Hi all,
I’ve got three triple crown blackberries that I planted last year. They grew pretty well last year and have a decent amount of fruit on them, Though there did seem to be some pollination issues. The problem I’m having seems to be a condition of white druplet according to internet research. From what Ive read this is typically localized to fruit exposed to the sun. However this seems to be affecting all of my fruit (which is just starting to ripen). I’m wondering if there is a good explanation for this or anything I could do now or in future years to prevent it. (Posting a picture but can only post one)
Yes like sun scald on a pepper. Shade from most intense sun may help
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It’s from the heat, not just the sun. They are fine to eat in my experience.
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Thank you both for the replies. Fwiw I also noticed this occurring even during cooler weather we had last week (80 then, 95 now in VA). I’ve also noticed that the affected spots on the fruit dry out a bit. I’ll have to try some shade cloth to see if that makes a difference.
Triple Crown is one of the most susceptible varieties to UV sun damage.
It can start here in temps of 85+. Affects the red stage. The green and black
stages are largely unaffected. Black stage exposed to sun can result in purplish
semi-cooked druipelets. Moderately affected berries with dried-out drupelets can
be juiced. Pruning and training for north-facing fruit can help. Any dark shade cloth touching the fruit will bake it.
Before I started my loganberries… I read that they would have that same problem especially if getting the hotter evening sun.
I planted mine in a morning sun location (east side of my house)… I get no white drupes.
Get gobs of logans.
TNHunter
I wonder if some varieties might be more susceptible to this than others. We have raspberries in two spots of our yard. One is in the sun pretty much all day long and until we had our 100+ heat wave I rarely saw this on the unknown red variety we have there. Cascade gold raspberries are in the same and had a little more sunscald than the unknown red but still uncommon. Tayberries didn’t seem to get it all until the 100 degrees rolled in. In a different area we have raspberry shortcake planted that gets sun from mid-morning to early evening that has always had this develop.
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