Blackberries, Raspberries and Hybrids

Thanks Kris. I’ll see if I can find those.

@zone7a … here in southern middle TN… I make raspberry and blackberry beds like this.

I break up a 8 ft wide strip… for example 12 ft long. Add compost… then rake the edges of that strip to the center to make a borderless raised bed… 4x12. I mulch good with wood chips.

It ends up being … around 4-6 inches higher than the surrounding area… but drains well… never had any root rot issues.

With reds they send out lots of root shoots… which you can capture / dig up and transplant to a new bed… or give to a friend.

TNHunter

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Interesting. I should be harvesting my first Baba berries this coming year. My biggest thing is the heat, if Baba berry can take the heat better than other raspberries, I’ll be very pleased.

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do you find that yellows dont?

I’m always interested in hearing which varieties of blackberries and raspberries do not spread underground because then I will be less scared to plant them in-ground in my back yard!

Whats everyone opinion on Sweetie Pie blackberries? Are the heat and humidity tolerent? Do they have good berries? Big harvests? Vigorous or aggressive growth?

It seems to be the popular cultivar this year at the stores, so just wanted to know some personal opinions about it.

For me, it’s really salt sensitive. I’ve bought 3 and they all died. I have 1 more outside that i bought here in Washington, hoping the water is nicer here without as much chemicals in it. It’s alive so far. It’s very short so if you have anything like mice running around, you may need to get a tall pot.

@PcChip here Reds and Purples will send out an abundance of root shoots… some near the orig crown… but others at longer distances (2 3 4 ft) too.

Golds and blacks are much more reserved… sending up new pcanes in less numbers and mostly quite close to the orig crown.

Blacks are pretty good at maintaining their numbers… but not really increasing in numbers.

Golds (Fall Gold the only one I have tried so far)… and started 3 in 2020… and today have none. Last one died last year.

I started 3 Heritage Reds in 2020… and now have close to 100.

A couple years ago I started 2 purple royalty… and they have increased to 9 already.

TNHunter

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I bought a couple Sweetie Pie blackberries from Lowes on clearance in 2021 before I knew much about the different varieties. They were severely stressed in early June, NW Ohio zone 6b. I brought them home, removed all the dead foliage and repotted them in new containers and kept up on the watering. They quickly grew and that same summer they fruited for me and the berries had good sweetness. The following summer they produced much better and still had sweet fruit. Ever since then the production has been poor, only a few berries instead of the few dozen berries. I transplanted them into the ground late last winter but during first year in the ground they didn’t produce many berries either. Next year is probably going to be my last with the plants unless the yield improves significantly this coming summer. I’m not sure if the yield dropping off is typical with this variety or if I simply didn’t take good care of them, being inexperienced. Your mileage may vary.

Just wanted to add that every year I had top dressed the plants with an inch of compost every spring and applied Holly-tone fertilizer at the same time. This past year is the first one where I used shade cloth during 90F and higher degree days. The plants at soil level are covered with a few inches of pine bark mulch.

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my nelson blackberries throw shoots as far as 20ft and that’s in a 3ft high raised bed. you said your illni hardy mostly stayed put? i may hit you up for some roots of them next spring. as long as they stay put i can put in 1 more patch on the lawn. not many have these anymore and id like to preserve them.

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It seems that Fall Gold raspberry season is in full swing for me right now in the middle of December, so I’ve been getting to eat a few ripe ones every day for the last couple of weeks. I’ve had them for about 1.5 years now, and they have never impressed me before, until this week. I’ve been pulling some dark colored perfectly ripe ones off that have a very intense flavor that surprised me, I could almost swear it was like some kind of cinnamon or holiday flavor or something, but I’m probably just crazy.

Either way, I had planned on getting rid of them, but now I’m going to do a 180 on that and either put them in the ground or put them into a huge container and try to grow even more next year.

I might even cut most of them to the ground and try to grow them as a December crop, because I seem to remember that in my area back when they were fruiting in the spring/early summer, it was too hot for them and they were very soft, and were also covered in stink bugs at all times.

So this long rambling post is my review of Fall Gold saying that they do have the potential to be delicious.

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@steveb4 … Ilinni hardy… do stay put.

Mine have been planted since 2002 and have never sent up a pcane more than 2 or 3 inches from the crown.

I had no luck at all propagating them from roots. Kris may have figured out something on that.

TNHunter

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Mine are super juicy and sweet.

I want to put my raspberries in ground but i don’t want to have to deal with pulling up runners for the rest of my life :sob::rofl:

My old neighbor in my previous house put terrible raspberries in ground and i could not get rid of them on my side. They were floricane and super small type.

I keep fighting with myself on whether or not i should and i think I’m going to stick with my idea of doing them in stock tanks.

Fall Gold is definitely a keeper for me.

Cane cuttings mostly all struck roots. Pencil sized laterals seem to have the most stored energy to pull it off.

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I myself love long rambling reviews.

This is OSU’s history on the plant-
Fallgold (Taylor x R. pungens oldhami {a wild species from Korea}, Released from New Hampshire, 1967): Productive, hardy plants are vigorous and produce many suckers. The soft, flavorful fruit is yellow with a pink blush and medium-sized. Good for fresh eating but not freezing or processing. Fruit is susceptible to Botrytis. There is currently limited commercial use for this cultivar, but it could become a “gourmet” item on the fresh market. Early season; 7–10 days before Heritage.

https://southcenters.osu.edu/horticulture/fruits/raspberries

I found a little bit more information that they didnt list-

Elwyn W. Meader was a plant breeder for 18 years at the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiement Station, University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire. He developed the raspberry variety called Fall Gold. He crossed the selection of NH 56-1 raspberry with a second generation open-pollinated selection of the cross Taylor Raspberry and the species Rubus pungens var. oldhamii. Fall Gold was tested under the name NH 64-2 starting in 1964. The name was changed to Fall Gold when it was introduced in 1967.

Fall Gold produces both primocanes and floricanes, and it is considered an everbearing variety. It produces a fall crop on the top 1/3 of the canes and a second crop the following spring on the bottom 2/3 of the canes. This variety is noted for its winter hardiness, surviving to -25’F in areas like Alaska. This hardiness is inherited from the parent Rubus pungens var. oldhamii.

So it seems like another one that is doing well in Texas heat… as well as Alaska.

Good one to have i think.

Meader also created Fall Red. Which was once sold by Stark Bros but is now gone.

I think Fedco may be selling it under a different name.

This one was also bred by Meader… so likely it is also unkillable.

If anyone wants to try some and get them going i think that would be a great one to have for heat and cold also.

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yes that was my plan too, but for now I’m just trying out the $10-15 Home Depot HDX containers, they are massive for the price. Not sure how many years they will last though, and if I will die from eating chemicals that leeched out from the plastic :smiley:

edit: here’s a quick little video showing the HDX containers at 10 seconds in (containing Starks Black Gem and Brison), and you can also see the that some of the blackberry varieties have started turning colors. The Triple Crown leaves have turned yellow, and the canes on the Triple Crown, Victory, and some of the columbia star have turned purple. Sorry about the potato quality, not sure what happened there… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84KIQAeJ8Sc

The assortment of containers with what looks like nothing planted in them at the end are all the varieties that krismoriah sent me!

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I am enjoying your setup. It takes time to figure out what works and doesnt. Im still learning that less is more. I have been trying to figure a way to ‘trellis’ my food forest brambles… i had a picture up in this post somewhere that someone just tied canes to a T-post. I like TNHunters stakes for his raspberries alot. But im liking this idea too.

My end goal at some point is to have a few brambles that i like that appear as ‘shrubs’ without the hassle of a wire trellis.

This is in the back of my mind too… aesthetically i think these would look amazing and much less work of tying etc.

s-l1200

As for the folks that want to keep things contained in yards… i saw a fellow that grows his PA freedom in a setup similar to this… at first i didnt understand it but his soil is pure garbage so he got creative. Im guessing if someone were to use these and bury them a foot or two deep and put pure gravel in the bottoms that rasp roots would not go that deep. Anything is possible but from what i see rasp roots are fairly shallow at a foot or so deep and they wander horizontally. Maybe wire mesh at the bottom then gravel would be the ticket. Anyways ive not seen it done personally but i do like the idea.

This is corrugated pipe.

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Actually, I’ll have a bunch of those storage containers after the move. I may do what you’re doing with the black storage totes for a little bit.

I’m reading their roots go down about 2ft. This leads me to think if a wire cage system to keep the possible moles out from breaking the barrier then some plastic tarp or some type of liner after that to contain the plants. Going to attempt this in 2026. Or buring a giant tote with about 3 inches above ground or so to contain the mulch and things.

Overall, I’m still trialing raspberries this upcoming year but i think it’ll be the last year for trials as well.

Also, innovativeorganicnursery.com is sending me Denali strawberries :face_holding_back_tears: I’ve been talking to the owner and he’s so nice!

If the 2.5 months of strawberries claim holds up, I’ll be including Denali in my lineup as well.

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I will probably never find this information again… so am going to post it here for future reference.

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Darrow is available so not much need to search out Illini.

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Below is a link from oregon state. This is a chart of raspberries in ripening order for various primo/floricanes.

The only one with “outstanding flavor” is Vintage. Anyone have experience with it? @krismoriah @Drew51

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Vintage tasted strong and fizzy to me when it was at it’s prime. I have 2 plants. It was weird, like, it has some type of effervescence to it during summer.

I just bought it in the middle of summer so this year is my first. It’s growing rapidly already from a 12 inch plant in 3.5 inch pot. The canes are now over a pencil in diameter in the middle.

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