I like Kiwi Gold, but for me Cascade Gold is the best gold. A very large fruit, very firm, extremely tasty. Hard to grow here, but I do anyway. I have some canes winter damaged from time to time.
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Anne is a dud here. In the six years I’ve had it, I’ve only had a handful of berries. It is too late and the berries seem sickly. Carolines do well, but aren’t particularly sweet.
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Kiwi Gold is a sport of Caroline. Yes, it’s hard to find productive types to fit each of our different environments. So far for me Himbo Top is the most productive, followed by Prelude. I know of some local unknowns too that produce like crazy.
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I let it crop twice. Tell the truth the summer n fall kinda just ran straight thru back to back. Not a huge fruiter but more than anne.
Its a berry i enjoy slightly underripe (same as double gold) so SWD didnt really hit them bc they got picked early
Absolute worst for me with SWD was caroline.
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That is right, but Kiwi Gold which took time to develop a great taste, was a continuous cropper for me all summer long.
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Annes a no go here for the same reason as heritage is. its too late and they don’t have time too ripen many berries here.
i just put in 2 cascade gold last spring. hoping the snow covering the canes will minimize cold damage. it fruited 3 berries on the new primocanes this summer. they were very good. i have 5 acc edens that put out very large primocanes since planted this spring they too put out a few berries that were huge and great tasting like my autumn brittens but lighter red color.
Anne must love heat because she does really good here and tastes excellent as well. We do not have SWD currently however
none here either, yet…
Screw SWD I eat them anyway. I don’t give them away though. Also raspberries can ripen enough when infected and still taste good. You pick them slightly early. A for sure sign of SWD is when you pick a ripe one, squeeze slightly. If the cavity fills with liquid, it’s infected. Once like this they are not good. Throw in the trash and keep area clean. No new ones can form. The volume of insects seems to be going down here. Still enough to be a problem, but better than the year before.
Black currants have a tough enough skin SWD leaves them alone. At least here.
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another good reason to plant more b. currants! you ever get SWD in reds or whites?
maybe the birds and other predators are starting to eat more SWD? that would be great!
No they fruit early enough to avoid them. Most blacks too, but Crandall was late and it’s has a very hard skin.
Humming birds love them, and should help a lot if you can get them in your garden. I need to add some flowers they like. I do have feeders.
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i have feeders and plant native flowers for the humming birds and bees . used to have a lot of humming birds but the last 3-4 years i barely see any. maybe our colder winters over the last 10yrs. has something to do with that.
I have flowers galore, but more for the bees. I need some for the birds. We have ton’s of humming birds at my cottage., and this year was the same, lot’s of them. Cool to watch them dog fight each other over the feeders. 
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Hummingbirds are also super weak to pesticides and between territory loss and poisoned nectar to feed off they are having a extremely hard time
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Hello Drew,
How do you find the Himbo Top seed to be? is it bigger than other varieties you tried?
I am considering on getting one of these because of the high yield reviews, but one of the reviews said that the seed is big and hard so it is more suitable for processing instead of for eating fresh. What do you think? The only plant I have at the moment is Indian Summer by the way.
I never noticed really. They all seem to be annoying as far as seeds. I myself feel it’s not good for processing, it’s not tart enough. Some years they are tart, but most years the flavor I feel is too mild for processing. I do mix some in for processing, but make sure a lot of Prelude is with them. My biggest producers. I am trying others now too. But my patch is so mixed, it’s hard to tell what is what anymore.
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they are safe here as i don’t spray anything unless absolutely necessary and never anything in bloom. i also have several bee and hummingbird friendly flower patches planted around the yard to help them out. now my nieghbor across the street is another story. he sprays heavily. nothing but perfect grass in his yard and i know he doesnt like the idea of me letting my yard grow naturally. my flower and weed seeds fly downwind into his yard. he uses so much roundup in the evenings in summer i can smell it at my house. not a tree or flower anywhere, just perfectly meticulously groomed grass.
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Hello Drew,
Thank you for the reply, I appreciate it. I guess one way to know for sure is to actually get it. Wife won`t be happy to see another plant 
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