Wild vs named black raspberries

My folks used to live in Juneau County, WI. We usually picked blackberries there in late July. Many years there’d be no or few berries due to lack of moisture (they were on pretty much beach sand). There were zero wild raspberries (red or black) there.

Pretty much the same soil as here. I’m right on the other side of the central sands in Waupaca county. Blackberries are definitely more prevalent. Were they any good? The wild one’s I’ve tried have been really underwhelming and sometimes almost bitter tasting. Might have just been the year too.

Compared to domestic blackberries? No. They made a good pie or jam though. The wild ones here aren’t really worth picking. Small and seedy. Domestic blackberries don’t survive here.

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You would need a 20-foot row of black-caps to get that many gallons.

I have planted zero black raspberries here. They show up in the woods where I’ve opened the canopy. I’d guess I have close to an acre of unmanaged black raspberry patches on my 87 acres.

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That’s mainly what I’m wondering, if there’s qualities that make them worth planting like taste or size vs the wild ones or if it’s just as good to forage for them in the woods.

There is a lot of variance among the b.r.'s here. Some are so small they’re barely worth picking and others are nearly the size of my domestic reds. My theory is if they’re ripe or almost so…I pick 'em :slight_smile: I’ve looked at domestic b.r.'s a few times, but it seems most would be borderline winter hardy here.

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Wild plants can vary greatly from one another, as it’s all natural pollination and selection. If you find one that has berries you like, take a cutting off of it or dig up a few canes. Cultivars are good for predictable results, Starting disease free (which might be pointless if you have so many wild ones growing so close), disease resistance, and known traits for taste, plus some are thornless. The other thing is the option of a Fall/ everbearing variety as well if it can grow in your zone.

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About 45 minutes worth of picking. Around 3 qts. plus a handful or two of domestic blueberries. I suck at growing BB’s. Pretty much planted them in pots of peat moss 3 years ago and ignored them ever since. I do try to soak them when I think of it. I could have easily picked another 3 qts. of BRs, but the mosquitos are unreal. Clouds of them every time I moved and there’s zero breeze today. I also found a few spots where the bears have been eating and that put me a bit on edge :crazy_face:

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Bears… yea being in Maine it’s black bear central here. My buddy has one that visits his neighbors garden. When I go picking in his area, I make sure to keep eye out and be prepared.

Here’s what I ended up picking this afternoon. Some taste great others taste like water…

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Here’s a pic from Backyardberryplants.com. I’ve ordered from them years ago (before I moved mostly to tree-fruit) and they send nice plants (a bit expensive though).

Jewel on top and wild on bottom:

Per their site, Jewel is 2-3X the size of the wild ones.

Our wild black caps get big here in Michigan but there are some smaller ones too. I love the way they taste they are my favorite berry. I mowed them down this year. They got out of control. I had about 100’ of them growing through my deer fence which worked great for a few years but made a mess later on. I took the fence down seeing my trees are big enough that the deer don’t really do much now. I still protect a few smaller trees. I would say most of mine looked like the picture of the Jewel above. They make the best jam. I made so much jam I had to give it away. I quit doing all that berry picking because it makes my back go out from leaning into the patch. I would tie a rope to the bucket handle and put it around my neck so the bucket was at the correct height for hands free picking. It speeds things up. Also the wild turkeys would find them and destroy the patch!

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I need to start looking around more, so far I’ve only found wild blueberries, some wild growing blackberries, and one small patch of raspberries, none are in a convenient place for me to just go and pick.

Those look like they could be a good one to try, and hardy in my zone. Have you tasted them?

My wild blackberries are bitter.

I planted Jewel years ago and they weren’t big producers when they were young. I think the birds got most of them. From what I recall, the taste was pretty good, but nothing that I couldn’t live without. So, I dug them up and gave them to my brother and re-purposed the space. He planted them on a hill in his yard and they’ve since spread over a large area. He gets massive production and loves them. I was probably a bit too quick on the trigger in getting rid of them.

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On my property, the wild ones are much smaller, much softer, and insipid. Not worth picking since other berries are ripe at the same time.

It’s interesting to hear how the wild ones are and the variations in different parts of the country.

I think there needs to be the right balance of sun and moist ground. Mine do better with only about five hours of direct sunlight. Here are some of my wild black caps from an older post: What's happening today? - #94 by Derby42