.
Polka and Nova are very nice berries. The flavor is wonderful when they’re producing. They make lot of new canes in my yard.
my polka patch started as only 12in wide 4 yrs ago and now nearly 40in.! they pop up 20ft. from the patch regularly. gonna have to get out the tiller next spring and reign them back in!
