@TheGrog
Troy,
I agree zone 8 is about as heat tolerant as they get. There are raspberries specifically for hotter climates. The black raspberries I grow can withstand 100 degrees prolonged exposure and that’s about it. When it gets hotter I start losing canes so they cannot make it very well in the hotter Southern States. Your on the edge of their zone tolerance so there will be times in zone 7b they will look rough. Some are less heat tolerant than my berries but remember mine have been acclimated to Kansas and are very hardy. Technically I can’t grow gooseberries but I can and do grow them in the shade. To quote Starks something people should know is that “Do not plant Red, Gold or Purple raspberries within 75-100 feet of Black raspberries. Black raspberries may be more susceptible to viral diseases carried by aphids to and from nearby raspberry plants”
You’re right I couldn’t remember the name of my other cultivar that died, it was Bristol. Berries were nice! Thanks!
mine survived with no protection in a exposed area in a very cold winter. they are definitely cold hardy to -35f which is as cold as it got last winter.
the ohio treasures are the only black raspberries i found that are cold hardy to z3. i find they’re very good but they are the only black rasp. that I’ve tried, i have 7 varieties of reds that are just as cold hardy and drought tolerant if mulched well.
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I was eating a couple hundred a day till the turkeys trampled them and probably coons too. I saw the turkeys. Here’s an older picture before they got stomped down. I have sixty foot of these this year about five to six foot high. Then more about four foot or so high. They got nice and plump at their peak this year with a lot of berries about 5/8" dia.
I was out on thistle patrol/control today and found a new patch of wild blackraspberries. I checked my largest patch today and they’re ready for the first picking. Hope to get a quart or two (or more) tomorrow.
edit…ended up picking real close to a gallon today. A handful of wild reds, the rest all wild blacks. Looks like I should be able to get another gallon(ish) in a couple days.
That is a huge Wow!
Picked another gallon of mainly wild black raspberries with a few wild reds as well. Looks like I should be able to get about that many again in 2-3 days. Sure beats last year, I only got one gallon then.
My Jewel look like your wilds, but I discovered a couple of weeks ago that the irrigation wasn’t working.
Interesting. I’ve never seen wild reds, although I’ve seen purple blacks 
Wild reds are thick here (and in many northern areas, they are super hardy). Most years they’re hardly worth picking due to their small size, but this year some are nearly the size of smaller domestic reds. The wild reds are more flavorful than my domestic reds.
When I was a kid, we had wild blacks, reds, and just a few wild yellows. I’m still hoping to find a wild yellow here.
If the timely rains continue, I may actually be able to pick some wild blackberries this year.
In my experience, Munger is smaller than my Black Hawk. I didn’t have a chance to compare Jewel to Black Hawk, but according to this source, Black hawk is small and Jewel the biggest! I’m starting to think my plant was mislabeled!
funny how you are in the same zone as me and I’ve never seen a wild black raspberry here, besides the canadian blackberry i found last year the only cane fruit we have here are wild reds. they are weeds up here! my ohio treasures i planted are loaded with berries right now. id say 2-3 more weeks before they’re ready.
Is Ohio treasure a primocane?
yes.
There weren’t any here my first few years. The forest here was overly mature and pretty much a total canopy. My management on this acreage is largely for deer, so the canopy had to go. I’ve spent 100s of hours with a chainsaw since buying this place. Amazing what some sun on the forest floor does for diversity of flora.
Yes, I see purple and gold ones out by me. I haven’t got reds that are wild.