North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Pete Tallman <pete_tallman@hotmail.com>]

The new Illini canes with flowers forming sounds like what is called by 
Harvey K. Hall a "Crown Lateral". It's a fruiting lateral originating near 
the crown. It looks rather like a primocane coming up for the year, but it 
flowers and overwinters as if it were a fruiting lateral. It happens to my 
black raspberries sometimes if most of the floricane is damaged or cut before 
growth starts in the spring. The only real test I know of to differentiate 
crown lateral vs. fruiting primocane is to wait for next winter. If the cane 
dies over the winter, it's a crown lateral. If the cane survives the winter, 
it came up as a primocane. In the case of flowers are forming on a 
non-primocane-fruiting variety like Illini, then it's likely to be a crown 
lateral. Ripening season for crown lateral berries falls a few weeks later 
than the end of the floricane berry ripening season. I've heard of a few 
growers using the effect intentionally by mowing off the canes in the spring 
to get off-season black raspberries, but I have not heard of it being 
exploited for blackberries.

Pete Tallman
Longmont, CO, zone 5 or so

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