I’ve been growing brambles on and off for nearly a decade. Several varieties and species of blackberry, raspberry and hybrid brambleberries. One pattern has cropped up repeatedly for me when acquiring new plants: dormant and/or bare root specimens almost invariably fail for me.
I bought a dormant tayberry from Raintree that came potted (if I remember correctly). It never grew, and eventually rotted. The actively-growing Wild Treasure Blackberry I got from them has been growing for several years now. I’ve since acquired a growing Tayberry, and it’s been growing fine for over a year.
I’ve gotten two potted growing PAF from Edible Landscaping, and both are doing great for me.
Years ago I acquired live Caroline and Black Hawk Raspberries, and both were eventually unfortunate victims of a neglectful period (Caroline was a particularly bitter loss for me, as it was a fine bearer while it was taken care of).
Last year I ordered a bare root Joan J., anxious to repeat my success with Caroline. It never grew, the roots rotted. Previously I had received a sprouted! bare root for Mammoth Strawberry. Despite being sprouted, it fell behind and eventually died as well, despite my taking care of it.
With all these losses, my initial suspicion was an interaction between their dormancy and my tropical climate: if dormant or recently breaking dormancy, they would fail. But while I still suspect that full dormancy would be an issue for me regardless (note the first Tayberry), it doesn’t make sense to me that a plant that has already broken dormancy (no matter how recent) would just stop growing and die. We’re just coming out of winter here in PR, it’s not that hot despite the tropics (in fact the mainland continent gets hotter in the summer; we’re buffered by the sea here).
I placed an eBay order in January for a pair of Raspberries: Joan J. and Anne. The vendor was gracious enough to listen to my request: “Don’t ship them until they’re well leafed-out.“ But one thing that was not explicitly specified in the listing is that they were bare root. They arrived in bags of soil, disheveled but alive. I was hopeful. It’s been nearly two weeks (they arrived on the 1st of April). The small amounts of shoots on the cane have died. The roots have not sprouted. They still have living tissue (I rectified some planting mistakes that were not accounted for in the instructions), but they show no signs of sprouting anywhere, despite having broken dormancy before shipping (clearly dormancy is not the only factor, bare roots play a part). I’m fearful that I may lose them as well, they’re hanging on by a prayer.
This would also be a bitter loss… I’m thoroughly strapped for cash, I had to cook up around $50 for that purchase, and it may be a possible loss. Furthermore, experience has taught me that the shipping season for brambles is now: winter and spring. For some reason, barely anyone sells them during the growing season. If these two raspberries fail me now I’d have to wait an entire year to try again, unless I manage to find a person selling potted raspberries before the season’s done.
But I’ve digressed too long… The main point is this: Why are dormant and bare root raspberries failing so consistently for me? Logic tells me I can’t be the only one with this problem, but looking through search engines, YouTube, and even this very forum, reveals no results on anyone consistently failing to grow dormant or bare root brambles. ¿Am I missing something or am I going crazy? 
