That blueish/white bloom is normal and is one of the distinguishing features of black raspberries. I have a Jewell and by this time of year, the floricanes look horrible. After they fruit, they are supposed to die, but mine seem to want to start dying before much of the fruit ripens. The primocanes look healthy, but by the next year, will once again deteriorate. I think it is too much disease pressure. It still produces a decent crop, but is one ugly looking plant by early summer. The canes on your plant may be floricanes from last year. If so, they will die pretty soon, which is normal. What you should look for is new growth coming up from the crown, which will produce a crop next year, provided it lives.

Yup. But, they will do better and you'll get a bigger overall yield if you top them at around 5 feet as they're growing in the summer. Makes them branch out more and prevents some of the vining, floppy growth. What they are trying to do is reach back to the ground so the tip can root in -- this is one way they propagate themselves.

The problem with any granite is how skilled your fabricator is. Once the countertop is fabricated by a skilled craftsman and attached to your level and strong cabinets you should have a worry free countertop. I wouldn't consider Verde Jewel any different. The key here is the fabricator.

Clarkinks, thank you so much for that detailed information. I was planning on making new beds for new raspberries and blackberries. I want to get them away from the diseased plants. I haven't done it yet and haven't decided on where to put them. Other than elevating the planting area slightly, I wasn't planning on amending the soil at all or making a fuss over the new spots. I do like to put down newspapers with mulch on top to reduce weed competition around plants.. I will use sulfur though - Thanks for that recommendation! I have used sawdust, coffee grounds and tree bark mulch as top dressing in the past (to acidifying soil slightly) but don't know if that helped or hurt. Space is not an issue, but I have been thinking about spreading out new plantings in different groupings to reduce the potential spread of future disease, according to advice from parker25. I was also wondering if berries planted in between fruit tree rows is a good idea or not. I haven't done any searches here on that yet. Thoughts? While space is not limited, proximity to water is. I get sun scald on my berries and they get beat around by the wind as well. I am trying to think of how to plant them so they can get a natural wind break and some part shade in the future. I started some Wild plum and trying to start wild chokecherry that I hoped I could shape into windbreaks but I don't know if that is going to work out. We are on a hill with no wind breaks or shade what-so-ever at this time. Thanks for the links on the fungicide, now I know exactly what to get! :)