Yeah it’s just sunburn.
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It seems all my blackberries are ripening at the same time. I don’t have that many anymore. Speaking of ripe, Wyeberries have to be almost black not to be tart. But if you can wait, and gently remove (It should fall off when lightly tugged, if not, it’s not ripe). No tartness or just enough acid to be balanced. Maybe the hot/dry year, they taste sweeter than normal.
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I really like my Columbia Star, but have never tried Kotata. It’s not a fair comparison, sounds like Kotata isn’t just blackberry.
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Can you name the 11 types of berries I picked last weekend?:
I’ve since had my first, albeit under ripe, morus nigra and a stray salmonberry, and there are thimbleberry, salal, oregon grape, cranberry, lingonberry and red elderberry on the property - not to mention baneberry, snowberry, holly and other stuff that I don’t mess with.
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Blackberry,Blueberry,Strawberry,Gooseberry,Currant,Honeyberry,Elderberry,Black Raspberry, Goumi and that’s all I can come up with. Brady
Cute! And great looking plants. I was recently in the UP of Michigan, and the blueberries were rolling in there. They have I believe they’re called rabbit eye :edit: not rabbit eye, but low bush* blueberries growing wild all over the place. Tiny berries, but packed with flavor. I can’t get blueberries to grow at all here.
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I posted this in a black raspberry thread, and think I’ll try it here too:
Honeyberry USA was selling some black raspberry and blackberries both called “Pequot Lakes,” bred by Jim Fruth. Does anyone here have any info on them or have them growing? They sold out pretty fast this spring, I believe, and I didn’t get a chance to pick any up. I am mostly interested in the blackberries, as from what I’ve read there is no dependable variety for zone 4. Curious if anyone here were one of the lucky ones to get them?
Good.
no elderberry
3 kinds of currants
The one you missed is smaller than the red currants, similar color.
try growing them in pots with mostly peat, some perlite and some compost. my soil here is around 6.5ph. naturally so a little peat nixed in with some sulfur sprinkled around each bush in the spring keeps it acidic and they love it! also rotted pine needles mixed into the soil reduces ph also but it has to be broken down well before mixing in. we have lots of low bush blueberries that are wild here that my family used to out and pick every year. i miss thier taste so much i went out and dug up a half dox. and planted them in my raised bed. also bought some brunswick lowbush from burnt ridge nursery. these are the kind grown commercially in e. Maine blueberry barrens.
Cute berry pickers and nice looking plants! You don’t have them under netting? Birds don’t take it all?
They are under netting, along with some raspberries and strawberries. I used the large square of netting to cover the whole area and made a cage with pipe. I’ll get a picture up soon.
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I finally had a few ripe ‘wyeberries’ this year and I think that these are actually thorny boysenberries. I have thorny boysen from another retailer and the plants and fruits are identical. The flavor of the fruit is also the same. 
Boysen also has a tendency to be messy when you pick them.
I had some native evergreen huckleberry when I was in Portland OR a couple of weeks ago and the flavor was amazing. So good in fact that I ordered a couple of the plants to grow some locally. 
I also purchased a Nightfall Blackberry plant and brought it back on the flight home (carry on)…you know it has gotten bad when you go to those lengths to get the berry plants you want!
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pmed bemis at honeyberrryusa . said they will be available again next spring. going to grab 3 to put in my 4’ by 8’ raised bed.
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Here Boysen is smaller, shaped different too. But agree, I can’t really tell them apart by taste. It is possible I gave you the wrong plant too, At the time I mentioned a small chance it’s not wyeberry. I’m removing my Boysen because it is not as hardy as Wyeberry. I tend to lose canes of boysen, only one fruited on an old plant this year. It has about 10 primocanes this year, and did last year too, but 9 died. The Wyeberry lost one cane out of 4. Berries of the wyeberries seem much brighter too when ripening. Both are thorny. Wyeberry grows a lot slower, less canes. I have them next to each other. Wyeberry ripens earlier too. Just by a week or so. For me the only thing the same is the taste. Maybe I have something going on I can’t explain, but no way are my thorny boysen and Wyeberry the same cultivar. Size, ripening time, hardiness, productivity, and vigor are all different. I noticed my boysens ripened pretty much in a short window, where wyeberry started ripening week before, and some are still ripening a week after boysen is done.
Good year for gooseberries. My best guess at ripening order is: 1. Hinno Red 2. Invicta 3. Hinno Yellow 4. Amish Red 5. Poorman 6. Black Velvet. This is assuming I picked them all at the right time. Poorman hit 18 brix. Hinno Yellow was really good but never turned yellow, it stayed green. Maybe that’s normal. One Hinno Yellow bush was surprisingly productive this year. It gets late afternoon shade which seems to produce healthier looking leaves. The other gets scorched and didn’t produce that well. Maybe that’s a thing, maybe it’s not.
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I let mine hang a lot longer. I plan to harvest in a couple weeks here. My poorman is as dark as your black velvet when I harvest. Well almost, more red than purple, but a very dark red. The last gooseberry I harvest too. My Black Velvet is a lot darker too when I harvest, they are pretty much black. Mine needs at least another week or two. I have Hinno Red, and it looks ready now. I plan to harvest Sunday.
I also let black and red currants hang for as long as possible. The reds are a deep dark crimson red when I harvest. usually about 3 weeks after turning red. They are almost sweet at this point. I start picking at 3 weeks, it make take a couple more before I harvest all of them. I just take the darkest ones at each harvest. I grow about 3 gallons of reds a year. That’s 3 gallons after being cleaned of stems. Rovada is later, i have not harvested any yet. These I do all at once as berries are large and strings are long, makes it easy.
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i let my consorts hang utill they start to shrivel a little. got to be careful harvesting as by then they’re soft but the taste is great. going to do this with crandall. both are loaded with berries. with the dry weather this spring/ summer, all the fruits should taste good here this year.
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Anyone have any experience with Sweet Charlie strawberry? Supposed to do well in the hot zones.