One of my raspberry plants want to be
fancy
5 Likes
Ooo hope it stabelizies..
Definitely looks wineberryish, the fruit at least. The canes less so.
Also @snarfing the cane you posted earlier definitely looks like wineberry which is disappointing. I struggle with them constantly where I am. They keep coming back after I remove them.
1 Like
Yes. I’m guessing they are close relatives. The canes are also trailing and it does well in pretty similar climates (though better in warmer and hot climates). But the flowers are different and the leaves are quite different. Thorns are another difference.
Still. A few times I wondered if I’d been sent wineberry instead of what I had ordered. Wouldn’t have been the first time.
1 Like
I hope it stays like this. Like, how pretty would a Variegated raspberry be?! What if the colors are also Variegated 
It’s also one of my absolute best tasting reds!
2 Likes
Finally let a Dormanred ripen, these things have a pretty long hang time after they color up. At first they’re very bland, kinda sweet tart with just some “bramble” flavor that’s honestly closer to a very mild blackberry than a raspberry. But after a few days of hang time there’s something new. It’s not raspberry, it’s not strong, but it’s nice. I’d maybe describe it as halfway between cranberry and strawberry.
Fruits are firm. Kinda looks like they have more carotenoids than most brambles, but it’s hard to say. There’s a yellowish, orangy color to the inside of the druplets.
5 Likes
One of my R.parvifolius x idaeus x idaeus plants is primocane flowering. It is a weaker grower than the non PF plant but I am letting it grow because I only have 2 plants from the backcross. The F1 was male sterile, so I am hoping the backcrss has some fertility.
Two plants in one pot.
2 Likes
I’m guessing fertility is why they originally backcrossed to parvifolius when breeding Dormanred. It’s only ⅛ idaeus or less. I just finished cleaning some seed idaeus x Dormanred, the idaeus mother is primocane flowering. If they germinate I’m planning to try another backcross to idaeus, plain F2, and backcross to Dormanred.
Once I get flowers on both I’ll test out a cross with Mysore to see what the fertility is look. Going to test Dormanred and Mysore with a primocane black raspberry as well. If my R. cockburnianus flowers next year, I’m going to cross it to Mysore as well. Phenotypically, they’re extremely similar, but cockburnianus is far more cold hardy. I’m hoping it’s a shorter cross and the fertilizer is better.
I’ve got seed stratifying of Tayberry x Dormanred. Those ones got mixed in with Tayberry x idaeus but hopefully I’ll be able to tell the seedlings apart… I’d love to cross Tayberry and other 6x hybrids with Mysore, potentially will next spring.
Hi, That is an ambitious breeding program. Good luck with the Mysore hybrids. My first attempt resulted in 100% sterility. I have several plants from a BC2 generation that might be fertile. Your Tayberry crosses could result in fertile tetraploids, that would be interesting to cross to thornless 4x Blackberries.
I do not think a Tayberry x Mysore will be fertile in the F1 but you never know until you try.
2 Likes
This is a pic of my Mysore crosses. There are about 7 plants in the pot. 4 are vigouous 3 are weaker but I am keeping them all. All are thornless but none are primocane flowering. I will cross to a Purple, thornless, primocane fruiting plant I have, in Spring.
4 Likes
Black and purple raspberries are starting to ripen here. A bit earlier than most years. They usually peak early July.
My assessment of Kiowa blackberries here in southern middle TN.
Got a good crop this year.
The good… they ripen early… mid to late May into early June here.
Good for avoiding peak SWD season.
They are large stout canes VERY Thorny… Which is a must for me.. to deter my deer and birds. They did an excellent job of that.
The bad…
Taste… just not good enough for me to call a keeper. Very tart if you eat them black/shiney… a bit less tart if you wait for black/dull… but still lacking sweetness and flavor that a good blackberry should have.
Doubt seriously I will keep them.
TNHunter
6 Likes
i think the second and third year they started tasting a little better for me. They are still a little tart but not like they were the first year, if my memory is correct (which it often isn’t)
and yeah they are razor sharp and vigorous growers, and love to tip root everywhere…
2 Likes
That is basically my experience. The first year it’s a bit spindly and the fruit from those canes is sour. Second year it’s more robust and the berries are bigger and better. Third year or so the canes are just absolutely massive and the berries are freakishly huge and, once fully ripe, matte, and soft, are sweet-tart.
The thorns are legendary. But manageable if you’re not going too fast. I have other brambles that are for sure meaner and more inclined to “reach out” somehow and stab.
It’s probably close to the idea workhorse processing blackberry. Huge berries fill up a container quick, it produces over a very long period and you won’t lose the berries to anything, and the tartness works well with cooking, jam, or frozen and then added to baked goods or whatnot. For fresh eating it’s fun because of how massive the berries are and they are good if a bit much. Just can’t eat a ton of them fresh.
4 Likes
I finally got around to taking photos of mine. Ironically, just now one has set some floricane flower buds, the first flowers I’ve gotten from the hybrids.
I’ve about a dozen, here are most of them.
There has been some differences plant to plant but mostly they look very similar. Some are more dense and some are more open with long internodes. Most have pale stems and purple thorns, but the most vigorous one has green stems.
Flowers
I’ve netted it to keep the deer off as with the drought they’re even eating thorny plants.
These should all be primocane-fruiting since both parents are, but you never know when mixing different genetics. Hardiness is hard to judge this early but I did set most of them out in late winter and pretty much all floricane canes survived some pretty hard frosts. If I get F2 plants I think the hardiness will segregate a lot more.
3 Likes
Very good, you are doing well. I noticed yesterday that one small shoot on my BC1 Mysore cross has a few primocane flower buds.
I hope you get some F2’s but if you do not you can Backcross to R.idaeus. or Purple raspberry if you are aiming for black fruit.
1 Like
We’ll have to try for F2 this time as it’s summer and nothing else is blooming. But I plan on lots of backcrosses once I get more blooms aligned. I’m hoping not to have to store pollen since it’s an added hassle and I’ve not enough time as it is haha
1 Like
That’s excellent! So it’s thornless and primocane?
Hi, Yes, that is correct, thornless and Primocane but at this stage it is only weakly primocane. I will cross it to a strongly primocane, dark Purple, thornless cross I have.
2 Likes
