Black raspberry from seed - first winter

North American black raspberries (Rubus occidentalis) are virtually unheard of in Australia.  So rare that most gardeners in this country are unaware that such a thing even exists.

I have grown a few black raspberry plants from seeds.  Rubus are considered difficult to grow from seed, but I seem to do ok with them.  Being winter means my black raspberry plants are all dormant and I can have a decent look at them.

The difference between each of the seed grown plants in incredible.

Some seedlings are very vigorous, while other seedlings lack vigour.  Some grew to about an inch tall in the season, while others reached about 3 feet tall.  Some grew a single cane, while others grew multiple canes.  

These don't fruit in their first year, so I am yet to taste the fruit from them, it will be interesting to see if any produce more fruit than other plants or better tasting fruit.  

One thing I find fascinating is the thorns (prickles) on my black raspberry seedlings.  One plant has thick curved thorns that grab at my clothes and tear at my skin.  Another has many many prickles that are straighter and thinner and resembles the wild roses that grow as weeds around here.

Black raspberry cane

Black raspberry cane

I have no idea if my black raspberry is monoecious or dioecious, so have to wait until they flower to find out.  I don't have many plants so at this stage cannot trade them as I would hate to end up with only male plants and not be able to taste the fruit!

Unlike red raspberries (Rubus idaeus), the black raspberries root at the tip of a cane if it comes into contact with soil.  This growth habit is similar to blackberries so will need some thought into controlling them and growing them in a productive way.  Apparently hybrids between red raspberry and black raspberry (which tend to produce purple berries) also tend to root at the tip.

So far only one of my plants grew long enough to tip root.  I cut this off and it seems to have a strong root system.  This was by far my most vigorous plant, so even though the rooted tip is tiny I have no question that it will grow into a monster over summer if treated well.  I plan to dig up this little plant and send it to Shane to see how he goes growing them.

Black Raspberries - young canes covered in whitish bloom

These black raspberries are all very thorny, and from my understanding will be floricane (meaning they will only flower on last year's growth).  I dislike thorns on plants, and I much prefer primocane (meaning they can flower on new growth), so if all goes well and they thrive here I may need to do some breeding with these in the future.

One day I would love to try and cross them with my thornless primocane red raspberry, and see if I can produce a thornless purple raspberry, or a primocane purple raspberry.  Or cross them with my yellow fruited raspberry and see what the fruit from that cross is like.  These things take time, and many different things could happen to prevent this from working, so at best that is a few years away.

If I ever have some black raspberry plants to spare I will try to list them on my for sale page.  Best case scenario that will be winter next year, but really depends on a lot of different factors so may be later than that or if they don't grow well here it may be never.