hmm, you’ve confused me, drew. i thought the primocane and floricane designation had everything to do with the age of the canes, and no bearing on whether fruit was produced early or late in the year.
that being said, it makes sense that floricanes produce fruit earlier in the season, as they are already established, whereas primocanes have a lot more growing to do.
Yes confusing.
So Summer bearing produce fruit only on floricanes
Everbearing produce fruit on both primo and floricanes. So they fruit twice a year after the first year. Some only harvest the first crop and remove canes. I myself do not. I like have a large summer crop.
there’s a possibility my gold raspberry is still a cascade gold. i received it in january 2018, but it had to have been grown in 2017, hence my getting a crop in 2018.
i’ll have to observe the behavior of this year’s primocanes. if they bear no fruit, then this will confirm i’m dealing with a floricane-only-bearing variety.
another possibility: cascade gold has different fruiting behavior in my climate.
Yes, that is possible in warmer zones. You are in a very warm zone. Good point I missed.
@Richard can you give your opinion?
cascade gold was developed in washington state. this hortscience paper describes it as a floricane-bearing variety, but the areas of testing were vancouver, washington state, and oregon. there was no testing in warmer climes.
we might be on to something here. . . 
Richard first observed this, why I asked him to chime in. I thought you probably didn’t have Cascade Gold. But looking that you’re in zone 10 I now believe you do have it. Yes, they can fruit more in your zone. You do tell us it grows there, something I didn’t know! Many struggle in your area.
I’m very happy with Bababerry.
Nova can produce on primocanes as well and is a summer bearer.
Drew, could you explain this statement? I’ve learned a lot from you over the years, just trying to understand your meaning. I’ve always thought of Prelude, Heritage, Fall Gold, Anne, etc as everbearing because they fruit on both primo and floricanes, thus a summer crop and a fall crop. Whereas, I think of like a Purple Royalty, as a summer bearer because it NEVER fruits except on floricanes.
By the way, just to back up the discussion that some raspberries behave differently in different climates; I’ve always thought of Latham as a summer bearer, never get a fall crop. One year the primocanes started getting blossoms in late September. I thought, “wow, they have no chance” but that year we had our latest first frost in history here-like a week before thanksgiving, and I actually got a nice crop of Latham primocane berries in NOVEMBER! How did the plants know they had that kind of time that year? Had them for 8 seasons so far and that was the only year the primocanes fruited.
Don’t want to speak for Drew, but all of those except Prelude are considered everbearers (fall bearers), but I’ve heard that Prelude will produce a small crop on its primocanes. Most of its crop is on its floricanes. Nova is also a summer bearer, but can produce a few primocane berries as well. I have both and hope to get my first floricane crop off them this year.
I also planted a Killarney last year, which is considered a summer bearer, but actually gave me a few berries on its primocanes. You mentioned that your Latham did the same thing. So maybe that’s true of all summer (floricane) reds, that they might produce a very small amount of berries on primocanes?
I don’t think it’s true for black or purple varieties, they just produce on second year (floricanes). Although there is a black variety (Niwot) that produces berries on its primocanes. Drew has grown it but I don’t think thought much of it, or maybe it was the primocane berries he didn’t like. I planted Mac Black and Bristol last year, but my canes are very spindly, so I don’t expect any fruit off the floricanes.
Prelude is considered summer bearing, as to why I don’t know? As we know it produces a fall crop.
That is probably why it is considered summer bearing as the primocane crop is light.
Yeah on Niwot I didn’t like the primocane berries. I have offspring from Niwot that produce primocane berries, and they are better. I think the plant is a Jewel x Niwot cross? Not sure though?
Hmm, thats interesting. I get huge crops from Prelude in the fall, and I never noticed any smaller of a crop than on Heritage, Anne, or Fall Gold. Most of the time, the primocanes produce on anywhere from top 25-50% of the cane. I suppose there could possibly be slightly different strains sold by different nurseries as “Prelude”; kind of like what was discussed on other threads with peach varieties.
FWIW, I got mine from Stark Bro’s.
thats weird! my royalty fruited the 1st year planted from a dormant rootstock! only like 3 or 4 but it did fruit.
I’m not an expert on brambles at all, you probably know more about them than me, but from all that I’ve read and seen on various berry vendor sites is that Prelude is a summer bearer. But a lot of them also mention that they can produce a crop in the fall. Same with Nova. I got all my rasps (except Anne) from Indiana Berry.
Since your Latham, and my Killarney does the same thing, and are considered summer bearers, maybe all reds can produce two crops a year?
That’s how I’ve understood how rasps (and primocane blackberries, like PA Freedom) fruit, the primocane berries fruit on the upper parts and tips of the cane, and the floricane berries fruit lower down the cane the next year.
This is the first time i grow raspberries, bought this Fall Gold and planted a couple weeks ago. do you guys think it will produce fruit this year?
Also when should i start to give it some support?
Once it has fruit, otherwise it should be fine.
wow. cascade gold ‘sploded over the past three weeks:
march 20:
today:
and the floricanes are already putting out buds. what a beast.
i ordered 2 from hirts that were supposed to be dormant. well they weren’t so i put them in 1 gal. pots in my grow room. they started to grow vigorously so i put them in a slightly sunny s. facing window. slowed them down but they are now 4ft. in my living room. if i can hold off till next week, ill have my greenhouse set up to put them in. has the biggest raspberry leaves I’ve ever seen. rivals PAF blackberries . maybe due to the little sunlight they’re getting?
Re Baba berry
This variety is nigh impossible to source in much of the country, though. I’ve ordered it twice from west coast nurseries and received a refund due to lack of stock twice…
I always find that frustrating because I generally will order other things (which I am just getting to justify the shipping cost) and then I get refunded for the plant I actually placed the order to receive.
Baba is also a warm growing area variety and though I am happy to do what is necessary to protect it (which I know will be mentioned in any reply).
Scott
Include dehumidification on your list. It performs better in semi-arid climates.
Also, it is not a stellar raspberry – just one that actually fruits here and tastes good.
