Favorite variety of Raspberries?

[Paschale]

Hi all,

I'm in the third year of my raspberries.  They're growing like gangbusters this year, and next year should be enough to feed everyone on the Forestry Forum.  Only problem:  I'm not a huge fan of this variety now that I actually have a crop.   :D  I'm thinking of ripping them all out and starting over.  These ones have a slightly bitter zing to them...a little bit of funkiness to them that I'm not liking.  I think the variety is lotham, or Latham, or something similar.  I went to the farmer's market this morning and tried several, but none knocked my socks off.  I'm hoping some of you guys can steer me in the right direction.

I AM a huge fan of the wild blackberries I transplanted several years ago.  They haven't spread or grown as quickly as this other variety though, but it's all about the taste, and it might be worth just waiting until they get established.  I might just transplant some of those, though I really would like to get some that are "everbearing," and that will produce again a second time around in late summer.

Any ideas?

[isawlogs]

  I cant be much help to ya .. If the berry is red than I'm a taker for it ... its like  blueberries , if they are blue than they are a gonner..    I'm having a bol of blueberries now ... they are floating in cream, with just a couple or 4  table spoon full of maple syrup ... Just wish I had some rasberries to put in there with them ....  ;D ;)

[Patty]

I was real disappointed in the rasberries we planted also, Paschale. I think we planted the same ones you have. They didn't have the flavor I liked or expected from a raspberry. Next time I want to try a black raspberry. I don't think the red ones have as good of flavor.  Boysenberries aren't so good either. I was told that they are a red & black raspberry cross. Wild black raspberries are the best. I am looking forward to the replies you get on here Paschale, hopefully they will have some answers for us.

[ohsoloco]

I don't know a whole lot about varieties of raspberries.  Red raspberries are okay, but in my opinion no where near as tasty as the wild black raspberries.  We tried to cultivate some raspberries a few years ago from plants purchased from Gurney's (I think), but they never took off  :(  Around here the wild black ones spread pretty quickly.  The birds seem to help spread the wealth  :D

[Paschale]

Patty and ohsoloco are right on the money--what I actually transplanted were wild black raspberry canes, not wild blackberries.  Those are some of the best eating berries I've ever eaten! 

[johnjbc]

I have Black Raspberries, Red Raspberries, and Blackberries  growing wild in the field behind my house.
The Black Raspberries are sweeter.
The Red Raspberries are bigger and easer to pick. :D
The Blackberries are small, hard to pick, and have a bitter after taste. >:( We leave them for the birds
Most years the Black Raspberries ripen first then about a week after they are done the Red's  come in. and the Blackberries come a couple weeks after that.
This year I picked both Black, and Red in the same bucket and even saw a few Blackberries that were ripe. Wonder what Mother Nature is getting ready for? :P :P
I think I will try mowing them back this winter as the brush and vines are starting to top them. 8)

[Brad_S.]

For my money, you can't beat Fall Gold raspberries. As the name implies, they are gold and, although an everbearer, you get a better crop if you cut the canes to the ground and just get the fall crop. Tastes sweeter and more raspberry-ish than any red variety. smiley_really_happy

[ARKANSAWYER]

  We have a golden red rasberry that is called a wine berry.  It grows good and is very sweet.  The berry is in a pod that pops open when it is ripe.  They bear in early June here.  We also have wild black berries and wild black rasberry and both are very good in wet years.  The black rasberrys are the best and easier to pick.  We also have a dew berry that looks like black berries but they grown more on a vine then a cane.   I have some ever bearing thornless black berries but they have a slight bitter taste.  My FIL has some of one type that are very sweet and have good flavor that is thornless and makes gallons per plant that the canes can be 30 ft long down a fence.  He grows them like grapes.  I will see what kind they are and where he got them.

[sawguy21]

I like the ones that grow through the fence from the neighbour's yard. ;D They are the red ones and are some good. Tried to bring some in for dessert but the the poor berries never made it.

[wesdor]

We have Lathams (red) and wild black berries.  Sorry to have a taste that the rest of you don't agree with, but I really like the reds.  My wife makes a German dessert called Rote Gruze (need the umlauts to make that correct).  This year, we were able to water the reds and have had a good crop.  The black berries didn't get any water since they are so far from the house.  Didn't get any there at all.  We had .4" of rain between May 11 and July 19 so it is pretty dry here in western Illinois.

We are in the process of building a new house and will take some blacks, reds, and then "cultivate" the wild blackberries that are on the farm.  I like those fall golds also, but just don't have any.

[Don P]

It was hot at lunch today so we grazed our way to the top of the ridge and back down. Wild blueberries are coming in as well as the blackberries. A friend of ours looked up from her picking last week and a bear was working over the other side of the patch...she allowed he looked hungrier than her so she just let him have 'em.

We tried the Lathams, they're mostly gone now. The wild black raspberries do it for me too. The rust from the wild ones got on one of the domestic varieties and wiped them out. The red berries in the picture I put up on the kitchen chemistry thread are wineberries. I like them mixed with other berries, they do make tasty wine too. Our dewberries ain't worth much, I leave them. Now the wild strawberries...

[SwampDonkey]

I wish I could tell ya the variety of red raspberry I'm growing. We got them from a neigher several years ago and I don't know that he even knew what variety they were. They bear quite heavily and are real juicy, but not as sweet as a wild red raspberry untill they are dark red. I usually pick them as soon as they roll easily off the stem. Nothing beats a wild red raspberry, but the wild ones are alot smaller. Raspberry are my favorite berry to pick because there is none of this bending over stuff. ;D We have wild black berries here, but they are small as well and are not ready until September. Black berries are harder to start it seems. I planted some years ago and they would just bearly strive, then all the sudden took off, and by that time I got fed up and nuked them with round-up. On my little red raspberry patch in the garden I've picked over 4 gallons this week with alot of them frozen. I keep a couple litres for eating at meals. I bet there will be another gallon ready tommorrow to pick. mm mmm as big as a thimble and juicey. My father has different varieties and they are slower ripening and not as juicy. They are rather dry, my mother doesn't care for them.

I've tried blue berry here, but they never survived. Alot of those cultivated varieties they'll post as hardy in zone 3. I'm in Zone 4 (warmer) and they don't survive, so someone better take the magic marker and lable them zone 5. It also depends alot on the soil conditions too, but  soils are slightly acidic in my area (6.5). Where I see them grow the wild ones commercially the soil is quite sandy on old black spruce/jack pine forest. Our wild varieties include: low sweet (most popular), black  (nigrum, similar to low sweet) and sour-top (myrtilloides)  and that's what we cultivate in the Maritimes and Maine mostly. They are also the highest in anitoxidant, more so than cultivated varieties and 20 other fruits. http://www.wildblueberries.com/

I can remember as a kid filling 5 gallon buckets full of wild blue berries from clear cuts and burnt land. They where as big as concord grapes in partial shade (the black variety).

Maine is the largest producer of wild and cultivated blue berries (25 % of the market, 60,000 acres), then Quebec and the Maritimes (25 %). I think the boss's state produces the most cultivated blue berries. ;)

[Paschale]

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies!  I was just at a friend's house this afternoon, and he has tons of wild black raspberries on his land, and there were just a few stragglers left, the last berries of the season, and in comparison with my Latham's, there's no doubt what I like best!  It's definitely time to rip those babies up.

Those golden raspberries sound very interesting.  I've heard of them, but never tried them before.  Maybe someone at the farmer's market will have them this fall so I can give them a taste.  It sounds like those might be the winners, but let's keep the entries coming!   ;D

[pigman]

It's Paschale's fault. ;D I am all scratched up and bleeding. : I might have to get a blood transfusion. ;) All this talk of raspberries and blackberries made me hungry for some. I found a few wild blackberries and it was worth all the bleeding. 8)

[Furby]

I have a couple plants at my Grandma's that have popped up.
They were really loaded with fruit, but I kept forgetting to pick them. :
Was planning to cut the plants off, but might go ahead and move some to my place.  ;D ;)

[Don_Papenburg]

My red raspberries were very good but I like them best frozen , The wild blackraspberries are great for making patch jam .   The recipie for patch jam as follows ,no substatutes,                 Pick ripe juicy black raspberries a hand full at a time ..........Jam em in your mouth   , munch .  Makes one serving .

My blueberries all fell of the bushes in spite of the fact that I was watering them. sad sad year .

[Patty]

Ahhhh now you all have gone and done it....I just have to get some wild black raspberries and plant them here at the farm. Those ones pigman is bleeding all over sure look good. I guess I'd have to wash all the blood off first,  :
but they look good enough to eat.  So to plant these wild berries. I just go clip some canes and stick them in the ground this fall?  ???  Correct me if I am wrong, it won't hurt my feelings.

[johnjbc]

Trey are spread here by the birds eating them and landing on the fence row to do their business. : So you should be able to just plant the seeds.
I also have heard of putting the end of the vine in the ground and letting it take root. That would give better genetic control of what you get. But it's a lot more work.

[SwampDonkey]

All we did with the raspberries was to burry cut stems in the ground in spring time as early as possible. They'll root off cuttings.

[Don P]

To move raspberries, blackberries and wineberries here is what Michelle has done. Find good looking, healthy plants. After berry time lean some tips to the ground and pin them down.  She's kind of trained paths into the wild patches. When you have a new little plant going it can be freed from the parent cane and dug then if you want.

Our wild black raspberries carried rust and shatterberry virus. They are just a vector for the virus and don't show the problem themselves. When you buy stock it is certified virus free, but it doesn't mean you can't get them sick. Don't move wild stock far!  Whether that was the demise of the Lathams or just the huge natural stockpile of pathogens in the surrounding woods would have gotten them anyway, I don't know. I wouldn't ship a wild plant anywhere though.

Our Latham's were not bad by any stretch, I didn't let them go to the bad ;D. We didn't have them in the best soil or light and they had a different twang than I would have preferred. Now the individual drupes of the berry fall apart when touched.

I've heard domestic blueberries like to have just their toes wet, not their feet, and not too dry. Ours are in the lower garden. Ever notice that birds like them one day less ripe than we do?

[Paschale]

Patty, when i transplanted mine, I just went to my folks place, grabbed a shovel, found some fresh canes, dug deep and hauled it in a car about an hour back to my place, then planted 'em.  They're doing great!   ;D

[Patty]

Yea, I've seen some on the walk to work that are kind of on the edge of the neighbor's place. I am quite sure she won't mind if I borrow some. Especially if I borrow them after dark.  ;D   So are you transplanting these in the spring? Like as soon as the ground thaws?

[Paschale]

Patty, I transplanted mine in the middle of the summer, which was when I thought to do it.  The new canes were  pretty well established.  I can't remember if I had any berries the first year or not, but I found those plants to be really quite hardy.  One of the two I transplanted did die, but it really was in a spot that didn't get much sun at all.  The other one went like gangbusters, and I think you really probably can't go wrong with them.  They're amazing resilient in the wild.  My thought is why not go ahead and transplant some now--if they don't show any new leafs next spring, then pull 'em out, and then put in some new canes then.  You got nothing to lose with free transplants.  8)

[Furby]

Ok, I took a look at the plant I want to bring over from my Grandma's. It's growing through the bumper of the old car, (some of you may remember the one ;) ) There is no way to dig it up with the canes on it.
Any idea if I can cut all the canes off and then transplant it and what time of the year would be best?

[Chris J]

Free.