Rubus Breeding

if mine turns out bland i may hit you up for a shoot or 2. i also have thimbleberry from M.I but so far has only produced a few berries in 3 yrs.

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Thimble berries taste great, but production is very weak. The berries look big, but not much really there.

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if they don’t start producing soon ill be ripping them out anyway. these were supposedly found up in the u. p of M.I and were supposedly a very productive strain discovered by hartmanns.

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I’m looking at wine berries. Flavor is tart and not rich but not bad either. The protective casing prevents early infestation of SWD. Vigorous and productive. Quite thorny. Grows very well in 6a. Grows super well in the shade. It’s productive in the shade. Not perfect but has some very cool traits. Although invasive it was brought over for breeding and I have seen nothing so they may have had bad luck with it? I still may fool around with it. I’m taking a break from experimenting with rubus for a bit as I want to do some stone fruit stuff. I’ll be back soon enough.

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I used to have the Wineberry.
Crosses readily with the Raspberry and loves the Puget Sound lowlands. Flavor is mild, but sweeter than the Salmonberry.
It’s a tip rooter like Blackcaps.

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Primocane purple ( needs some more work ) and primocane yellow/white Rubus occ

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One of my Blackberry breeding , unfortunately plants succumb to disease rapidly almost constantly replacing

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My purple breeding (top )v Malling passion (bottom )
The passion is much sweeter and firmer but smaller
image

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Korean Wineberry is very close to the Raspberry.
It tip roots like Black Raspberries.
I used to have a lot of them.

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I have a Wineberry.
It’s not all that flavorful, but sweeter than the Salmonberry. Should easily cross with the Raspberry.
It’s a very attractive plant in the winter landscape.

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Yes to me wineberries have a lot going for them compared to other rubus plants. The wild plants are not that productive, can be large, have marginal flavor. Some are excellent, but flavor does vary within each species. When I said I was looking into wineberries, it was to breed not to purchase. I have been growing them for five years and my observations are favorable so far. Another feature not mentioned is the great color the berries have. Mentioned but need emphasis is how well they produce in the shade. A very valuable attribute in crowded overgrown gardens.
I will play with them eventually. I have a few other rubus and stone fruit crosses I wish to do first.

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Locally
We have a lot of
Himalaya x Evergreen blackberry hybrids.
The Evergreen blackberry ripens later
is less aggressive
has firmer better keeping fruits
The Himalaya tastes better
But the vine is like Kudzu
Very aggressive.
Fruits don’t last as long, being soft.
Some of these hybrids may have the best of
both parents

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All that I know about the Salmonberry is that the Orange berries are usually better than the Red ones. Salmonberry comes in two colors in the wild.
I have a superior tasting Orange one in my back yard.
They’re easy to root from one year old cuttings.
I heard that there’s a lot of sterility in f1 crosses to Raspberry, but perhaps there is a more compatible Rubus to cross with?

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I am curious to see if my Freedom berries will cross with Rubus ursinus. At least I won’t need to emasculate the female flowers. It would be more difficult to use Freedom as the female, but perhaps that is the only way the cross will work.
The vast majority of blackberries I have eaten were wild blackberries growing in Northern Ohio, and I don’t believe I have ever paid money for blackberries. I honestly can’t understand why people like the Himalaya berries. They are soft, not very sweet, watery, and have big/hard seeds. I understand that they grow tastier in some climates, but it seems like the wild ones would as well.

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https://web.pdx.edu/~maserj/ESR410/rubisursinus.html
It should be easy to breed with, being either male or female flowers.

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I love the soft/tiny seeds in the Rubus ursinus. They also have good Brix readings.

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Himalaya does fine here, way too well.
It’s on the noxious weed list. Canes can grow 20 feet in a season, and easily 12 feet.
I would not recommend planting it
but
I have some Himalayan x Evergreen hybrid plants.
Chance seedlings
Less vigorous
Probably firmer fruits
Evergreen blackberries are much less invasive
Have firmer, later fruit.
But I think the Himalayan are better tasting.

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It’s by far the best blackberry locally
but
Less productive
smaller fruits
and resists cultivation.
I believe that it has a symbiotic relationship with forest soil mycorrhizae.

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The worst ripe Rubus ursinus I tested were still over 14 Brix, and the seeds are like strawberry seeds. Are there any other Blackberries that produce 18+ Brix fruit? The ones over 18 Brix seem to have some raisin flavor that may indicate they are over ripe, but the 14-18 Brix berries were incredibly sweet and flavorful.





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I’ve never checked brix , but a dead ripe Himalayan blackberry is sweeter than the Rubus Ursinus.

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