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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] crabapples, haskaps, sea buckthorn, currants

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  • From: Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] crabapples, haskaps, sea buckthorn, currants
  • Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:34:43 -0400


On Sep 9, 2008, at 3:38 PM, Melissa Kacalanos wrote:
. . .
Raspberries are on our list already. I've grown these
before, and the only difficulty seemed to be stopping
them from taking over the garden. I might plant them
behind some sort of barrier in the soil this time.
What are the tastiest varieties? We like flavors that
are very distinctive, like a nice strong raspberry
fragrance, and sweetness balanced by nice tartness.
There are wild black raspberries in the backyard
already, but I've eaten tastier cultivated ones.
. . .
Melissa


Nobody replied, so I'll take a shot, although I am by no means an expert:

There are three or four colors of raspberries: Black, Red, Yellow, and maybe Purple, which is somewhere between black and red. The Black/Purple ones have the most distinctive flavor. I don't grow them because I've read they are subject to yellow rust, and there are wild black berries all around that are infected with yellow rust. The red and yellow raspberries are supposedly immune, and my red ones certainly appear to be so. I don't think you'd care for yellow raspberries. In my opinion they lack acid balance, and are bland and dull, although very sweet. (Also, the bees like to eat the fruits, so they are harder to harvest. I can pick red raspberries while the bees are working the blossoms, and we never compete. Much simpler.)

Then, raspberries come in summer bearing and ever-bearing. Summer bearing raspberries bear only on last year's canes. Ever bearing raspberries will do that if you leave the canes over the winter, but they also bear in the fall on this year's canes. Unlike my apricot which bears when I am away in August (that is, if the critters don't take all the unripe fruit) my ever bearing raspberries bear in July and again in September, until the killing frost. The fall season is at its peak right now. I'm harvesting about half a cup a day from my 10' row in partial sun.

As for tastiness of red raspberries: The usual wisdom is that Taylor and Caroline have the best flavor among summer and ever-bearing varieties, respectively. I haven't tried either, although I just planted some Caroline this spring. I bought my mature raspberries from a small backyard nursery where my choice in red raspberries was between Heritage and Fall Red. Heritage is sort of the standard to which everything is compared, but I wasn't wild about it. I felt it wasn't as rich in flavor as the Fall Red, and had a slight woodiness to it. It wasn't just that crop, either - I've noticed the same minor off-flavor in other Heritage Raspberries.

I've been very happy with Fall Red. It is easy to maintain in its 10' x 3' row. It hasn't had many problems with disease or insects. I do have to be fairly proactive about removing any cane damaged by cane borer - I lost a whole season when I let cane-borers build up. But they are fairly easy to control by just removing damaged canes below the point of damage, with clippers. I don't think they've ever needed to be sprayed. I mulch them heavily each fall with shredded leaves (mown from my lawn) and throw the extra corn gluten lawn stuff on them after feeding the lawn in the spring. They seem to like a lot of nitrogen to go with their decaying leaves. That, plus pruning and picking is about all the effort they need.

I like the Nourse Berry Farm catalog because it will say which of the ones they sell taste better or worse than the others.

http://www.noursefarms.com/catalog/Chart.aspx?Category=Raspberries

Ginda
eastern MA, zone 6




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