Caroline versus Heritage Raspberry

[Jerome R. Long]

I planted little virus free plugs of Caroline Everbearing Red Raspberry this
Spring purchased from Nourse. I tried Caroline because of the claim of better
larger fruit than Heritage and also of earlier ripening of the Fall crop. My
intent was to grow them for Fall only and to use my Taylor plants for early
summer. Now that a couple hard frosts (SW VA) have pretty well stopped
everything I find that I have harvested about 75% of a crop from Heritage but
that the Caroline plants never ripened and are now full of green fruit that
will never ripen. Question: Is this just a first year phenomenon or is the
claim that Caroline ripens before Heritage a false claim?

[Pat Kiewicz]

Jerome R. Long said...

I have to wonder when something is called 'earlier' how they may be
spinning that tale to their advantage. Earlier when and where?

I have Heritage and another fall-bearer that someone gave me with large,
rounded fruits that were supposed to 'ripen earlier.' Well, the summer
crop of this large-fruited variety does ripen earlier than the Heritage
summer crop. But the main (fall) crop of Heritage ripens earlier than
the other. (I don't know what this is worth, as I don't recall that I was
ever given the name of this so-called 'earlier' variety.)

Aside:
I raise fall bearing raspberries so that I'll have a crop even if the
rabbits and mice eat the canes down over the winter, and I prune them
for a summer and fall crop, because you never know when an early frost
will destroy my fall crop. (So far, both disasters have never occured
in the same year!)

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

[Setzler]

I got "Polana" I think was the name from Nourse last spring and of course didn't
get much out of them, but they did seem to be fairly early. I got them for that
reason, as I have heard you lose so much of the fall crop to frost. The ones I
did get were huge and good tasting.

susan