North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Michael Dossett <phainopepla@yahoo.com>]

Bill,

There could be a number of things going on here.  It
could certainly be some sort of sport, but my guess is
that is not.  Best bet is to watch and see if it
happens again next year from the same spot.  

Every now and then, black raspberries will put out a
strong cane which grows and acts like a primocane and
starts flowering just before the main crop ripens
about 4-6 weeks after the normal flowering time. 
These inevitably die back completely in the fall after
fruiting, however, and don't tend to repeatedly show
up.  I think they are basal buds which sprout into
strong laterals, but there is something else going on
because their morphology is different and I'm not sure
why.

There are primocane fruiting black raspberries but
they are unusual.  I wouldn't expect them to start
blooming for a few more weeks yet.  In addition, the
lower half which doesn't flower will produce fruit
next year like a primocane fruiting red raspberry
rather than dying completely.

So best thing you can do is keep your eyes on it for
now and enjoy the fruit.  In the spirit of a true
plant explorer, you could also try saving a few of the
fruit, planting out the seed, and watching the
resulting seedlings, you never know what you'll get
:-)

Hope this helps

Michael



--- "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
wrote:

> One of the new (just sprouted this year) canes in my
> black raspberry 
> patch is blooming right now. If my understanding is
> correct, that's 
> called a primocaine raspberry, isn't it? One that
> bears fruit on the 
> current year's cane, rather than on canes from the
> previous year?
> 
> I wouldn't think anything of it (the birds planted
> my raspberry patch to 
> begin with, so almost anything could probably show
> up the same way), 
> except that it seems to be part of a clump of
> "normal" canes. Is that 
> possible? Can a raspberry plant produce one cane
> that's a sport, that 
> flowers completely differently than the others? Or
> am I just mistaken 
> that it's part of the same plant? It LOOKS like it's
> in the same clump 
> as neighboring canes, but I suppose it's possible
> that two roots are 
> entwined. But it's a good-sized cane. It looks big
> enough that it must 
> have a well-established root. Of course, I might
> have just missed it in 
> previous years, since I wouldn't expect raspberries
> later in the year.
> 
> Note that it's definitely a raspberry cane, but the
> flowers and buds 
> don't look exactly like the others do. I cut out all
> my old canes this 
> weekend, and tied up the young ones, so that's when
> I noticed it. 
> (Incidentally, I didn't get a single black raspberry
> this year. For the 
> first time ever, the robins ended up eating every
> one before they got 
> ripe.  <Sigh!>  I guess it's bird-netting for me,
> after this.)
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Bill
> Lincoln, NE (zone 5)
> 
> 
> -- 
> We are as gods and might as well get good at it. -
> Stewart Brand, Whole 
> Earth Catalog
> 
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Michael Dossett
Corvallis, Oregon
www.Mdossettphoto.com
phainopepla@yahoo.com


       
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