Advice needed on Raspberries.

[bvar22]

We are looking for a variety of Raspberry that closely resembles the wild Raspberry that grows in Minnesota.
We lived on the Mississippi River outside St Paul, and the wild Raspberries were DELICIOUS!
They were firm, tart, and explosive with flavor.

We now live in Central Arkansas, and last Spring we bought a couple of Raspberry plants at Atwoods, and planted them along a fenceline. It was an impulse buy, "Oh look! They have Raspberries!!! Lets get some!!!"

I have no idea what variety they are,(aren't all Raspberries the same?) :dunce:

Anyway, they are now producing berries, which was a delightful surprise for this time of the year. While the berries are good in their own right, they are pretty different from the wild Raspberries I remember. They are larger, softer (mushy to someone used to the wild variety), not as tart (mild by comparison), and not as brilliantly red.

I am very glad to have them (ate a small bowl this morning), but I would also like to have some that are closer to the wild variety.

I did some Googling, and was overwhelmed by the amount of varieties available.
I am hoping that there is a Raspberry connoisseur here who can steer us in the right direction.

[Dover]

1. Rubus idaeus L. ssp. strigosus?

Here are a few sites to check out:

http://montana.plant-life.org/species/rubus_idae.htm
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/rubida/all.html
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=RUIDS2
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Rubus+strigosus

You might be able to email a local MN. extension agent to confirm that and perhaps
get some advice on where to get some seed:

http://forest.mtu.edu/kidscorner/humans/berries.html

Or you can join a seed exchange website/group or find a native plant landscaper who has
starter plants. Where I live the extension agents encourage growing native plants
and so seeds and starter plants are readily available in retail garden stores.

Your own county extension agent might provide some information about local native varieities.

OR contact the North American Bramble Growers Assoc.
http://www.raspberryblackberry.com/local.cfm?doc=webdocs%2Fnabga01-09news.htm
Maybe they can recommend an equally good wild variety for your specific area.

There is nothing like wild berries. I've stopped to enjoy them myself when traveling
up along the Canadian border.

[Dover]

2. Ah, here's your local guy.

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:ctlmX01OIMcJ:www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/FSA-6107.pdf+Arkansas,+raspberry+production+in+the+home+garden&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

[bvar22]

4. Gosh.

Thanks for all the footwork.

What are you doing around Tax Time next year? :D

[Dover]

6. I'm only as good as my google.

:P

[XemaSab]

10. Wild blueberries are right in there too

For some dumb reason on my trip to Maine a few years ago I didn't bring any food to Baxter. I guess I wasn't expecting it to be that remote, ya know?

Anyway, I lived for two days off blueberries and they were GOOD. :9

[HamdenRice]

3. One thing to avoid is "next year cane" varieties

I grow both rasberries and blackberries in a small urban garden. I bought the canes from a garden center.

The trend in commercial varieties definitely is toward "same year" canes. I got really confused reading older books about berry cultivation, and in the past, you had to use a fairly complicated system of allowing the canes to grow in year one that would produce berries in year two, and growing new canes in year two for year three, and cutting the year two bearing canes at the end of year two.

I hadn't needed to worry, because it seems that most modern cultivars grow and produce the same year. Unfortunately, following the books, I was growing two year old canes that didn't produce, until I figured out that I didn't need to.

So, just to avoid confusion, find out whether the canes produce fruit in the first year or the second.

That said, once they establish themselves, they grow like weeds. The first couple of years took some work, but now most of my work regarding the berries is trying to confine them to prevent them taking over the entire backyard. Basically, they are a fruit producing aggressive weed.

[bvar22]

5. That's what I'm looking for.....

High Production/Low Maintenance weeds that put healthy food on my table!

[murray hill farm]

7. I grew up in the UP of Michigan.

Where the well water was so cold and plentiful and delicious. I thought it was that way everywhere. Michigan blueberrys, corn, apples, raspberrys, strawberries, etc. were what i thought was just how they tasted everywhere. Then I moved south. No comparison. Vegtables and fruit in the south is just tastless compared to those grown in the north. I don't know why.

[hermetic]

8. Here are some of mine (wild)

Way up north, not far from the UP of MI, we had so much rain this summer that the bushes are now just dripping with berries. I go out almost every day and gather a similar amount. Then I eat half and freeze half.

As you said, bvar, weeds you can eat, can't be beat.

[bvar22]

9. Hi, enufalready!!

THOSE are the Raspberries I'm talking about! yum!

How is the homestead working out?

[XemaSab]

11. Ask your homegirl for some seeds from her plant

See if you can start them yourself. :)