Theres a few on here that i posted. Im kind of like Stephan if you have watched his walkabouts… its my private haven and im not in it for the likes. I dont dare post things on the FB groups or i will get bombarded with questions that lead nowhere. I keep most of my info in this group as i learn as i go like most of us do. I have changed my plans many times and pulled things and redone rows many times. But thats what i enjoy… my main passion is growing things that are unobtainable which there are only a handful of guys like me… so not much discussion can happen with folks when they cant grow them themselves or have never heard of them. I think there are Apple guys and Fig guys like that too that just like to grow oddballs. It doesnt happen much with Rubus guys.
Since you said you like the ‘rangey’ berries i guess u mean the tart full rich flavor that isnt overbred to be sweet? Like wild blackberries but bigger and less seed to berry ratio? I think Ebony King is that one…at least for me. I love it. Its thorny and robust… probably Z5 hardy maybe colder. You could plant it without trellis i think. I got mine at Walmart… not sure where else its available.
Ill check it out. Yeah, I like wild full flavor but big fruit is hard to grumble at too. By rangey, I really just mean it sprawls and suckers all over the place, which isnt an awful thing in my book. I grow so many different things that I can’t manage many (any?) of them intensively. I think of it like sculpture- you can sculpt by adding or by taking away. I tend to favor the latter so things that grow like hell dont ruffle my feathers quite the way they might someone with a prim and proper arrangement. I love watching stuff grow, so Im usually happy when it grows itself.
One of the commonest plants here is prickly dewberry- Rubus flagellaris. Theyre one of the tastier wild Rubus too, though not always reliably productive. Good size and flavor. The fruit tends to get lost in the mix unless they have some bare ground to sprawl on. Ive found nice cropping ones next to cement and pavement. Have you ever come across any hybrids or cultivars that used this species in its breeding? The ones here get lots of stem galls on them, pretty sure its from a gall wasp. Theyre about as bulletproof a plant as there ever was. Not easily cultivated though. They sort of cultivate you…
The other oddball Rubus I thought Id ask you about is purple flowering raspberry, Rubus odoratus. It’s the tastiest of all Rubus in my book, and the funny thing is most sources list it as dry and flavorless. Its pure ambrosia, and such a beautiful plant. Im very fond of it. The thing is it bears few fruit for how big a plant it is, and bears in dribs and drabs. This might seem like a hangup, but wild red raspberries bear even less in my observation, yet those were bred into a world class crop. Why hasnt anyone bothered with the odoratus, and wouldn’t you think it could make a nice crop in its own right?
i have a dewberry i got from the now defunct rolling river nursery about 5 years ago. its probably the same species as your dewberry. was rated z3 from the nursery. the berry’s purple in color and pretty big. has small seeds and an intense flavor. it’s my favorite berry. its isn’t very productive but the ones you get are worth it. it sends out 20ft. canes. i use to trellis them but now i just let the new canes sprawl on the old ones. i need to propagate more of it in case something happens to my 1 plant. i like it that much.
im tempted to try Tay but it being z6 rated, even with protection, i don’t know if it will make it. but i have 2 Colombia stars i got off Esty , that i planted in the north side of my house. if they hang in there for 2-3 years i may try Tay.
For those looking to grow blueberries and work with an international company
Blueberries can generate $52,000 per acre revenue. If your interested and have acid soil you might need inexpensive plants to get started. The nursery below might work for your needs.
If we are comparing apples to apples… 1 vote for Simmons Plant Farm for me as far as quality/service and price. Gary Pense Sr. has very very nice plants and doesnt overly trim the roots (if you want to trim them yourself and make some free plants). So ordering 5 plants for $25 can easily get you 30 plants for $25 if you think about it. Otherwise they establish pretty quick…
I ordered from Talbott… and wasnt impressed…its very sketchy. Online reviews are very poor.
Pense nursery if you read between the lines on FB has a reputation for sending the wrong plants an have horrible customer service… yet they always make it right by re-sending to you. Whomever is over shipping there needs glasses or something or maybe they need better quality control. He mostly buys plants by the tens of thousands as tissue culture and marks them up… its hit or miss whether you get a plug or a bare root… no rhyme or reason to it i can see. His shipping is nuts unless you order alot… which is not good for small orders.
Indiana and Nourse also grow out tissue cultures and you get plugs… at least what i have ordered.
OGW and Burnt Ridge grow those plugs in gallon pots and upsell them…at least what i have seen.
Bob Wells gets theirs from Dave Wilson i think. Just resell. Nice potted plants.
Berries Unlimited maximizes their profit by growing out plugs for a year or two and charges alot for that time.
Planting Justice… they are good at getting oddballs from lesser known propagators… they have the market for lesser known cultivars. They just buy from propagators and up pot.
Edible Landscaping… never seems to have in stock what i want… not sure if they will get a waiting list going or maybe they have one. What i have gotten from them seemed to be loved well.
Hirts- usually sells oddballs also that have issues in the trade… like fruiting too late or unpopular.
Kriegers… they sell bare root that they grow out… very nice roots and plants are dormant canes. Same quality as Simmons just a smaller operation.
I ordered from Isons for my first time… should be here in a month or so.
Double A Vineyards bare root berry plants have TOO much roots. At least the ones i bought. They look like they were grown in tubs or something. Each plant had enough roots to make 50 plants. That was years ago though.
Dont forget Etsy and Ebay… there are backyard guys on there that buy plugs for $2 and resell for $4 and up also. Often offering free shipping whereas most nurseries do not.
This place has done me right on things i have ordered… they have Etsy and Ebay shops as well. I think I saved some money going that route. They sell plugs that they up pot to 4" pots… nothing special but they ship year round i think. Good for raspberry collectors.
With all that being said you can also grow anything u want on cane fruits by sticking cuttings now. Ive not seen anyone trading or offering scions of cane fruits on this board… maybe i dont look well enough or maybe nobody does it. Gosh knows that we all throw away miles of canes when we prune.
I have personally bought from 80% of them and had no problems. Some are better than others. @krismoriah did a great job of summarizing the pros and cons of the post. The question is always the same which is what are your needs?
For those of you that want an early ripening blackberry… looks as if Prime Ark Traveler produces its floricane crop in May in NC. Not much talk about this variety here or on the socials… i grew it years ago but i pulled them because i was pruning them wrong and didnt like the performance…which was my fault.
Pretty cheesy video but makes the case… as there isnt much other info out there about Traveler.
Dr Clarks video doesnt show the floricane crop in his video but this LSU video does. In their case they pruned to knee height and the floricane crop is very low to the ground.
Stuck these in November…look to be sending up new primocanes and have rooted. I left these outside the entire time and they have seen zero temps…probably not the wisest move but i needed to know for myself. Im guessing that rooting was stunted with the cold but those roots hardened off. I can probably move these inside in the next months and rooting and primocane growth will continue.
Much easier than misting or trying to fight the heat of late summer i think.
@krismoriah Where do you get all the über rare oddballs? I’d like to get my hands on some of those hybrids.
I got a shipment today in from ARS-GRIN. Two different accessions of Burbank Thornless (the original, and a less productive ulmifolius that Burbank worked on). Also 3 accessions of R. glaucus: Ecuador Red, Guatemala Black, and Otavalo Black. Glaucus is tetraploid, right?
Regarding thornless variants of the hybrid varieties… ¿Are they somatic sports of the originals? ¿Or are they derived from seeds?
Last spring, I purchased a thornless Boysenberry from Gurney’s. I has grown well, about 6 foot long vines, but the vines are just wimpy. They are about the diameter of a 11 gage wire. Less that 1/2 the diameter of my Apache blackberries. I don’t know about fruit yet; all I got last year was two small boysenberries. If this plant does not grow “beefer vines” this summer, I am going to rip it out.
mid-Missouri zone 6b
I had the same experience, Colt. Except that I bought it at a local nursery. I don’t know how to trellis this thing. I did like the flavor of the berries, and I don’t need it’s space, so I’ll let it grow a few years and see how it does.
Early is appealing in light of SWD. Ditto with raspberries. A friend with a big patch of several everbearing raspberries was telling me last summer that he’s given up on the fall crop since SWD destroys them.
I happened to see that OGW had Villarica Strawberry Ugni back in stock. Ill probably kill it like I did to other Ugni already but I had to try. While I was at it, I picked up Prime Ark Traveler and a few others.
Not that I would expect accuracy in a nursery catalog, but OGW is saying the primocane crop is early. It’s really the floricanes that are early, Funny too, they address people who “don’t want to build a trellis.” Are there people who actually WANT to build one? Im going to try and get my brambles in better order. I still favor thornless though since its pretty likely theyre going to get out of hand sooner or later. Its no big deal with thornless.
