Brian,

Heritages produce well for me. They grow like weeds.
Need well-drain soil and water them often.

For blueberries, see Dave Wilson Nursery web site. They
give a standard way to plant blueberries in pots.

Brian:

Bababerry would surely be worth trying where you live. It was discovered as a chance seedling near Los Angeles. I have been growing Baba here in Northern Virginia for over 10 years, and it performs marvelously with no disease problems. Berry quality and flavor are excellent.

Prior to planting Baba, I tried several Heritage plants and they were not at all productive. Baba is an everbearer, but I cut mine down in winter and aim for the late summer/fall crop, which lasts nearly up to frost.

I don't know why Baba is not more widely sold, especially in climates like yours. Or, for that matter, in climates like mine.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Carolina Raspberry does very well. I live in a interior orange county and it gets into the high 90s in the summer during heatwaves. In containers the Carolina raspberries were still able to produce on and off most of the season and survive the high temps.

I would think if they were planted in the ground with well conditioned soil and optimal PH ranges they will perform well.

Thanks everyone, great responses.

Tagtail- I'm glad to hear about heritage. I can't wait to plant mine. Also the Dave Wilson site gave me some great info on blueberries. Thanks!

Don- I'm surely going to look up bababerry, sounds good and interesting.

Nullzero- Thanks for letting me know about Carolina as well. I have heard of them before and was really thinking of buying one. Where did you get yours from in the O.C.? I live in Tustin and haven't noticed them before around here anywhere.

One last question, what is a good soil mixture for raspberries? Should I plant them in Azalea soil mix or regular potting soil? Thanks!

Hi OCBrian-
Normally I get involved in the raspberries questions, but since your question is about CA, and I'm in RI, I held off a bit.

Heritage is the standard/classic raspberry by which all others seem to be compared to. That said, at least for us here on the east coast, there are plenty of other varieties that produce bigger and better tasting berries. That's not to say that if you plant it, you won't be happy with it... it's just for those of us growing multiple varieties, we often see other varieties perform better.

Just to help you with your searching, it's "Caroline" with an "e", not "Carolina". And, yes, Caroline is one of my favorites as well. They are one of the sweetest raspberries that I have. If I had to reduce my varieties down to 3, Caroline would make the cut.

I'm not positive about the last question, because I don't use potting soil. (Though I would think it would be regular potting soil, and not the Azalea mix.) For me, I just use the dirt in my yard, but every year add an Inch or two of compost to the top. Other people use composted leaves or manure. But, the point is, give 'em some good organic matter each spring, and they'll thank you for it.
-Glenn

ocbrian,

Sorry its actually "Caroline" I ordered mine online. I may be able to trade you a cutting or something if you can't find it locally.

I grow Baba Berries here in coastal Southern California. I have tried many varieties over the years, including Caroline, but I like Bababerry the best. I try one or two new varieties every three or four years, and Bababerries seem to do the best around here. They don't need much chill, are firm, sweet, and about the size of a quarter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bababerry pictures

ocbrian - just a note about your original phrase raspberry 'bushes'. If you are new to raspberries and are expecting a shrub which will stay where you plant it be warned that raspberries spead by underground stems and will pop up all around the original canes.

I just planted a Rosanna raspberry about 2 months ago and it is growing well, but slowly compared to the Heritage. I think Rosanna is a fairly new variety here in the US so nobody has any experience with it yet, but according to the Raintree catalog it is sweet "like candy" and expected to do well in California. Of course it will not bear fruit until next spring--when it does, I'll keep you posted on its progress and flavor.

I live in Ventura county in Simi Valley, I grow Amity, heritage and Carolina they have all done well especially Heritage. I also grow blueberries and have misty and O'Neal. I like O'Neal better. But for me I get the best blueberries from sharp blue, south moon and sunshine blue. I also get more production also from them. Be careful raspberries will take over I would suggest a pot or planter.

Well, I'm in Southern California but in the HOT desert, and I learned the hard way that raspberries do NOT grow here! I had 3 varieties die in their containers.

Tustin should be fine. EVERYTHING grows there!! I lived there for a better part of my life! Since I can't grow raspberries, and I can grow figs, I opted for a fig that tastes like the best raspberry jam you ever had, and that tree is very happy here. It's name is Violette Du Bordeaux.

I have blueberries in containers, and they do fine even in our heat. I'm very sure you could grow boysenberries because that dude Mr. Knotts had that whole farm over there in OC, and they grew well for him!

Good luck!

Suzi

Hi Brian,

I live in Chinatown (downtown L.A. area), and we rent our place too. The first spring that we lived there (now two years ago), I put in two raspberry plants: a Heritage and another one that I think the name was something like "red candy". I had a great experience with the former, but the latter, not so much. At first, the candy one grew more vigorously than the Heritage, and had especially beautiful leaves, but then things went downhill fast. The leaves got all brown and nasty-looking during the summer, and then the following winter it bloomed with lots of pretty flowers, but they never developed into anything edible. There would be only one or two "cells" of raspberry, if anything raspberry-like appeared at all. Worst of all, that very thorny plant turned into a major nuisance weed pest and started popping up all over the garden!

On the other hand, the Heritage demurely stayed in its place and put up a modest number of nice, thorn-free canes that gave us loads of big, fat, juicy raspberries that were the best I�d ever tasted the following spring after I thought I�d killed it by inadvertently burying it under a ridge gourd plant that grew like crazy all the way up the veranda wall and on up the front door!

When I planted them, I just dug a big hole in the "native" dirt, which in our case is massively heavy, sticky clay that I added a bit of Kellogg�s Amend to, along with some berry food and tried to remember to keep feeding them periodically. Their location is against the veranda wall at the SW corner of our little postage-stamp front yard where they are hemmed in by birds of paradise that grew big to their left (south side) and shaded at mid-afternoon by a lovely dwarf Cuban red banana plant to their right (north). They reliably get about 5-6 hours of sunlight per day before the apartment building next door throws a shadow across our whole yard by around 2:00 PM.

I can�t recommend Heritage highly enough, even in this climate, while last weekend I finally took out the candy canes and replaced them with a boysenberry plant (hopefully I didn�t just recreate my trauma with the thorny weed invasion!).

Brenda

Hello:
I also live in southern California and growing Raspberries for the first time. They were available at Home Depot so I picks up 3 containers: Latham Red, Brandywine, and Jewel. It's just a twig with some green stems and leaves sprouting out. I am close to the beach but I'm not sure if it will be still to hot for the berry plants to handle.

Do I have to plant my 3 different varietys far away from each other? It can get rather breezy here sometimes.

Can I plant them in the ground now? It does not go below 40 degrees at night here.

Since raspberries like FULL sun... does this mean I have to plant them out in the open? Is morning sun only or afternoon sun only ok for it? I don't want them to fry when it gets to be hot in the summer and fall.

Thanks!

You can plant them anytime. Yes you can plant them now Infact you should! No you don't have to space them out however in 1-3 years the more aggressive one will outgrow the other ones and it would be hard to tell which is which! I plant my raspberries(dorman raspberry)in full sun(8+ hours of sun a day) and part shade(4-6 hours of sun a day) and I noticed the ones that are in the part shade leave and bloom earlier but the berries are ready at the same time.
Just because you bought them at home depot it doesn't mean they will last in your climate. (My home depot sells grapes that are rated from zone 4-7 and theres no way they will last in hot and humid conditions!)

*I don't know nearly anything about southern California climate but you might want to look about growing BABA raspberies

Canby red is somewhat more heat tolerant than many of the other varieties (still not very well adapted to warm climates though).

There is a raspberry cultivar known as 'Oregon 1030' that can take more heat and sun, but it is unlikely you will find it for sale anywhere.

'Bababerry' raspberries have most likely been around a lot longer before Gertrude Millikan rediscovered them growing on her Idyllwild property (around 1974). Before then (20+ years prior) there was an unnamed raspberry cultivar people in Southern California had been planting which could tolerate the climate, known only as "the raspberry from Glendale". It was believed to be a cross between a regular raspberry and Rubus Glaucifolius, a wild raspberry sometimes known as "Smoothleaf Raspberry", indigenous to the mountain forests of northern and central California. Rubus Glaucifolius had also been called the "San Diego raspberry", because it was the only red raspberry that would grow okay in San Diego.

Whatever variety raspberry you choose, in hot climates it will still need some protection from the midday sun, and consistent watering.

There are also Black raspberries (Rubus occidentalis ), native to North America, which taste different from regular raspberries, but do like more sun. These grow in the wild as far South as the northern part of Georgia and Alabama. Some people love the taste of Black raspberries more than red, others complain they do not really taste much like raspberries. They have a deeper flavor, are sweeter, and have a more firm texture, but the berries are also very fragile and therefore perishable.

You should find the right position....I mean in your climate, i guess without water for almost all the summer is better a shady position (I know Rasperry bear fruits also without full sun...). Blackberry is more tolerant and thrives more or less everywhere...

One of the big misconceptions people in warmer climates have is that raspberries like full sun. This is only true in colder climates. In warmer climates, especially in dry regions like Southern California and Texas, raspberries DO NOT do well in full sun; they will wither and die, even if you give them water everyday. Raspberries still need some sun, they cannot grow in too much shade, but in hot dry climates they have a very narrow tolerance range between getting enough sun and too much sun. Getting morning sun is best, because it is usually cooler in the mornings and there is often dew, then plants can receive sunlight without as much evaporative water loss.

Also in North italy they prefer half-shade position....may be in UK they like full sun, that is less than Half of what we have here....

Bababerry Raspberry

Notice how the foliage looks a little more leathery than other raspberry varieties.

Unfortunately, all my other raspberry plants have died. Southern California is not an easy climate to grow raspberries in. Bababerry is supposedly the best variety for this region.

Yeah, I know. Blackberries and Boysenberries do much better in the hot dry sunny climate here. Unfortunately I like raspberries a lot more than Blackberries. And there are other people in more Northern climates complaining that Blackberries do not do so well where they're at, kind of funny.

Finally a raspberry that can survive in SoCal

behind it you can see a quince tree and a lychee tree

It's in a spot that gets a good amount of morning sun but is mostly shaded in the afternoon.

Any updates on the progress of your raspberries?

I live in Arcadia, California. I have grown bababerry for 3 years. They are very vigorous and productive rasberry. it received good hours of morning and late afternoon sun and shade in the midafternoon. very tasty berry,

I got mine at Amonstrong garden center

We live in Santa Barbara, CA and grow blackberries, boysenberries, Canby red raspberries, and Ollalie berries. All are planted directly in the ground, except for the raspberries that are in a large pot. We also grow blueberries in large raised beds surrounded by a netting enclosure. We've had good luck with Emerald, Jewel and Jubilee.