How much do the SWD like your black raspberries?
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A lot! I have learned to live with them. I use netting sometimes, but with raspberries they tend to hold up to infection and are a bad choice for the fly. As I harvest all the larvae and none make it. If you refrigerate they abandon the fruit and can be washed off with water. I let them dry and freeze any I don’t consume. We do eat a lot fresh. Mostly reds this time of year. Right now they are hardly any SWD, it’s too cold for them. Harvest is really good right now. Stocking up for the winter! I’m getting a cup to 2 cups daily.
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The canes off this plant are huge!
Here is this year’s summer crop
Summer crop berry size is good (pictured above). The fall crop though, those are giants (see first post)!
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m,y ohio treasures have big canes like that but the berries are only 2/3rds the size of yours. good job!
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Great looking black raspberry plants. I have a patch of wild black raspberry canes that just showed up one year and I kept them going. I get a nice batch of them in about July. Black raspberries are my family’s favorite berry.
Your plants look great and the canes are impressive. Great job!!!
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I kept a 2nd plant from this cross too. The others I discarded. I’m still evaluating the 2nd plant, but can say this one is just so much better than any other black raspberry I have ever grown, it is an obvious winner and keeper!
I’ll send you a tip rooted plant eventually if you want to try it. Others have contacted me and I’ll try and get back when I have a few plants.
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That looks like a great berry- I adore black raspberry. I really want to see how this does for you as time goes on.
I was just looking at it yesterday. Looks good! I’m curious too how it will do… My Jewel looks good and I want to compare berries closer, which I like more, etc. I have two other hybrids. I’m still evaluating them.
Oh I’m named it “Lynn’s Black” I believe now I mixed my crosses up and this is Ontario Wild x Niwot. Not Jewel x Niwot, although I have that plant too. It also is primocane fruiting, one I’m still evaluating. It is more normal size too.
Ontario Wild was found by a friend of mine from that Province (Tyler, used to be on Garden Web). I live close to the border, Windsor is 26 miles away. He came over here for business and brought me a plant years ago. It is a wild brown cap, it is yellow and when fully ripe turns brown. It is the mother. Niwot was the pollen parent.
The reason I know I mixed them up is the size of Lynn’s Black berries. Wild Ontario has a huge berry. It must be the mother. I mixed the seeds or plants up somehow? I did both crosses at the same time. Also the leaves of Lynn’s and Ontario look identical.
I’ll compare to Jewel this season.
Most people think of Canada as north of the US. Not always. For me to go there it’s due south 26 miles!
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I was talking to moose and it occurred to me that I could back cross Lynn’s Black back to Ontario Wild and get a primocane fruiting yellow or brown cap. Wow! I can’t believe that never occurred to me before!? Awesome! I have a new project! Yes!
I guess odds are 25% of the seeds should produce a yellow. It will be easy to tell!
The two closet plants. Guess which one is the yellow/brown cap? 
The other is one of my unnamed crosses. So it’s going to be easy to decide which seedling to keep.
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wow. they do well in pots.
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Those root pouches with the DE never get too wet, as we both noticed these black raspberries seem to be susceptible to root rot in wet areas, this is a solution. It took some time to learn to grow in containers, but after 40 years, I got it down.
Currants do well too. Sometimes limits size. Photos of those containers was taken about 15 minutes ago. They are just starting to grow. Plants are left there year round. I did move that unamed black for the photo, that black ring at 1 O’Clock was where it was all winter. Behind them is Consort black currant and Jahns Prairie gooseberry.
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the tiben cuttings you gave me are in 20 gal and 17gal pots. the growth is double from in ground probably due to more air to the roots and a warmer root ball. they should fruit for me this summer. if i had them in a garage i doubt they would make it in pots but under the snow in the yard they should be good to go. we did have a very snowy mild winter here though . we’ll see by next month. does heat stress the plants in pots? i would think if it got in the 90’s they would have a hard time. only hit low 80’s here a few times last summer.
Mine is in a pot outside always. It is turning into a nice plant. Nice upright growth and the canes get thicker each year. Black currants can be huge plants! I’m finding the differences not to be that much different. I shifted my focus to production. Black September is a very good producer. I have many more I need to grow a few years to say. I just had some black currant syrup on some premium vanilla ice cream tonight. The wife said this is the best syrup you make. I like my syrups rather tart, so I use as little sugar as possible. Blows away not even close any syrup you could buy.
In full sun it can, not really a problem with fabric, it does not become warm, even the brown. It does dry the soil quickly. The bigger the fabric pot the less the problem.
One way to help with this is to use a garbage can lid or whatever as a saucer and fill it with water on hot days or before you go away for some time. This will also prevent rooting into the ground if placed on soil. I have mulberries in fabric bags and the roots go right through the bottom if on soil. I just leave them there all winter and let them do it. I’ll trim roots and top when a new root pouch is needed. If you don’t plan to move it you can go up to any size, A 600 gallon root pouch is 35 bucks.
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i should get enough b. currants to do the syrup this summer. i also like it tart. i use old tote covers placed upside down under my pots. i might buy some wide shallow totes to put them in so i don’t have to water as often. most of my 20gal are black is why i was worried but they are in shade from 130pm on so not as much a issue i guess.
Yes, and the hard plastic becomes hot, fabric not so much. I have a couple of the black ones, they seem OK too.
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Here is Lynn’s Black right now. It has 2 canes, the other canes are old floricanes I’m going to remove in a minute. It’s young, it will have more canes next year. It has decent laterals on both canes too. I trimmed them up last fall.
Thickness is decent
Even on laterals
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Wow, that is an impressive looking cane! Even nicer seeing that they are grown in bags! I may have to go that route for some of my varieties, I won’t be able to build enough beds in the space I have. I have a couple ten gallon bags to try out, looks like I should be looking at bigger ones too.
Also, if you don’t mind. What is your process for preparing and germinating seeds? I’ve watched videos on how to emasculate the flower, but the acid wash and stratification is something I haven’t done with seeds before. I read that U of Ark uses pectic enzymes to clean the seeds, is that in place of the acid bath? I have the enzyme already for wine making.
I don’t know? The process is a long one.I was bummed as I made a cross and It failed, no seeds. I will try again with the primocane flowers. I still have pollen.
I use seeds right away as they have a short shelf life. So I harvest the seeds and soak in 30% sulfuric acid for 20 minutes, blackberries need 30 minutes. I may adjust times as I experiment more. (longer times may be better). I use a fine sieve strainer and dump the acid through it and catch the seeds. Rinse seeds well. Now I fill a nursery tray with no dividers with seed starter mix. I then add seeds to the top and slightly press them in the soil. I moisten with spray bottle and put a lid on it and air it out once a week all through fall and winter in my garage. One could use a refrigerator. I think they need 90 days of chilling. I would have to check that. Seeds need light to germinate so they usually do not germinate all winter. I put them on the porch in March. Keep them moist and wait for them to sprout. They need sun to sprout.
I have a 2nd cultivar that is a cross of Niwot and Jewel. I just sampled today berries from it. They are excellent. Not as big as Lynn’s Black but I think have an edge on taste. Not as vigorous, a smaller plant. I have a 3rd cross and it’s very good too, but no primocane fruiting. I’m keeping these two all the same. I have a 4th too that is still young.
I want to make a primocane fruiting yellow cap. My first attempt at a back cross failed (as mentioned) I’ll try again with the Primocane flowers in the fall. A better time anyway.
I have a blackberry cross fruiting right now. A little disappointed as it is a little late. I would have liked an earlier ripener. Curious how it comes out…
How would you describe the “seediness” of Lynn’s Black or your other breeds, compared to Jewel, for eg? This is my first taste of black caps on a teeny Jewel floracane. It was quite small and seedy. Of course, the new primocanes are much more vigorous and stronger, so I’d guess the size and flavor to change next year. However, I wonder if the seed crunch is a common characteristic of black caps.