You can also dig up any rooted vines you find growing around. When I have done this, the roots left behind will sprout into new plants. Bonus!

I transplanted a big old black raspberry plant last fall. I had to cut all the canes down to two feet to fit it in the car, so it didn't produce much fruit this year, but there was a little. After cutting all the canes off I just used a shovel to dig out about a cubic foot of dirt (trying to leave the dirt around the roots to protect them). I put the dirt ball into a plastic bag, and replanted the black raspberry later that day.

I also transplanted a wild black seedling I found last spring. It was identifiable mainly by the blue color of the canes. It did _not_ like being transplanted, possibly the spot I put it was too dry or too much clay. It only survived because I gave it a lot of extra water. It did not make fruit this year because it was too young/small. But it made three big canes this year so I'm hopeful they'll fruit next year. If I were to transplant it again I would not cut the canes because there are only three and the plant isn't big enough to endure that kind of abuse. Instead I would use twisty-ties to tie the three canes together and maybe put wax paper around the bundle to keep the thorns from snagging on everything. The roots I'd do the same way, dig up a generous ball of dirt and put it in a plastic bag because plastic keeps the moisture in.

I don't think I'd attempt to mail one though. For the price it would take to ship one the recipient could buy a potted one locally. And the heat at this time of year is really bad for shipping live plants, those mail/ups trucks can get really hot inside.

By far the best time to ship them is spring while they are still asleep. Since you are in Michigan, try to find that window of time after the hard freezing and before the vines wake up.

Raspberries ship very well bare root. Bare root is less affected by temperatures while shipping. Bare root will be much cheaper postage because you are not shipping the weight of the dirt.

You could also start some raspberries in 1 gallon pots, wait for them to go dormant, cut the vines back to fit the package, and ship the whole thing, pot and all.

What you want to send is young new plants.

I suspect it is quite illegal to dig up aggressive weed plants like blackberries and ship them around the country. I guess everybody likely has blackberries already, but you may also be transporting some soil pathogens.

"I suspect it is quite illegal to dig up aggressive weed plants like blackberries and ship them around the country. I guess everybody likely has blackberries already, but you may also be transporting some soil pathogens."

Generally true, but also quite generally ignored.

I had a friend in PA who dug up some suckers last year. She wrapped them in some wet paper towels and put a plastic bag around the roots. Sent them to me regular mail. When they arrived they looked pretty awful, but 2 of the 3 survived.

This year they produced the biggest, best berries! The great part is that now I am getting suckers of my own to transplant and share.

Jo

They ship all these berries commercially all over the country. I bought about a dozen of it. They ship them bare foot with the root rapped in plastic bag with some moss. Unfortunately it did not work. One of 12 made some leaves and looks very weak. It is a rip-off by some commercial orchard owners. As a matter of fact I bought it from a company in Florida and was shipped from Michigan. I buy now only from Willis Family Orchard in GA. They are the most honorable people. Their plants are expensive but healthy and work and they have 12 months guarantee. One of the Grapes did not work they immediately replace it.

I cut 3 long canes from an area where I found a wild black raspberry patch behind some apts (SE Michigan) on 2/25/2021. There was a lot of snow on the ground. The canes were purple in color + I wasn't sure if those would be the right ones. I cut each stalk into ~12" pieces on a slant just below a bud at the bottom of each piece and then plopped them 1/2 way down into dirt in a grow bag under a grow light. Have made sure to keep the dirt moist. I was excited to see that some of the buds above the soil were sprouting some little green leaves this morning (3/5/2021) on about 4 pieces. I wasn't sure how long that would actually take. Planning to do some food forest guerrilla gardening on the edge of a small "forest-y" patch of land near my workplace. We will see if they take.

Check they actually have roots. New leaves don’t necessarily mean they’ve rooted. And do you know for certain they’re raspberries and not invasive Rosa multiflora which can have purple red canes? Did you see them in fruit last year?

Hi floral_uk - I didn't intend to pull them up or out yet. In fact, I was checking around online to see how long they should be left (generally), but can't find information on that.

Yes, it's a patch that's next to my son's old martial arts school and we found them while roaming around the area during a wait period. We did pick and eat the fruit.