Have you tried ruby jewel from innovativeorganicnursery.com yet? Ruby Jewel tastes just like Driscolls Sweetest Batch raspberries ![]()
Yes… for me here fcanes ripened mid July which i am not a fan of … SWD plus the heat etc.
My goal going forward is early ripening to enjoy some fresh eating…make some jam then im done with them.
My choices are based on the hot humid summers along with drought lately… so i am sure that others with better climates would enjoy them more.
Do your fall red stay 3’ and bushy like Fedco describes august red?
A new thornless, primocane fruiting Blackberry. Only weighs 3g to 5g, Brix 11 to13, a bit too small and seedy for a cultivar but I may use it in breeding. The flavour is OK, no sourness but not much sweetness. I have another two similar plants that have not fruited yet.

well… your question led me to go further down the rabbit hole… and i may have to rethink that Fall Red and August Red are the same… maybe they are now but once werent?
Elwyn Meader created a red rasp called Fallred in 1964 and August Red in 1973. The naming of Fall Red by Stark and Shumway never led me down the path of Fallred.
Not much information about Fallred other than here-
and from an old HortScience article from 1972

I think we all know about Fall Gold… so according to this snippet Fall Red which i am growing is similar except that its Red.
August Red is described by Fedco as having excellent flavor…whereas U of Maine said it had fair flavor.
As far as being ‘bushy’ that is not what Fedco says in their description… they list it as a 3’ compact bush. Which i think most all rasps that are only 1-2 years old can be described as for the most part. Not until the crowns are fully mature can one truly describe a plant. As this is a new offering for them i would say that its a fair description though… due to the fact that it fruits early on primocanes… maybe one of the earliest. Which would lead to shorter canes. Mine barely reached the top wire which was 4’ and that needs to be considered as the canes were heavy laden with fruit as primocanes.
Somehow though Fall Red and August Red are both ‘the earliest’ ripening according to nursery descriptions.
If your August Red is as good as my Fall Red…then i have no doubt you will be happy with it regardless.
If you want to trade one of each to compare and contrast i am interested.
For anyone interested the Fall Red raspberry bare root plants with impressive root development and good tasting berries are available in stock again on the RH Schumway website.
@krismoriah Do you think it is worthwhile to grow some of the summer bearing (floricane only) red raspberries? or do you only grow the primocane red rasberries but focus on floricane berries? is there a reason?
Initially, I wanted to do the thing where you mow the canes after the primocane crop and only produce the primocane crop. But I don’t think it’s going to work out for me; the primocane berries are at a bad time for my location. I have gotten floricane berries though, so I was planning on switching tactics.
Im not a fan of primocane fruiting myself… it just happens that some of the good floricane fruiting berries that i like happen to be also ‘everbearing’ or primocane fruiting. (Caroline etc).
To each their own… as some folks want thornless (Joan J…Canby etc).
Prelude is probably the wisest choice for floricane fruiting i think.
If you want fruit in August and onward then you can have some that you cut to the ground between Nov and March. (everbearing)
Personally i would rather eat peaches or plums etc from August onward but thats me.
Early blackberries and raspberries… then done by July is great for me… i dont really feel like picking or making jams in July/August/Sept myself…
Long story short… i like floricane fruiting everything… and picking berries in May/June is best for me.
@TNHunter has a great plan for his harvest of Heritage and always has nice results.
I would love a few recommendations for floricane raspberries. I don’t mind thorns.
I like this plan! I just put in a pile of new peach trees and I’m working on apples. So plenty of things for later in the summer and early fall.
Over here in southern middle TN…
Heritage red produces mid August to first hard frost on primocanes. It is not a heavy crop… more of a trickle in type crop. Pick enough to have fresh berries every day or two for near 3 months.
I like that…
Then the next spring May into early June… I get a heavy crop on floricanes. We eat lots of fresh berries and make plenty of jam too for a month or more.
Herritage is a very good producer here and thrives here… just keeps coming back… when many others have failed (eventually died out).
TNHunter
Some to consider and read up on-
Killarney- excellent flavor
Cascade Delight- excellent flavor very big berries but smaller harvest.
Tulameen- excellent flavor with heat tolerance
There are a gazillion choices… but those are tried and true if you are looking for the most flavor. Others will produce more or earlier or later or all of the variables.
I finally found more info on Fall Red, August Red as well as one of my favorites i listed above Tulameen (but it is late ripening so im losing interest)… Tulameen is heat tolerant and is another good choice for us in the mid south and beyond though.
(my Fall Red fruits werent small)…
Of all places to find this information was an article on growing raspberries in northern California… even though the Fall Red/August Red were bred in NH and are some of the most cold hardy rasps that exist… so further proof that these Fall Red and August Red are very hardy and robust… to which zones it becomes too hot…i am not sure.
Interesting. So, it appears they are different…I’m going to vacillate between them for the next few weeks…I’ll message if I go back to the August red idea. More compact and self supporting is enticing.
I have bred a thornless, primocane fruiting, dark purple raspberry. The size is a bit small but the flavour is good. The fruit starts out red then slowly turns darker and darker purple. They are edible at the red stage but there is less flavour and sweetness.

Hi, it only took two generations. I was lucky. There was a 50% chance it would be red fruited.
Many of the raspberries I have grown seemed to just not thrive for long. Prelude and Himbo Top have both lasted 14 years so far and still going strong. Also a wild yellow black raspberry has grown in the same container for 14 years. Last year I tip rooted a backup and planted it in a raised bed. I have bred this with Niwot black and have a couple plants grown from seed. I obtained a different yellow black raspberry but have not done anything with it yet. Mother Nature did some breeding with my plants and made a purple which popped up inside a pot next to a black current. I have since made two purples myself but that first volunteer is better. Tasted like a boysenberry. Best raspberry I ever had. All three are primocane fruiting as is the blacks I made too I grow plums peaches and lots of other fruit but I like having berries for as long as possible.
I eat them all winter. Mostly in syrups but also in various recipes. I can’t have too many.
I still have raspberries, pluots, cherries tart and sweet red,white, and black currants. Also dogwood cherries, figs, and blackberries frozen. Dried figs, peaches, plums, and nectarines. I used all the strawberries, blueberries and honeyberries. I had a bad blueberry year. I usually have all winter.
I enjoy doing this so much. Very cool for me but I’m starting to get rather old. I have to slow down. I just wanted to mention the berries that seem to thrive here and don’t die off from viral infection. I hope you all can find ones that work for your area.
What is a yellow black raspberry?
Most yellows are sports of reds. But blacks can have yellow sports too. Both are really albinos.
A few pics here.



