Heritage raspberry diseased?

16 years ago

Hi folks. I have a 4-year old patch of everbearing Heritage raspberries that look healthy, but produce very little if any berries. Previously I though I must have pruned them too much or something, but I can no longer deny the possibility of something more serious.

Last month I had a bunch of blooms (on last year's canes), but the flowers are just drying up now. We've had a decent amount of rain and I've watered a little extra just in case. The plant itself is vigorous and healthy - it spreads every year and I'm always working to confine it.

Meanwhile, the Navajo blackberry right next to it bloomed more recently and is already setting fruit. What's the problem? I dont' see any sign of disease, but a raspberry patch with no raspberries kindof defeats the purpose. Any ideas?

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Comments (6)

doof
16 years ago
Heritage is an everbearing (also called "Fall-bearing") raspberry.

I'm in southern California. I never get any flowers this early. I usually get my first blossoms in mid June, first fruit around late August. I'm not sure of the variety that I'm growing, but I assumed it was Heritage.
athenainwi
16 years ago
I have no idea what might be wrong. My Heritage bloomed a few weeks ago (last years canes, same as yours) and now has little berries forming. I'd check for insect damage and see if the blossoms opened all the way. Maybe the flowers didn't open properly and weren't pollinated for some reason.

Doof - everbearers will have a small crop of spring/summer berries on last years canes if they aren't completely cut back. Most people will cut back those canes to get a bigger and earlier fall crop. I'm letting mine have the spring crop as I don't eat many berries at a time and I'd rather get two small crops rather than one large one. I don't know that it will work as my fall crop came too late last year and zapped by cold before fruiting. But I want to try.
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Dave: There has been a good deal of consolidation in the mailorder nursery business in the past 10 years, and Henry Fields is no longer the independent Iowa nursery that it once was. Like Gurney's and several others (including the outstanding Rocky Meadow Nursery of Indiana), Fields has been absorbed by the Gardens Alive! operation of Lawerenceburg, Indiana. When you order from any of these nurseries, the stock is packed and shipped from the same warehouse. That does not always mean you will receive poor quality or mislabeled stock, but the odds of this happening increase in a very large operation. This is big business, not your neighborhood nurseryman. Gardens Alive! made a nice little pile of money by selling overpriced "organic" gardening products to unsuspecting souls, then used the proceeds to buy up struggling operations. There are still a few independent nurseries that specialize in berry plants. One is Indiana Plant and Berry (where I usually order from); another is Nourse Farms of Massachusetts. I agree with Harvestman that, from your description of their growth habit, you have black raspberries there. Some people prefer blacks to reds, but they are not primocane bearers like Heritage or the several other "everbearing" red varieties. The canes must overwinter to bear, and should be pruned back to about 4-5 feet in early spring before they begin to leaf out. Cane growth is just as you describe, and the long canes will arch over and tiproot if allowed to do so during the growing season. This is the principal way that black raspberries spread, as opposed to red raspberries, which spread by underground stolons. If you want seriously good grapes you should order from a nursery that specializes in grapes, and choose your varieties carefully. I am not a grape expert, but there are several who post regularly here who would be glad to advise you on variety selection and choice of a source. Like fruit trees, grape vines are a long-term investment of time as well as money, and you might as well start with the best even if it costs a few dollars more. I have noticed that many grape growers are happy with the newer Jupiter variety. At this point, you might as well prune your black raspberries back in spring, allow them to fruit, and see if you like them. If you still want to plant reds, I would suggest the newer variety Caroline over the older Heritage. I had Heritage here, but took them out because of poor production and quality problems. Now I grow Baba, a California berry that would be inappropriate for Iowa, but Caroline might be perfect for you. Indiana Plant does not carry Caroline, but I am pretty sure Nourse Farms does. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
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doof
16 years ago
Really? I didn't know that. I'd like to try that next year. I've been mowing it all down to the ground in January. Mainly because they look really long and beat up and ragged by then, very unsightly. Last year, even with quite a bit of pinching, my longest vines were around ten feet long, with leaves dying off from the bottom up. I just thought that was how it was supposed to work!
murkwell
16 years ago
doof, if you want an early summer crop, you can still prune the canes but only cut off the portion that fruited in the fall. That should be the part that's starting to look ratty.

On my fall-bearing raspberries I've been eating a few berries a day for the last week or so. They are all low to the ground and the canes with the early berries look pretty rough compared to all of the lush green growth on the new canes that are trying to crowd them out.

I can definitely see why some folks just mow down the whole lot in the fall because getting these early berries is more of a hassle. But for me, who just planted my only 8' bed last year. I want every berry I can get as soon as I can get it.

I've heard that the fall crop is about 10X the early crop.

Motria, when and how do you prune, perhaps that is interfering with your production.
motria
Original Author
16 years ago
Uh-oh. Sounds like I've got a stumper!

Murky - I don't think pruning is an issue. I did some mild thinning this spring. Currently there are new canes as well as last-year's canes, which have the sad flowers without berries.

Athena - I see no sign of insect damage. I think you're right that there is some problem with the flowers. They seem to have opened completely, but then they stop developing. I wouldn't think pollination is a problem, since there are plenty of bees in my garden.

I'm attaching a photo of the fruit-less dried flowers. They've looked like this for a couple of weeks with no berry development. Could this be a nutritional problem? Or pH? Any input appreciated. I'm desperate! :-(

{{gwi:110022}}
murkwell
16 years ago
Those flowers look normal to me. Take another picture in 3 weeks if you haven't already eaten the berries.

Heritage raspberry diseased?

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Heritage raspberry diseased?

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