Black/Purple/Yellow Raspberry Varieties

I am looking to expand my collection of ‘worthy of growing’ berries.

Worthy to me is vigor, taste, production and of course disease resistant.

So can we narrow down the field of the non-red varieties and cultivars?

Here is my list of worthy based on way too much reading…

Black Rasp- Jewel, Mac Black… possibly Black Hawk.
Purple- Royalty
Yellow- Anne and maybe Double Gold

So far these seem less desirable…

Black- Cumberland, Niwot, Allen, Ohio Treasure, Bristol, Munger
Yellow - Fall Gold, Double Gold
Purple- Brandywine, Glencoe

Which of these are you glad that you grow…which of these have you removed or wish that you didnt grow and why?

Topic is also open to varieties that I did not list.

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I got a “free” jewel black raspberry (tissue culture) as a gift for buying a lot of fruit trees. I do not recall the company that sent it. Arrived a tiny little thing but the note attached said do not let the size deceive as it will grow like a weed.

It sure did! I had it for many years until I lost that area due to expanding my apple tree collection. The fruit was wonderful. The plant grew very large. I shared a lot of the rooted tips it produced with neighbors who wanted some plants after trying some of the fruit.

Jewel gets two thumbs up rating from me on yield and flavor.

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I have grown Jewel since 1996 and have had a good crop every year. The current plants are grandchildren tip-rootings of the originals.

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I like Fall Gold Raspberry, it’s not super productive but that is about the only bad point I can think of? The yellows are almost thornless, that is a plus. So is Himbo Top, low acid, excellent red. Black raspberries by themselves are low acid compared to reds. the purples are often described as bland, but make a decent jelly or jam. I have heard. I have never grown them. The best black raspberry I grow is one I bred. It is primocane fruiting and unlike Niwot the primocane berries are excellent, and extremely large. It is unnamed for now. I also bred Lynn’s Black but this one is even better. Although Lynn’s Black has the largest Summer crop fruit I have seen.

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I know that @steveb4 and others here like the Purple Royalty.

I have considered adding that one myself… but here in zone 7a TN… July & August are peak SWD and other fruit fly pest times…
Pretty sure Purple Royalty would be ripening at just the wrong time for me.

I have Heritage reds and Fall Golds and a mystery black (mislabeled)… and they ripen spring crop May 25 to June 30… just right to avoid my SWD period.

I added a few Ohio TB last spring… but no fruit yet on them… hope they are good.

Anyway… if you do have SWD in your area you might consider berries that ripen off the SWD peak.

I have Blackberries that ripen in July and into August… and I have to bag them to get fruit without SWD and other fruit fly larvae in my fruit… That is a pain… I am going to move to Blackberries that ripen earlier too (perhaps Columbia Sunrise, possibly Prime Ark varieties)… to help with that problem.

Good Luck.

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I’m not a fan of Anne raspberries. I have them along with Prelude, Nova, Caroline, and Heritage red raspberries.

Anne just doesn’t seem cold-hardy enough for my region (west PA zone 6a, though close to 5b). They did well and were plenty productive the first summer after planting them in the spring, but they die back to the ground each winter and then struggle compared to the others. They come back in spring but with a lack of vigor and have low productivity at this point.

I know a few other people on here that live in colder zones than I do that say the same thing about Anne. I’m sure they would do great in warmer zones than me, but struggle with colder winters (the lowest low here was -8 F the past 2 years).

It’s quite possible that they would do better for you in 6b though, I know there are others on here that grow and like them in 6b.

My Anne’s seldom produce. Near Minneapolis.

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Here in zone 5b Colorado I planted Ohio Treasure, Ann, Caroline and Honeyqueen. My honeyqueen cane died but came back the fallowing year but is a floricane so I will never likely get a taste of them, Ohio treasure died right away (likely due to the small pots they came in from edible landscaping and little water) Ann produced first year but is a everbearing primocane so I will at least get some crops from there, bristol grew like crazy but has not produced and will likely die back. After buying and getting the raspberries I learned that raspberry canes die back every year here in Colorado from a person in a gardening group for my state. Kind of wish I just planted asparagus knowing that.

I did a little homework on ‘Ohio Treasure’ a full description is on its patent.

https://patents.google.com/patent/USPP27871P3/en

The part that doesnt sound good is " ‘Ohio’s Treasure’ fruit are considered too small and soft for long term storage or commercial fresh market shipping."

Also the primocane fruit ripens in mid August…

‘Ohio’s Treasure’ primocane fruit ripens in mid-August and, with mid-summer topping, through September, making it sufficiently early to use as a primocane bearer for almost all agricultural regions in the United States. Although the chill requirement for ‘Ohio’s Treasure’ was not directly measured, all other black raspberries have chill hour requirements over 1200 hours. Therefore, no recommendation is made for the adaptation of ‘Ohio’s Treasure’ in low chilling areas’

The OTB’s I started last spring… were very small… in tiny pots… and they struggled for a couple months… 1 died… the other 3 I gave a little extra care and they pulled thru.

Late summer they kicked in and grew well… I tipped them at 4.5 ft and they sent out lots of laterals. They are supposed to be everbearing… and if so… should have produced a fall crop… but no blooms no fruit from them this fall… although they have established well now.

Not sure when they will produce this spring or summer ??? But will find out this next season.

I checked the OGW site and their description of OTB…

Everbearing… produces a crop late spring early summer… (on over wintered canes) and again Aug to Oct (primocanes). If double cropped over 3 lbs of fruit per plant.

Berry size med… 2.1 grams on average… where Jewell berries average 2.5.

Hopefully next season I will get two crops.

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I can tell everyone here ‘Niwot’ black raspberry is a very desirable cultivar! If you like black raspberries, it is amazing. The flavor is good (probably not the best out there, but comparable to others I’ve grown) and berry size is large, similar to ‘Jewel’ maybe slightly smaller.

However, what sets it apart is the primocane production. After the typical May-June black raspberry crop, wherein all others stop producing completely till next year, ‘Niwot’ kicks into gear again in August and produces berries non-stop from August-November. I was still picking decently good berries the first week of November. It outproduces other black raspberries by like 2-3x. The quality is good and perfect for any purpose. The fact that you get 2 picking seasons and the production is just so prolific sets this one apart. Black raspberry fans should really check this one out. We have it in stock also.

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niwotgen2

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I have reds golds and blacks…

Most of the blacks get eaten while picking.

The reds and gold make it back home.

Only have a few blacks now or last season… will have several more next.

I think the summer crop is decent as you say but the primocane crop is not very good in my humble opinion. I crossed it with Jewel, and the plant is amazing. Primocane fruiting is a dominant gene so it shows up on the first cross. The primocane berries from this cross are excellent.
Ohio Treasure is also primocane fruiting. I have not grown it though. I’m going to experiment with trying to root last years primocanes off this new cross. Tip rooting only produces one plant per cane. So I’ll take cuttings and try to root.

Lynn’s Black is another cross I did. Berries are huge! Berries ripen quite late though. These are not ready, date of photo is 10-02-2019. The plant is doing great.

I want to see if I can root cuttings, if so plants will be available for postage.

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same here. frosts kill my fall crop before i get anything.

Yeah Lynn’s ripens vey late and the other cross which will be named “Sterling Black” , ripens earlier. Not pinching them results in less berries but early ripening. It’s tough in your zone. It’s tough enough in 6a. I grow Tayberry, wyeberry, and Marion, and without protection canes will die here. I just buried them in a mound of shredded leaves. Covered with burlap to stop desiccating winds and keep leaves in place. That has worked for me, but what a hassle!
I’m addicted to everything berry so I do it!

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Here in TN 7a our last spring frost is normally in the last 10-15 days of April. Occasionally later.

My red gold and blacks (harvested so far) ripen first crop ? May 25 to June 30.

In the fall… primocane crop ripens Sept to first hard frost.

Last year… that was Dec 3… we got our last raspberries and figs that day.

This year mid Nov.

My fall crop sort of trickles in… a little at a time… where my spring crop is very abundant for near a month… freeze and make a lot of paleo chia jam during the spring crop.

My preferred cultivars were difficult to obtain. They’re obscure and some may not be offered in the US nursery trade. I sought them out because I wanted superior fruit from something hardy in Fairbanks, Alaska. They’re all floricanes.

Yellow: Honey Queen, bred by Robert Erskine, Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. Super hardy and productive. Berries large, mild and sweet. Very thorny; foliage bright lime green.

Red: Anelma. Bred in Finland and released in 1959. Has arctic raspberry in its lineage. Berries large and the mildest and sweetest of all; most pleasant to eat out of hand. They’re not tart, but neither are they insipid, possessing a deep and rich raspberry flavor. I also have Heisa and Heija, which are similar “Nectar Raspberries” from Finland with arctic raspberry genetics. Only Heisa has fruited; flavor similar to Anelma but berries smaller (although more abundant). I had to obtain all these from the USDA germplasm repository as root cuttings.

Purple: Wyoming. Another acquisition from the germplasm repository, after a 20+ year search. It hasn’t been available there now for several years, so I was lucky to get it. It’s sold in Canada, but I’ve never seen marketed in the US. The plants are monsters, with big branching canes that can be 12+ feet long. Berries are small but abundant and excellent. The only purple I’ve compared it with is Royalty (which was marginal at best and eventually winterkilled), and even though they were half the size, they were far better tasting.

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I wonder if ‘Nelson’ blackberry from Fedco would grow there for you?

@krismoriah on the fedco site they say z4, maybe z3… for the Nelsons.

I know that earlier this year @steveb4 was reporting success and a large fruit set on his Nelsons… he is z3b/4a per his profile.

Per google…
image

Yikes - that is pretty extreme.

I have some Illini Hardy myself, but per Starks z4-8 for them.

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