Josephine Raspberry

Thank you…I am glad I do not suffer from that maladie (yet…)

One of Heritages strengths is it is dependable and very long lived, and in general has a very good taste. It also is very drought resistant. I have yet to see any other berry outlive Heritage when handled for just fall crops.

I know your opinion of heritage is far and away the majority opinion and mine is very much the minority. In fact, heritage is so respected that I’ve often wondered why it isn’t better for me. Perhaps its something about my particular soil and environment, or maybe just that I have strange tastes. I certainly don’t hate it…just like many of my others better. And you are right…in terms of plant health and longevity and toughness, its great. That alone makes it worth keeping. Since you seem to have an interest in raspberry taste, I look forward to you trying Josephine. For me its the very best, but you may feel otherwise. Guess that’s why they have lots of varieties! :slight_smile:

You’re not alone city man, in addition to Heritage, we have Anne, Fall Gold, Purple Royalty, and Prelude. Heritage is hands down the whole family’s least favorite berry. Tastes very bland compared to other cultivars, and we lose more canes to winter injury than any other variety. I tore most of them out this spring and filled the space with more Prelude.

Last weeks NJ Blueberry Commercial growers report had an interesting chart of pesticide effectiveness vs SWD.
Pesticide effectiveness vs SWD NJ Blueberry

as a home grower is Malathion my best bet to try and curb them?

Moley,

Spinosad had been found to be very effective in controlling SWD. It is organic and it isn’t near as harmful to the bees. I will be using that this year to try and get some blackberries and fall raspberries. Last year, both crops were an almost total loss due to SWD.

PSU SWD INFO

this seems to indicate that Spinosad is indeed as effective, I’ll give it a shot, I’ll put out my vinegar traps today, last year I noted catching them here in NYC closer to the middle of august, but we’ve had such a warm spring/summer so far, who knows.

Thanks

I’m east of you Moley, on the island, but I ordered the Spinosad to have on hand. My niece on the south shore had bad SWD last year, but they came later, in second week of September. I took care of her garden when she left for college and saw them ruin the last of her berries in a day or two.

I’m hoping they don’t find me for a while.

Josephine aren’t ripe yet in NY (June 24). Should be getting some in another week. Prelude is ripe now. Heavy fruit load but not very sweet. Caroline had its first ripe berry and it was much better than Prelude. Looking forward to Josephine and Lauren. Also wondering how the fall crop will compare. This my first year harvesting these berries.

Latham, Heritage, Kiwi Gold, Anne, Jewel and Caroline all ripening berries here in NYC, looking like a solid summer harvest enough for a dozen pints of jam and fresh eating.

Last year I made Ginger Raspberry Jam, sweet like raspberries and spicy like a Schweppes, Ive already made a dozen pints of Strawberry/Kiwi/Black Pepper Jam and 2 quarts of strawberry champagne sorbet…

@Moley- You had me with Ginger Raspberry Jam, and with Strawberry/Kiwi, but when you said Black Pepper along with those last 2, I just couldn’t get there! ha. But I love new and adventurous things, so please tell me a little more about the taste of strawberry/kiwi/black pepper jam! How much black pepper?

The strawberry champagne sorbet needs no explanation and sounds great, btw!

EDIT: have to combine sugar and fruit first, let sit, pull juices out of fruit, otherwise, you might end up with strawberry caramel if there was no liquid when heat was applied, which might not be that bad ;p

4 cups of strawberries large dice (I like my jam chunky)
4 cups of sugar give or take
2 cups kiwi peeled and chopped
2 TB fresh COURSE ground black pepper
1 TB lemon juice
Combine sugar and fruits in bowl, let sit for an hour or so to macerate.
Bring everything to a boil, sans pepper, them simmer until the right jam consistency is reached, I use the plate in the freezer trick, Right before canning I add the black pepper. Its got sweet and heat on the back end, really a great flavor combo.

process in your canner for 5-10 minutes

The original recipe comes from a strawberry/rhubarb/black-pepper sorbet from school, I’ve bastardized it

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Thanks, Seth. I’m really going to keep that and give it a try. Sounds unusual but as you know, its often the counterintuitive ingredients that create the Yin/Yang that makes some dishes really stand out, sort of like sweet and sour or salty and sweet. I love a little heat in unexpected places, so I wouldn’t have been at all taken aback had it called for cayenne or similar, but I don’t usually think of black pepper in this way. Thanks! Don’t forget that there is a category on here for “how to use fruits” which is designed for recipes and as a chef, I bet you have more good ones that I’d love to try.

Growing Prelude, Caroline, Lauren, and Josephine. Josephine is the most vigorous. Josephine berries are finally ripe. They are larger than my other raspberries but there is one negative when I eat them fresh. The seeds are a little larger than my others.

@danzeb- just curious…what about the taste? Do your Josephines taste better than your others? Every day I stand in my patch and remain 100% convinced that my Josephines are not a little, but a LOT better tasting than my other varieties. I’d never read this to be the case (though several others on this thread seem to agree) so I’m still not certain if its just the environment (soil, weather, etc), my personal tastes, or whether they really are as much better tasting berries as others. So its interesting to hear other’s experience.

I wish I could say Josephine’s taste was way better than my other raspberries since they are so vigorous but that is not the case. I liked the taste of Coroline a little better. My raspberries are not in full sun. They get 3 to 4 hrs per day and we have had plenty of cloudy weather. Maybe the fall crop will be different.

Does anyone know where to order Josephine raspberry? All these posts over the summer made me add it to my want list.

You probably already googled it, but the only place I found them online was at Nourse Farms Nursery, and I know absolutely nothing about them. You might want to do a google search using “what is the scoop on Nourse Nursery” and you will probably find reviews on Dave’s Garden web site, which is the most popular site for reviewing on-line nurseries. In my experience, you really need to do the search just as a typed it, including the word “scoop” or you may not find it.
http://www.noursefarms.com/category/raspberry-plants/

But I should also tell you that I bought my Josephine at Lowes AND I saw them at home depot too. There is a lot of different opinions here about buying trees from big box retailers, but from what I’ve seen on the subject here, most (not all) people seem to be a lot more accepting of the purchase of berry plants from big box stores than buying trees from them.

For what its worth, as strong as my own recommendations above were for Josephine, by the end of the season they were even stronger! I know I’m no expert and fairly new to the fruit world, but I am capable of tasting and looking at the 6-7 varieties of raspberries I grow and being able to tell which ones taste great, have good looking berries, and generally have healthy vines. On each of those categories-at least in my dirt in my location in Tennessee- Josephine is so much better tasting, MUCH MUCH bigger fruits, and healthier plants that it amazes me. Perhaps my environment is just the perfect one for that berry, but the results are so amazing that it always surprises me that any and all articles and ads for raspberries don’t make special mention and/or comparisons to Josephine. But since I’ve seen others here who don’t share my extreme enthusiasm, I suppose I just have the perfect soil, drainage, climate, etc to meet its needs. Whatever the case, I sure hope you have 1/2 the success I have with Josephine!

I would say they are one of the best nurseries, if not the very best. Yeah that good! Indiana Berry is right there with them. And sell singles, which is best. I always look there first. They do not carry Josephine. If anybody doesn’t want five of Josephine I’ll take one and pay postage.

As far as taste have you tried Caroline, Taylor or Polka? These are the tops for me, although I’m going to have to try Josephine. And yes sometimes it is the area no doubt. I’m partial to the yellows myself. I like them a lot better. Anne, Fall Gold and Cascade Gold are the best yellows. Anne is picky as to where it will grow well. It grows well here.

Thanks for that. I’d checked Nourse’s site the other week and it said sold out for 2016.
@Drew51 I’ll order them and send you a few if you’d trade for your white black raspberry.