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drew51_gw

Raspberry report fall 2014

Well more an update on things going on here. I know many have had problems with fall crops. I seem not to have much, if any problems. Some cultivars are not producing well. Fall Gold fall crop is small, but so was the summer crop. Not sure what is going on here?
It may be low light, not enough nutrients. It's an in ground planting, my rasied bed plantings are doing great. Crimson Night and Anne also have small crops.

All cultivars have berries. All have produced ripe berries except Double Gold, and Rosanna. They have green berries, so these are late for my zone. I have until about October 15th. So a good month left. They may not finish, but should.
In zone 6a here is order of cultivars that produced first to produced last for the fall crop.
Polka
Caroline
Fall Gold
Anne
Himbo Top
Kiwi Gold
Crimson Night
Prelude

Still yet to produce:
Double Gold
Rosanna
Niwot

Above should make it before frost.
Harvest is good. I'm getting about 60 berries a day. I have for about 10 days now, really nice! I'm happy with having this many plants. It's giving me decent yields. My wife eats them like candy, but I have managed to save about 50-100 a week. Unrelated but I made blackberry-wild blackberry-mulberry-red currant jam yesterday. Wow! It's excellent! It was a left over berry jam. Not enough of any one, so put them all together.Here is the day's harvest on 2014 09 05, it includes daily strawberries too.

Comments (9)

  • 12 years ago

    Those look nice!!

    Which taste best?

  • 12 years ago

    I kind of like them tart, so pull them off early for me. But if left on till they kind fall off the core they are sweet.
    I would say for the yellows Anne tastes the sweetest. But a low producer. The summer bearing Cascade Gold is an excellent yellow, good production too. Kiwi Gold produces a decent amount and berries are good. Fall Gold is tart till fully ripe, production is mixed, good one year, not so good the next. I like it a lot.
    For the reds, Caroline, Polka, followed by Prelude are the sweetest, best tasting. Rosanna is up there too, but a low producer, and only tasted one crop. The first three produce crazy amounts of berries, and taste good too.
    Sometimes slow the first season, mine were, but this 2nd year, wow! Prelude has one 7 foot cane, impressive cultivar too. It also has a huge summer crop. Considered a Summer bearing, but not sure why? Both crops are huge.
    Here's another photo of Polka berries
    {{gwi:122474}}
    The canes
    {{gwi:48156}}

    I forgot who posted this photo? Sorry, I think it is Anne, so it can be productive. The berries look bigger than Polka! Again they are really good! I will always grow Anne. I will get my plant like this one day.
    {{gwi:123921}}

  • 12 years ago

    Yes, those are Anne. I took the picture on 8/16, almost a month ago, and they are still going strong. Anne is my best raspberry in terms of flavor. It's productivity has really picked up in the last 2 years (I planted in 2010).

    Caroline is good too, but is a sparse producer and gets more SWD. I'm actually thinking about removing it for more fruit trees, as it is in a prime yard position. I may also remove some or all of Prime Jan (primocane blackberry), as it is next to Caroline and also hit badly by SWD and yellow jackets. Autumn Britten is also on the chopping block.

    Prelude is more productive (with an especially large spring crop), though it doesn't taste as good. I'll keep it and Royalty (productive summer producer of OK quality) just to have some good fruit early in the year.

  • 12 years ago

    Caroline and Anne Fall crops culled early due to fruit flies (probably SWD). These Fall crops rarely produce much due to pest pressure and hot temperatures during ripening. I love the flavor of both varieties but both are low producers in the Spring and the Fall crop is generally a failure. IâÂÂm going to do some hard thinking about replacing one or both of these raspberries with an early summer bearing raspberry.

    I purchased a small amount of Tulameen rootstock earlier in the summer as a test and now have 5 decent sized plants that I may use as replacements although Tulameen isnâÂÂt early and is also highly susceptible to root rot. Prelude would make a better choice but havenâÂÂt decided yet on what to do.

    Double Gold is flowering and has a few small berries but there are very few berries. Although I have a small planting, I may pull it too. IâÂÂm just in that kind of mood...

    One of my primary raspberry post-harvest goals is to improve the soil in my raspberry beds. My efforts have been lacking there. IâÂÂm using some grass clippings as a start and may get a load or two of horse manure from one of the local horse farms. If I decide to replace Anne and Caroline, I may retill the beds and amend heavily with a better organic mix. I used too much clay when I was refilling the beds originally, which has slowed their growth and lowered their vigor.

  • 12 years ago

    Bob, good to know your Anne is at least a few years old. Mine was put in spring of 2013. So i hope productivity picks up. But my Caroline is as productive as the Polka vines pictured.
    I looked at SWD presence in MI, and in SE MI, it has the lowest presence. So far I have not seen it.
    Yeah JT I would go with Summer bearers. The crops are impressive, the berries huge. I have Encore, Taylor, Honey Queen, Cascade Gold, and Prelude. Encore would be out as it is late, almost ran into the fall crop. taste just like Prelude. Which I do like, it is actually my favorite because it has more acid. I know I'm the exception, most like them sweet.

  • 12 years ago

    Hey All......Fall crop is really looking good, no bugs or diseases and everything is starting to fruit like crazy now, had my 1st ever Josephine raspberry this morning, huge berry and very distinct taste and texture ...very good.........my Kiwi Gold's are putting out berries daily now so are Prelude, Polka.......Nantahala is coming along nicely, Crimson Giant is budding away now probably fruit mid October.........Double Gold has yet to start flowering or budding yet may not this year, Caroline neither....Fall Gold maybe couple day's out

    Below is pic of Josephine, huge canes, huge berries

  • 12 years ago

    Here is a pic of Josephine next to Kiwi Gold's and Autumn Britten

  • 12 years ago

    Here's a pic of my Kiwi Gold's i planted in April, wonderful tasting berries too !

  • 12 years ago

    Nice greenhorn! Yeah you are going to have larger harvests than me! As you have a longer spread, you will be amazed how many you get. Next year should be a peak year for you. When I move I will have more room, and probably will grow more just to try other cultivars. But I have to start over which sucks. But now I know a lot and will build better raised beds, and space them better.
    Josephine looks awesome!