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Author Topic: Bramble/ribe varieties  (Read 4069 times)

Offline kmccaf

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  • Kyle (Champaign, Hensley Township, Il)
Re: Bramble/ribe varieties
« Reply #15 on: August 31, 2015, 03:15:13 pm »
It was not a great year to plant for me. Crazy amounts of rain in May, June, July. I just weeded around my plants a couple of weeks ago, and was happy they were still there! I put down some biodegradable plastic mulch last weekend, and added some soil acidifier. I did not have a whole lot of hope I would get anything this year, and just wanted to make sure they established themselves. Bit of a mixed bag at the moment. The gooseberries and currents don't look great, although I did get a handful of gooseberries in July. A couple of my raspberries were run over by a road construction crew...somehow...in the middle of my property. Otherwise, the raspberries and blackberries have started to look real good in the last few weeks. I got one whole blackberry! It was the best tasting blackberry I ever had. It was the Prime Ark Freedom variety. Holy geez it was good.

I think I am going to move the elderberries next year, as they just do not get enough sun.

Good call on the thornless. Good luck getting them out!
Kyle M.

Offline erockrph

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  • Chepachet, RI
    • The Hop WHisperer
Re: Bramble/ribe varieties
« Reply #16 on: September 01, 2015, 07:24:06 pm »
We had some bizarre weather this year. Spring was cool and dry. We had rain the early part of summer, and the rest of the summer was warm (but not hot) and very dry. My blackcurrants did fantastic, and my red and pink did OK. Gooseberries were mediocre as usual.

I ended up digging out my Hinnomaki Red gooseberries and my rather bland blackberries. I planted a second blackcurrant in place of the gooseberry and a couple of lowbush blueberries and a tea plant in place of the blackberries. Of course, I've been pulling up blackberry shoots all season. They grow like mad - shoots are popping up as much as 15 feet away from there I pulled out the main crown. I think I finally have it under control now, thankfully.
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer