We got our first picking of red raspberries of the season today.

[maple flats]

During rototilling my wife has stopped to check out the red raspberries, but today was the first real harvest of the season. We have about 80' of red raspberry row, about 2' wide and the reds are just starting. They sure taste good. We have added about 800' of new planting row but that won't be ready til next year. After being in the u-pick blueberry business for over 25 years we are now expanding into red raspberries. The 80' row of this year is really 2 x 40' of 2 different varieties. The new is 4 rows x 200' of 4 different varieties. Trying to find which varieties we like best. We will gradually add as our customer base grows until we have up to 1.5 or maybe 2 acres in red raspberries.
Did I mention I like red raspberries?

[Father & Son]

Dave,
No where near the size of your row (only 2' wide by 25') but we are on our third picking tomorrow. A pint or two at a time. Right into the freezer. Just waiting for the black berries and blue berries to make dump cake.

Jim

[mathprofdk]

We have a small row as well - maybe 3' by 20' - and still not the best growth. I've picked a couple pints so far, but only because I've been watering pretty frequently. We're nearly in drought here in NE Illinois. In fact, I did some scouting today, and all the wild blacks here are completely dried up. The few berries there are have so little juice in them it's not even worth going out picking. I usually get out and pick 3-4 gallons of the wild ones to make jam for gifts - not this year. I have mixed feelings, though. I get a little obsessed with picking, but it's not what most people would describe as "fun"! :D

[Bruce L]

Dave,any reccommendations on varieties?We had old raspberries of my wife's Aunt Mabel,but not many left,the grass pretty much choked them out.Hoping to save them with round-up on the grass ,then a heavy layer of mulch,is that what you do?
Bruce

[maple flats]

We're still experimenting on varieties but, so far we like Autumn Bliss best, followed by Himbo Top. After those, we have Boyne and Caroline but won't get any on those for a couple weeks or so. Last year we had Caroline but did not get any fruit the 1st year even though it is a primo cane (bears fruit on 1st yr canes). My wife thinks it likely will do very well this year. Of those we grow so far Boyne is the only flourocane (bears on 2 yr old canes). At this time we are thinking we will mow off the canes every year and just focus on the fall crop. This will make pruning much easier, since I have a mower on a hydraulically controlled arm that can be moved in and out (weed badger). I use it to mow around my 4.5 acres of blueberries and think it will be good for the raspberries too. We are steering away from a rather popular one called Heritage because it ripens later and thus has a shorter growing season.
As I state, we have not really decided on which varieties we will have in greatest quantity yet. Autumn Bliss is the earliest of the primocanes, followed closely by Himbo Top. So far we like both of them.

[Thad Blaisdell]

I have several varieties. Of which Prelude is the earliest. I am in central Vermont and picked the first handful yesterday. Hoping for double that today. Medium sized berry, Excellent flavor and not to bad on the taking over the world. Next I have Encore. I love this variety. Huge tasty berries. Very erect canes no real need for string/wire or anything to hold them up. Will grow pretty tall if you let them. Then I also have Caroline....... Good late season crop of large/medium berries. Personnaly I do not care for the flavor of these, to me they dont have the raspberry flavor. But they do give you berries right up until the frost. Lastly I have Anne, these are a yellow raspberry. Decent flavor, not really raspberrish, but still good flavor, biggest problem with these is that the Japanese beetles LOVE them. And I mean love love. Its like a magnet.

My Uncle also has several varieties, He likes the Nova's and Taylor's pretty well.

Good Luck

[maple flats]

We also have prelude, but only 2 in the back yard. We like it but have not yet made a u-pick planting of it. I don't think we've tried Encore yet, nor Nova or Taylor yet either.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Prelude..... not sure that this would make a great u-pick berry. Great for pick and eat and freezing. But the berry does not keep well in the fridge. The big plus is that it is super early. Last year we were picking this the same time as strawberries. Encore on the other hand would be a terrific choice. Nice strong upright canes, not super prolific, and the berry is HUGE and keeps well in fridge, people would be happy with it.

[maple flats]

I will take your ideas into consideration. Most u-pick raspberry customers will already know that few if any will keep well. However there is a local man who sells to fruitstands who does very well. As he picks the fruit is immediately placed in a cooler. He keeps the fruit refrigerated until delivery a few hours later. He claims this allows fruit to last 2 and on some varieties 3 days.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Prelude would not last. Encore would for sure.

[red maples]

I transplanted ssome last year and the plants are doing well but very few berries this year as expected as most plants were small. over the next few years they should start producing pretty good. Not sure if these were wild or the last owners planted a few and they just went crazy but they weren't cared for and got over grown with weeds and didn't produce good fruit!!! still have more to transplant.

[Thad Blaisdell]

If variety is unknown you should buy some canes. they will reproduce like crazy and give you the results you are looking for.

[heus]

I have many red rasperry bushes growing wild around our property but most of them dried up. The entire stem that holds the berries dried up and died. I assume due to lack of rain? Lots of new growth though. Our wild blackberries are still green but many of them are drying up, too. These are not managed bushes they just grow wild. My elderberrries, on the other hand, produce lake crazy every year no matter what the weather.

[sugaringman85]

our berries got fooled by the warm weather during sugaring season and budded out, only to have the bud get frozen. over 3/4 of our crop is dead. not sure what the variety is but they produce enough for 3 familys and jam for the year.

[maple flats]

Sorry to hear that. Our's don't look like we lost any red raspberries, we did however lose about 10% of our early blueberries with the weird spring. The late varieties look about normal so far. We have 4.5 acres of u-pick blueberries. I was afraid we'd lose more as we got some hard frosts (actually freezes) as the buds were starting to swell, but apparently they were not yet at the vulnerable stage when we had the freeze. It sure was close. We hadn't lost a crop to freeze or frost in about 15-20 years, and we skidded by again. We did however lose the apples, asian pears, pears and peaches, but these are all in lesser quantities.

[mathprofdk]

If variety is unknown you should buy some canes. they will reproduce like crazy and give you the results you are looking for.

I think this may be what I need to do, Thad. I've been trying to just transplant in my little patch, but they're not growing like I'd hoped. It could be the soil, but the established plants are doing fine. Do you purchase online or from someone local?

~DK

[Thad Blaisdell]

http://www.alcasoft.com/pense/raspbery.html

Prelude is very good as well as Encore. Encore comes in right after Prelude. Nice combo

[bobsklarz]

Saw A PINT of Red Raspberries at the Farmer Market for six bucks!! Gonna plant some more.

[spud]

I picked some the other day and tried my hand at making jam. I was able to get 20 jars of jam made but it is a little runny. It looks like it did not set up all the way. How long am I supposed to boil it for? The instructions said one minute boil then add the sugar then bring it back to a one minute boil. It looks like I should have boiled longer but I thought it would burn the pan. I want to perfect this before all the black berry are ready. Thanks.

Spud

[mathprofdk]

Yeah, that's the toughest part, Spud. A lot of it depends on the pectin. And the boil you're looking for is a rolling boil. If you're using Ball or Sure-Jell, it'll really come up after you add the sugar, and it's that boil that needs to be for a minute. Maybe you were already doing that, but just thought I'd mention it.

You can also use the "sheet" test, where you take a stainless steel spoon, and hold it sideways after dipping it in the boiling jam. If it pools and drips off in one spot, it's not done yet. Once it's thick enough that it "sheets" off - basically drips in more than one spot - it's done. Honestly, I haven't had much luck using this. I tend to overcook it this way and end up with jam that's more like the canned cranberry sauce you can get for Thanksgiving. Still tasty, though, and probably preferable to being too runny.

Hope that helps.

~DK

[mathprofdk]

http://www.alcasoft.com/pense/raspbery.html

Prelude is very good as well as Encore. Encore comes in right after Prelude. Nice combo

Awesome - thanks!

~DK

[maple flats]

Saw A PINT of Red Raspberries at the Farmer Market for six bucks!! Gonna plant some more.
We sell ours at $5.00/pt at the farmers market and we wholesale to another who sells at that market and 2 others. They sell very well at $5.00 and we are happy with the price. Not ready yet to try $6.00. We have too many to move and they don't keep, must move the same day, it's not like syrup which keeps very well.

[spud]

We picked 5 gallons of raspberry in the last week. We started making seedless jam and it has been coming out real good. I was able to pick a quart of big plump blackberry's yesterday. The blackberry's are about two weeks early this year. We hope to pick 5 more gallons of raspberry's today and tomorrow and then call it quits on them. I have about 1 1/2 acres of solid raspberry's (all wild) I have about 2 acres of blackberry's and there is going to be a ton of fruit. We have a good size black bear thats been helping himself to the berry's. One thing I noticed was a few snakes about half way up the raspberry plants just hanging out. I know when we run into one because my wife screams very loud.:lol: I am really enjoying living back here in Vermont. I am now able to introduce my kids to all the things I did when I was a kid. Some of the kids miss the Alaska weather though. It is just too hot here in Vermont sometimes. We would prefer 60 degrees and cloudy all year round. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

Spud

[spud]

Was able to make 42 jars of raspberry jam today. We also made 24 jars of pickles. I think by the end of next week we will be making seedless blackberry jam. I found a store that wants all my veggie's that I can spare. We plan to sell some tomorrow and if things work out we will supply the store in full next season. My back is killing me tonight:o.

Spud

[maple flats]

wow, raspberries measured in 5 gal quantity!!! Was that truly in a 5 gal bucket? We only pick into pints because the berries are so fragile. Our summer crop is slowing down, but very soom after we will be in our huge crop, the fall bearing or Primo cane crop. That on some varieties will continue until hard freeze. Last year we harvested until Nov 7 on the best producing late variety. I've been very busy installing drip irrigation in my blueberry fields due to our drought. This is the first time I've had it so dry since planting the blueberries 26-31 yrs ago. I also am putting the drip irrigation in my raspberries, black berries, strawberries, melons, and all the other fruits and vegetables. My main fields, totaling 4.75 acres are pumped from a pond that has to be refilled from a creek 1700' away. The other, at my sugarhouse must be hauled in a sap tank and then pumped to the gardens. All totaled I'll have about 5.5 acres of drip irrigation when I'm finished but I order it in 2 acre steps in case it starts raining enough to hault adding this season. I'm using drip tape, which is very fast to install once the main infrastructure of trunk lines and headers is in place. With 2 grandchildren helping we can do about 1800' of row per hour. Later this week as I get to the gardens after the blueberries that rate will likely drop. The hardest part I think will be stringing the drip tapes down established beds of raspberries and black berries. I'm trying to think of an easy way to push a pole 40' thru the beds and then pull the tape back. I have about 20' of FG chimney brush rod, I may add 20' more, one length at a time, and have my helpers try to guide it along with hooks or poles. This will certainly be easier on new plantings.

[spud]

We pick our berry's in one gallon jugs. Yea they do get crushed but we are making jam out of everything. We are freezing some to make jam later on. I plan to grow blueberry's maybe next year just for family use. I'm sure I will have a lot of questions for you when the time comes. Good luck on all your crops this year.

Spud

[maple flats]

I'm always glad to answer blueberriy questions. First, if you plan to plant blueberries, get a soil test now. If you PH is over 6.0 forget it, If from 5.2-5.9 till it now and add sulfur to acidify. Your cooperative extension can tell you how much to add. If you are 4.2-5.2 congratulations, you are just right. If by chance you are under 4.2 you need a little lime. Blueberries can only take up N in the ammonium state, 4.2-5.2 PH. then you will be ready to plant in the spring, as soon as the soil is warm enough to work it.

[spud]

Thanks Maple Flats for the advise. I will get the soil test. I was planning on getting a soil test on a different section of my land for a food plot. Now I will bring two samples to them. I was told I could bring it to UVM and they would do the test. How much berry's can you get from one plant? I want to make sure I plant enough. Who sell's quality blueberry plant? Thanks for your help.

Spud

[Maple Hill]

Spud- UVM will do the soil test for you for $14.00 each. good luck

[maple flats]

Spud,
A mature bush will yield 8-10 qts/yr if everything is right.

[spud]

Thanks guy's for the info. That's a lot of blueberry's for one plant. I think I would start with 10-20 plants for next season. Where's the best place to buy plants? I was gone all day yesterday helping my dad but when I got home at 5 my wife and I picked two gallons of blackberrys. She plans to make more seedless jam today. For me I have to put another 12,000 feet of mainline into my woods. I should be done by tomorrow unless the deer fly's run me out of the woods early. Happy picking everyone.:)

Spud

[maple flats]

You must realize that a bush is mature after 7-8 yrs. Production takes that long to reach those numbers. If everything is not right on you might only see a portion of that. If the bushes don't have the moisture, nitrogen or sun they need they frequently only give 4-5 qts at maturity. At maturity the bush will need 1" water/week during growing season and 2"/week when berries are on the bush, either by nature or irrigation.

[Thad Blaisdell]

google .... Pense Nursery, they are in Arkansas. Buy the three year plants.

If you think you want 10-20 plant at least twice as many, as the first few years will be not enough berries, then as they grow sell the ones you dont want.

I have some big mature bushes, on one I have picked 2.5 gallons so far with about another 1-2 more to go. That plant is a freak.

Patriots, and Blue Ray seem to be the best for me, Blue crop just didnt make the grade in my soil.

[spud]

Thad,

Thanks for the info. I will look them up this week.

Spud

[maple flats]

My varieties are Blue Ray, Blue Crop and Jersey. My best is Blue crop but all 3 are good. The Blue Ray and Blue Crop are early and Jersey is late mid season, ripening about 10-14 days after the other 2. Jerseys are slightly smaller berries than the other 2 but are by no means small. Of the 3 Jerseys have the best flavor. My 4.5 acres (to be expanded in a few years) is all u-pick except for a few that are picked for 2 farmers markets. The pickers like all three. When I add I will be looking for a good earlier berry and a later one to extend my season. These usually last for u-picking anywhere from 4-6 weeks, with about 3 weeks being the best picking for harvest speed.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Patriot finishes up just as Blue Ray starts in, An excellent growing bush and large producer. I too have some Jersey's but not many they are delicious. I have one bush (original to house) that has a med-large berry, light blue in color and it is more flat bottom to top, like you squished it between fingers. That one is EXCELLENT flavor but no idea of what it is. That one is starting now as Blue Ray is past peak. Any ideas on name?

[maple flats]

No, but send a leaf sample to your cooperative ext and they might be able to tell you. It will cost.
I've been real busy getting water to my bushes the last few weeks. I had to break down and buy drip irrigation. So far I have 36 of 52 rows done. Should finish Monday or Tuesday.
When I got the first 12 or so rows done, I started the pump. As i ran we kept adding more and turning those on as they were ready. In about 6 hrs I pumped my pond dry, my pond is 180' long but only about 16' wide when full. When I started pumping it was only about 10' wide due to the drought. Next I had to re activate an old transfer line that runs from a creek about 1700-1800 feet away, but only about 15' lower in elevation. This line was last used over 25 years ago. I was lucky it worked at all. It is only 1.5" black poly pipe. WE only had 2 splits to cut out and a few joint that had pulled apart. I plan to replace the line and go all 2" next year. Now at 36 rows working I need to run 3 tanks of gas in the transfer pump to run 2 tanks in the irrigation pump. Both pumps are 2" 5.5 hp pumps. We need rain for sure. So far the investment is just over $4000 in equipment alone. I really should have done this several years ago and would have gotten bigger berries most years (all except the wet years).