North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["bluestem_farm@juno.com" <bluestem_farm@juno.com>]

I grew some of the commercial bl. rasp. and compared them with the wild black caps.  The commercial ones were huge and productive--but had very little flavor.  I ripped out the cultivars and now just grow the wild types.  If cultivated they could be fairly productive, but I've taken the lazy way out and am harvesting them where they grow wild around the farm.  You should know that they are a woods edge species, and would rather grow in semi-shade than in full sun with sod.  Grass takes too much moisture from them, I guess.  They are healthy except for the occasional case of rust, although also short lived--an adaptation to life in a moving environment.  They are thorny but if you can tolerate the thorns on blackberries you can tolerate these thorns.  I haven't noticed any problems caused by late frosts.  We have wild purples, too, but unfortunately they are very unproductive so one might do better with a cultivar.
Muffy Barrett
South central Wisconsin
zone 4 when we moved here, maybe only 5 now

-- Bob Sorenson  wrote:
I am considering a new planting of black and purple raspberries and wonder
if someone on the list has experience with them.
In particular can they do well in a zone 5 prone to late spring frosts?
How is the culture compared to red rasp. and blackberries?
Thanks and HAPPY NEW YEAR

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