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nafex - [NAFEX] I found a thornless raspberry in the woods

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  • From: <leclair@verizon.net>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] I found a thornless raspberry in the woods
  • Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 03:19:30 -0500 (CDT)

While at my parents house, I went walking in the woods
for a little while. I've been going into those woods
ever since I was a little kid, so I know the area and
what grows there quite well.

Wild, needle sharp, long thorned raspberries grow
throughout the area, so it was no surprise to me when
I saw a plant growing out from the roots of an
upturned tree.

I went over to the tree to investigate why it had
overturned, only noticing that the raspberry stalks
had virtually no thorns (dull, maybe 1/32 of an inch)
until I brushed them away to check out the tree roots
better. I then almost immediately forgot about the tree.

The only difference that I could see between all the
other wild raspberries and this one, was that this
one was a lot shorter, only about 3-4' tall; though that
could be because of its age, probably being grown from
seed in bird dropping. I'm not sure how long it takes a
seedling to grow full size. If I had to guess, this plant
looks maybe 2 years old.

Generally the wild raspberries in the woods grow to about
7-9' tall, and the ones that my mother grows in her
raspberry patch out in the full sun can get to over 10'.

The leaves were pretty much the same. The same shade of
golden brown peeling paper skin on the stalks, etc.

I'm thinking of moving the plant, but I'm also
thinking that it is only this one single plant and
I probably shouldn't move it until it spreads, which
might take a couple of years. But then on the other
hand, deer and moose might eat it since it doesn't
have any thorns. Raspberries don't have thorns for
nothing, and there's plenty of deer and moose in the
area.

I think that I'll try stooling a stalk in a pot, but
I've never done it with raspberries.

Any advice?

-Nick







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