Opinions wanted: Favorite raspberry varieties?

I agree it was the best berry for me this year as well. Best flavor and along with Anne the most productive. Autumn Bliss was also quite good. I think overall I prefer the reds to the golds.

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My wife does too, they do taste different. I like the yellows myself better, although I love both of them, all of them. My favorite fruit. Productivity depends on many things. I feel all cultivars bring something to the table.
Caroline and Anne are excellent, but for me not that productive. Prelude and Himbo Top are more productive. Kevin found Josephine to be the most productive. Again not for me. I love reading these reports, but it seems the school of hard knocks is the only way to know how well they will perform in your area.

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i only have everbearing right now and my favorite is autumn britten, jaclyn, then polka. autumn britten isn’t as big a producer but the berry size is large and very tasty. put in some anne, joan j and caroline last summer. should get to taste them next summer. planting some prelude , nova and encore on a friends property. next spring. plan to sell what i don’t eat.

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I’m in the west sfv. I couldn’t find any at in stores so I got some online for a good price and so far they’re great. I haven’t had any issues with insects or anything so that’s also nice. I’m growing citrus and tropicals along with some bramble varieties. And a few herbs.

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Son and DIL are purchasing a home in MD, and want to plant some raspberries, so I’ve enjoyed reading this thread. Personally, I’ve never tasted a raspberry that didn’t make me want to spit it out immediately, but… different strokes…
Anybody grown, or have any comments on Baba berry? Back in the day, Don ‘Jellyman’ Yellman constantly sang its praises in his VA garden.

It grows very well in the west, and taste is not bad. it tolerates high heat, but I think it is only hardy to 0 degrees F. So not something I can grow. Their are only a few cultivars that will grow in San Diego, and this is one of them.

I planted a row of nova because they were supposed to take fluctuating temps better than any other.In the Texas panhandle zn. 6b, they couldn’t do it I got no floricane fruit. However , by treating them as a primocane, they have produced about as well as any of my primocane varieties have. You might experiment and cut a few plants to the ground in winter to see if they will produce a late crop for you.

I posted on Houzz yesterday under best yellow raspberry and the post sums up all my opinions well so here it is. The thread was “best yellow raspberry” (but i cover everything)

I have both Honey Queen and Cascade Gold, and to me the best is Cascade Gold. It is a very firm large berry, and more a solid yellow than translucent in color. The taste is spectacular. Let them have a tinge of red before harvest. Wow, very unique and excellent flavor. Also excellent before the tinge of red, so that’s a plus too. It is not particularly cold hardy, and may struggle in colder zones. It also is a summer bearing type. My second favorite is Kiwi Gold, a sport of Heritage. I also have Anne and Fall Gold, Double Gold too, and a light pink hybrid I bred in a cross of Polka x Anne. I call it Irene.

I want to do a cross of Cascade Gold and Josephine. Josephine is a super large berry with excellent taste. I heard the other Cascade, Cascade Delight is also an excellent raspberry. I want to add it one day. .

I like to grow prelude for processing berries. It has a strong somewhat tart flavor. It produces well, out producing almost anything else. The canes are strong and fast growers. The flavor is great for jams, smoothies, syrup etc. For fresh eating I like Himbo Top. It produces even more than Prelude, the berries are low acid and very good for fresh eating. These two are my work horses, both reliable, and heavy producers with very different flavors.

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I’m going to order more Cascade Delight red raspberries this year and try again. Like I said earlier in the thread, it’s probably the best raspberry I have tried overall. I did like Royalty Purple for jam (not for fresh eating) so I’m going to replant those as well.

Although not a raspberry, I have five wyeberry plants that I planted last year but didn’t really get them started well. I have moved them to pots in my garage over the weekend and going to get them growing well before I replant them. I’m going to move them to a raised bed to help them grow better this year. The mother wyeberry plant over wintered well…it handled a -6F night without any noticeable cane damage, so I think that may make that variety a winner.

I’m looking to plant one more variety of raspberry…I might try Josephine. It sounds like a good variety.

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Yes, worth trying. I planted some New Berry Blackberry in the ground. It was small and I’m just hoping the roots survive. I like it, flavor is excellent, it doesn’t take that long to fully ripen, Not sure what it is?? I just like it.

I work in a farm store garden center. My boss recommends Caroline for its ever-bearing habit, good berries, and root rot resistance.

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I grow only 5 varieties but so far Caroline is my favorite also.

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I like Caroline also, but it is not that productive compared to others. So that is a consideration.

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i put in Anne, joan j and caroline last spring. caroline didn’t make it. i have polka, jaclyn and autumn britten established. polka produces the most but autumn britten beats it in size and flavor just not as productive. jaclyns good also and a little better producer than autumn britten. polka is a great producer but i find it bland for me. i mix it with other varieties and its good. but i like tart , acid raspberries. anxious to try joan j. the anne produces the same time as heritage so i probably won’t get much from them before frost kills them… wish there was a more cold hardy yellow raspberry.

Fall Gold, of all my cultivars ( I think 8) it handles the severe cold with less cane die back than any others.

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I’ve read that fall gold is a late producer. the same problem i had w/ heritage so i yanked them. if they aren’t ripe by mid sept. here, they won’t work. i can grow zone 5 primocane producing varieties here as long as they ripen before mid sept, which most don’t. when does your fall golds ripen?

I don’t see it being a late producer compared to my other cultivars, in fact, I think its pretty early both summer and fall crop. Most years we start getting primocane Fall Gold the last week of August. They definitely aren’t late compared to Heritage. Most years we harvest 90% or better of the Fall Gold primocane crop before frost but only about 50% of the Heritage. Heritage is my latest berry for both the summer and fall crop.

Last year my Anne didn’t grow much (about 8" tall) and earlier this winter it looked like some critter munched it about in half. When I did my berry orders for this year, I ordered another one, just in case. The plants are due here the first week of April.

Well, during this brief warm spell we had, it’s sprouted some little green leaves on its little stem. So, I’m thinking it’s going to be OK.

So, I was thinking of replacing it on my order with something else. I was considering either Encore or Boyne. Any comments on either of these varieties?

I have encore, the berries are decent, on the tart side. It is not as productive for me as it’s sister, prelude. I will always grow Prelude. Still it’s fairly consistent producer all the same. No fall crop, a true summer bearer.

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I don’t see a lot of people talking about BP1 - which is a cross of Polka and Tulameen. I just put in a couple plants from Pense Nursery to try them out, along with some Josephine and Jewel. Anyone having good results with BP1? I’m particularly interested in the floricane crop since we get a lot of SWD on the fall berries.

By the way, I was very happy with the plants from Pense and the prices are great.

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