On the topic of hardy have you tried KiwiGold and HoneyQueen? I just planted mine this past fall.. so looking forward to them. Im not a fan of Anne and pulled them. I like Double Gold also.. they get mixed reviews..some say that they have no taste and some say they are the best tasting.. i am fairly convinced that the lack of taste is due to overhydration…or their plantings in raised beds with too much moisture content..along with most other reports of blandness… i think rasps prefer lack of moisture for good tasting fruits..which is why i plant most of mine in a very heavy mix of sand now.
Still somewhat on topic. speaking of root rot. hard to get root rot when you have raspberries growing in drought conditions..
I added AAC Eden as well and this looks like its a very tough plant. This guy has been putting them thru the torture test with very good results. Its thornless for the folks that are into that also. The good part is after the 3min mark. Great for folks that live in cold areas… unknown really for folks that live in warmer climates as its a fairly obscure variety.
I will add Eden to my list. Honey queen didn’t do great for me. I like to try them at least twice. I have not had a chance to yet, so no opinion on it. It died out and I have not replaced it. Kiwi Gold does ok here and it’s a beautiful looking berry with a deep red flush when ripe.
Unfortunately I’m stuck with the conditions I have. Only a few plants really thrive here. My daughter just obtained property with a large raspberry patch. I have yet to go there. Probably in the spring. My daughter just sold her current house and has not moved in yet. It has over 50 fruit trees on the property and in addition to the raspberries has a large blackberry and strawberry patch. I’m very excited to start managing this property. I need to teach my daughter how to care for this property as I’m halfway through the back nine. She has a time demanding job and autistic step child. So it’s not
going to be easy. She moved just to be eligible for a very good program for autistic children in St. Clair county.
You have to do what you have to do.
Here’s the real estate ad for the property https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/8630-Arendt-Rd_Brockway_MI_48097_M48646-01713
I might give AAC Eden a try. I like that they make full size fruit in such dry conditions. Reminds me of beaches where red raspberry thrives and dominates even against poison ivy, rugosa rose and the like. Im not usually there at the right time of year to see what the fruit is like but Ive always been struck by happy the plants look growing in the sand and salt spray. Meanwhile wildling res raspberries here are often spindly little things with only a handful of berries on them. Go figure.
Its often super dry around mid-summer. I’ve always mulched as heavily as I could manage to, but sometimes have wound up with tiny berries. My floricane raspberries are planted in an area with fertile soil thats shallow to ledge, so sort of opposite the guy in the video. I have a drip system in the high tunnel and was thinking to move most of my brambles up that way, so I may have that problem nipped. I agree too much water is probably part of what causes bland flavor. Nourse lists AAC as having excellent flavor. That seems to vary by location and palette. I saw above where you dont like ‘jewel’ black much due to poor flavor. I love wild blackcaps but for me jewel has great flavor. I know people who’ve sworn off growing raspberries because they say they are all big but bland. Who knows why…
My reviews along with most of us here fall into YMMV. That was the first crop..and if memory serves it was a pretty wet spring… so shame on me for evaluating a crop and making an assumption.
I just ordered ‘Born Free’ which i did not want to get for awhile.. firstly because im not really into thornless varieties that much and secondly i have way too many black rasps. However if it is Tahi that might be worth growing. I cant imagine that there are many varieties with similar characteristics in a black rasp. Im a big fan of NZ breeding so im gambling that Born Free is Tahi.
I bring this up bc it fruits the same time as Jewel.. so kinda on the same thought process.
A reviewer from NM says that this plant does well in 100F
“they seem pretty low maintenance and resilient. Also, heat tolerant, as the average temp is 100 F from May through mid-fall. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to grow raspberries, especially fans of the black variety. So happy this has come out!”
So this may be a hidden gem for folks living in Z5 all the way up to the hottest parts of the country… YMMV. It may be more cold hardy than that as well.
Cool about born free. I may use it for breeding. I’m spoiled by the primocane fruiting types. Fresh blackcaps in the fall! The commercial nurseries were too quick to jump into selling primocane blackcaps. The primocane fruit is terrible on Niwot. It should have been crossed again to improve flavor. So I bred it a couple times with different blackcaps and both are extremely interesting.
I posted about it elsewhere. I still get a kick about quarter sized black raspberries. Niwot x Jewel produced an excellent tasting primocane fruit. Although the fruit is not quarter size. The other seedling produces them. Primocane fruit is not as good though. Better than Niwot though.
The primocane trait is dominant wonder if the thornless gene is recessive or dominant?
In a nutshell its Ponca but late…like late July with Navaho and Von. However they are saying that its the firmest of their berries..and good for farmers markets and shipping when other folks may not have ripe fruits during that late summer window. So Ponca Traveller would be a good reference.
Like Sweet-Ark Ponca, Sweet-Ark Immaculate has shorter-than-standard canes and a reduced space between leaves, also known as the internode length.
Ponca grows differently than other blackberries. If yours doesnt look very much different than other blackberries you may not have a true to name Ponca. She discusses how small the plant is in this video.
“People have been asking for a very late variety for a long time” says Margaret Worthington..
That doesnt include myself and im not interested right now..but some of you may be.
If anyone is interested, here’s my winter update for 33 varieties in Dallas, TX
(it says 32, but I forgot I also have bare roots of Cascade Reds in a container)
still have Prime Ark Horizon and Tayberry in the mail too
I emailed him, he said that Horizon is “semi-thornless” and I might not see any thorns until it starts growing… not sure if that’s accurate or not. Can someone with Horizon chime in?
