There’s not a whole lot of info on Youngberry but I was curious if anyone grows it and would be willing to describe how it performs. I’m in 9a south Louisiana, considering youngberry but don’t know much about its performance. Any info would be great.
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Sounds like an interesting fruit that I do not grow.Here is a little history from the Walmart website,no less.Brady
The scientific name of the youngberry is Rubus caesius. The plant belongs to the Rosaceae family. Youngberry is a crossbreed raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries variety with a purple - red color plus a sweet and juicy flesh. The youngberry was grown in Morgan City by B. M. Young date back in 1905 but was only introduced in 1926, getting important rapidly. It is different from other varieties of blackberries as the berry has long, slim stems that trail on the ground. The youngberries ripen a fortnight sooner than other blackberry species. Normally, youngberries are planted in gardens. When the fruit ripens, it becomes purplish-black, attached to a receptacle with a cone shape. There are over 24 varieties of blackberry around the world and youngberry is just one of those. While the blackberry was grown as wild berries, it was seldom developed into a garden fruit before 1850 but following that year the youngberry has been widely grown. While the youngberry is not grown much in the U.S., it is grown in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Hey Brady, that Louisiana connection with youngberry is hopefully the solution to my lack of quality raspberry flavor as far south as I am. The Dorman red isn’t very tasty, I haven’t tried heritage and Caroline and others like Mysore but I figured youngberry may be the closest I could get to a good raspberry. That guy in Morgan city supposedly corresponded with Luther Burbank in creating the youngberry cross.
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I just bought two, were on the clearance rack but are in great shape. Hope to know next yr if they r a winner or bird food
That Rubus caesius information is inaccurate, and even Wikipedia fell prey to it; it ought to be corrected. R. caesius is the European Dewberry, which is not particularly closely related to the american one. It’s more upright, sour and large-stoned. The Austin-Mayes Dewberry is an American Dewberry (R. ursinus), and it was the one bred to Burbank’s Phenomenal Berry (an R. ursinus x Raspberry F2 cross) to produce the Youngberry. No R. caesius anywhere in its heritage.
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I grow youngberry, but my climate would be very different to yours. For me it performs much like a boysenberry, it tastes and looks pretty similar too. The berries are smaller, darker, more numerous, and ripen a few weeks earlier than boysenberry. Youngberry are absolutely delicious but I wouldn’t describe it as tasting anything like raspberry.
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