Raspberries and Blackberries planted togetherDangerous?

A friend told me to move the raspberries far away from the blackberry patch, or my blackberries would die. He said they get some disease from the raspberries. Is this true? I'm new to berries, so we moved them, but I prefer to keep all berries in one general area. What do you think? Have you tried them together? Are there any problems, or is what he said true? How far would they have to be planted if this is so?--Jackie

Well, don't lose any sleep over this. Sure, I suppose 100 feet away from other like plants could be nice and especially so for commercial plantings that need to produce.

I have had blackberries come up in my black raspberries for years without a disease problem. And I have had red, yellow, purple, and black raspberries closer than specs for years and years...doing well.

Viruses are what could cause trouble...so buy good stock.

I did buy what I hope is good stock, but he said there was information that came with his berry plants that said never to plant them near each other because of some disease raspberries routinely get that would kill the blackberrries [or maybe the other way around?]. So you think it's alright if I have 5 rows about 6' apart that are composed of 4 rows of blackberries, each being about 6-8' apart and then raspberries the same distance from each other in the last row [they are supposed to be upright blackberries, and thornless for both the black and raspberries]? thanks--Jackie from KY

I was told by someone at a phone-order nursery (I think it was either Indiana Berry or Nourse) a few years ago that I should clear any wild brambles within a few hundred yards of where I wanted to plant either cultivated blackberries or raspberries. "We don't want to sell you any if you don't," the woman on the line said. "Your plants will die and you'll blame us."

I still don't have a good explanation of this.

If you start with virus indexed stock such as Nourse Farms sells then the raspberies and blackberies are healthy and have no deseases. You never know if wild brambles have anything wrong with them.

I've never understood this issue either, but rita's explanation about wild brambles possibly having a virus makes sense.

I bought my black raspberries and red rasberries from Miller Nurseries several years ago, before I'd heard about separating red from black raspberries or separating raspberries from blackberries (I've heard it both ways). At the time, they were selling a collection of both red & black raspberries as a "family berry patch" so I assumed it would be fine to plant them in the same bed. No issues so far, but this is their first halfway decent year for production.