Just dug up a few wild black raspberry plants - need advice

Hi everyone, I consider myself a bit of a berry snob and have always disliked the bloated, tasteless domesticated berries you get from the market. I just dug up and potted some wild black raspberries from my area but I know they have a reputation for being spoiled princesses when it comes to their needs.

Does anyone have any experience working with wild raspberries? I know they prefer shade but I don't know anything about their pH or nutrient requirements. I would like to keep these guys going so I can plant them back in my parents house in my hometown. Any advice is appreciated!

I would think, like all Fruiting plants, they like a good humus enriched soil that helps air into the soil, retains moisture without keeping the soil WET, they need sunlight BUT not baked, the sun is required for fruit formation AND helping to ripen the fruits.

I'm not sure IF the little plants you have are Actual Raspberries OR are what is knows as Brambles,
To be honest, I have never seen BLACK Raspberries BUT there are Black berries and the wilder type call Brambles,

Regardless of what type they are, they ALL require the same growing conditions, same added nutrients to the soil, same light etc.

Raspberries almost always have paler colour UNDER the leaf, Brambles and Blackberries dont but, they have a habit of making new plants where ever they bend and touch the ground.

Once the plants mature, use gloves when handling them as the thorns get tough and can cause a lot of cuts and can stick into the arms, hands etc and cause bad sores.

Hope this helps you out a bit.
Best Regards.
WeeNel.

If the parent plants were thriving, then that is a good key to what conditions they prefer.
If the parent plants were struggling, then something was not quite right, and I would think water/sun/soil are the 3 biggies.

Generic conditions for most Raspberries:
Acidic soil, so lots of organic matter. A fair amount of water with good drainage, so again, improve your garden soil with lots of organic matter.
A fair amount of sun as long as it is not scorching hot, but if your area gets really hot in the afternoon, then just morning sun.

They might be somewhat shrubby, or rampant vines, and each sort is trained and pruned differently.
Look up Rubus and see if you can find your native berry, and look at the parent plants, see how they were growing.

We have wild black raspberries in our yard also, they are growing at the side of our backyard porch and are making a lot of berries. They are not very sweet and have a lot of seeds. I'd like to learn more about them.
Their stems are a light green it seems with a touch of blue in the color and the back side of the leaves are a much lighter color also seeming to have some blue in the color. Branches that touch the ground do root and form new plants.

I'm going to pick all the berries this season then try to transplant them to the far back yard by the border to the woods. Our neighbor has a huge patch of them in their back yard.

This seems to confirm that they are black raspberries:
http://identifythatplant.com/blackberry-or-black-raspberry/

This message was edited Jul 3, 2015 10:39 AM

Pete, When you transplant these do not worry about saving the tops, cut these back as needed, but do a good job of getting a generous amount of the roots.

Anything to improve the flavor, I'm guessing no but ....?
They look very nice, maybe I should leave them on the vine an extra day or two?

Thanks Diana!

There definitely are black raspberries. We have some in our back yard. I don't think we have wild one though. Our main plant is next to a privacy fence and gets sun most of the day. It gets watered quite a bit too. I like the berries better than red raspberries. You don't want to pick them until they come off really easily. Last year I didn't get many but they were pretty good. Then I trimmed back the bush and a bit leaving only 3-4 cans about 3 feet tall and trimming all lateral branches to about a foot. This year I got more berries and they seem to taste better too. I'll have to look for the care site I found to be most helpful. Don't cut the entire plant back in the fall. Black raspberries grow new canes each year and then fruit on these canes the following year. Once canes have fruited, they did and you can cut them out. I know my info isn't for wild raspberries, but I'd guess it would be pretty similar since most of the plants that came with our house seem to be "wild-type".

Thanks for the info, I'm finally getting around to transplanting them. I think the birds ate most of them this season.