North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <ginda@concentric.net>]

Don, How much land do your bababerries need to produce like that?  Or
maybe I should ask, on how little land is it practical to grow them?  

I'm pretty happy with my everbearing fall reds (except for the name -
talk about lack of imagination).  We had berries for about a month in
the summer (up to a few weeks ago) and I just noticed that the first
"fall" berry will likely ripen tomorrow, with a whole mess more shortly
behind it.  They are so much more fruitful this year than prior that I
don't know if they've reached full bearing yet, but this summer we had
enough that there were always some berries to eat when we went out, and
sometimes enough berries to bring some indoors.  (a cup of berries isn't
enough to make it inside - I like raspberries.)  This fall looks to be
considerably more fruitful than the summer.  The flavor is good - better
than Heritage, and as good as most.  They have so far been disease free
and easy to manage.  And all this in a patch roughly ten feet by two
feet. (at the base)

And yet, your talk of abundance is appealing.  I wonder if I could find
a place for a bababerry. . .mmmm  raspberries. . .

best,
Ginda

Don Yellman wrote:
> 
> Ginda:  Not having much trouble with birds on the raspberries,
> especially since I stopped feeding them all summer long.  But even if I
> did, they couldn't keep up with the raspberries we have now.  In spring,
> 2000, I planted 10 plants of Baba (aka Bababerry).  By July, 2000 they
> started to bear, and continued for about six weeks.  This year the
> plants are much stronger, and have spread, and from these 10 plants my
> wife has been picking over a quart every day since late June, and they
> show no signs of slowing down.  They don't seem to have defined spring
> and fall seasons; they just keep bearing all summer and fall, and will
> grow new canes and bloom as late as August.  The bees are still out
> there working the blooms right now.  I planted 10 Fallgold at the same
> time, and they are providing a small trickle of candylike sweet berries,
> but they are not in the same league as Baba.
>    In the 80's I tried Latham and Taylor, as well as Heritage, but gave
> up because of poor, almost insignificant production, crumbly berries,
> and disease problems.  The Baba is a completly different story.  Flavor
> is an arguable point, and it may be that some of the older varieties are
> tastier, but the Baba tastes like a red raspberry to me, and we have
> gallons of them in the freezer for jam, eat them fresh nearly every day,
> and give them away liberally.  I never thought there could be almost too
> many red raspberries from such a relatively small planting.  I
> understand the Baba was discovered in the wild in California.  Don't
> know anything about its hardiness beyond my own zone.
>    However, they are aggressive spreaders, and I am going to have to dig
> out dozens of plants on the edges to keep them under control.  That will
> probably be in March/April 2002.  Rather than destroy them I would be
> prepared to send them to interested Nafexers, and would do so at no cost
> other than postage and the USPS box that would be most appropriate to
> send them.  Unless things get completely out of hand, I should be able
> to deal with requests for a half-dozen plants from most interested
> growers, and would probably try to send them out in one shot,  in April
> or so.  There is no rush here, since this is not something that is going
> to happen tomorrow, but if you are interested, remember to provide me
> with a mailing address in about March, 2002, assuming I am still here
> and kicking, which seems a reasonably good bet at this point.
> 
> Rgds, Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
> 
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