Will review these as honestly as i can… My ripening dates this year are at least 2-3 weeks behind TNhunter and Zendog… Where i grow things gets less sunlight than most folks plus these past two weeks have been insanely cloudy and/or rainy. So im calling it an off year for ripening for me.
Chickasaw- Ripe here first week of July. Nice vigorous strong plants, very thorny. Berries are as big as Kiowa. Taste is of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. No mistaking how this tastes. I have about 10 plants and have decided to cut down to 2. So if u are interested feel free to PM me… i will give you nice crowns, or root cuttings…depending on how many folks want them. i will probably juice the berries on the ones i keep and maybe have an evening drink.
Kiowa- Super sweet almost too sweet for my taste. Nice large berries. I could eat a bowl of them and not even know what i ate. I will keep these going but not my favorite. No acid or complexity.
Victory- I had to do a solstice pruning. Vigor is off the charts and too much. I planted these in early 2022. Canes were insanely long and spindly almost like a very good thornless trailing variety. 2nd year they are erect and strong. Canes are massive and thick and take over the row shadowing everything. I pruned today some canes that were 20 feet long. Shame to lose that much cane length. Perhaps this is better though…we will see. Production on the spindly long canes is more than the canes can handle. I have them all tied to the trellis wire. I have tasted 5 king berries that were close to ripe and they are fantastic so far. My taste is for complex… sweet with a jolt of acid. So far they are doing that. My gut is telling me that they must have tried to outdo triple crown… I removed all of my triple crown because they had a boring taste these grow more vigorous and put on more fruit than triple crown. Im learning it as i go but so far it will fill my freezer with ease. I think another week will see better ripening…but as i said earlier it will continue and continue which is what i am seeing with the berry sets… some are immature while some are ripening. I even have some flowers. This may be bad for some but impressive to me. Pics coming.
Caddo- these should be ripe for me next week. Not impressed with fruit sets… enough for me but low compared to Victory.
Ponca- mine have issues… they always have. They look like cousin IT…mini christmas trees. Im aggravated with mine. Super healthy leaves and beautiful color of leaves… But i dont see any laterals…just tight nodes on the canes.
Glencoe purple- mine look like a fail this year. Canes are like pencils from last year and fruitset was poor. Total opposite of Amethyst. I will give it another year.
Big Daddy- I saw where a guy planted 500 of them and tried them for two years…his review was that he is pulling them all. Poor taste in berry…and uneven fruit sets. He did it for U-pick. Mine still havent fruited… i dont have any hope for mine either.
Von- maybe next year. I said that last year too. Mine got alot of winter damage…where most of my others did not.
Prime Ark Horizon- Im halfway convinced that Pense sent me the wrong plants again… im over it… Will report if things change.
Im growing every variety that exists of the west coast varieties… all young and spindly. Im starting to get aggravated with trellising them…
TAMU- Im growing all of the Texas releases as well… all are growing thorny and erect as they should. Nothing to report but nasty thorns.
Crimson Night Rasp- Will be lucky if one lives. Stark sent me something from their dumpster. Will do my best with what ive got. Probably 2025 until i see a crop even if i buy new ones next year.
Honey Queen- Growing nicely… looking forward to this one.
Anne- i dont like this one at all… will likely remove.
Double Gold- im reading you guys reports and will likely add this one…
Cascade Gold- looking forward to this one alot… have not seen a bad report yet.
Cascade Delight- best red rasp that i have tasted so far. Its big and tasty. Makes me wonder why i grow smaller and less tasty ones…
English Thornless- totally boring to me.
Joan J- boring to me.
Healthberry- I hope its worth it. This is Clarks Family Heirloom. My goodness its nasty growing… its ripening now. Dont grow this unless you read the directions. Its like Victory but it suckers and it has the nastiest thorns that you have ever seen. Big mistake putting this in my row. This needs a mountainside.
Everettberry- From one of our members here…another family heirloom. Nice big tasty berry old timey flavor. My gut tells me its a seedling of Darrow or Lawton or something in that genre. Survives the cold winters of Maine for decades… Grows tough and proud and suckers like crazy. Will likely move some of these to wild plantings or near fences. These dont need to be cultivated.
more to come…its that time of year.
