Best raspberries for northern MN

11 years ago

I would like to plant raspberries this year but am not sure what performs best in zone 3a. I looked at the Canadian forum where a poster has a list of 11 types of raspberries she has tried over the years. Out of the 11 she has discarded the old northern stand-bys like Boyne (berries too small) Autumn Bliss (berries too tart & don't ripen in time), etc. She is now growing Viking raspberries and has managed to cross a Viking with an Autumn Bliss for a "great berry". Have googled "Viking" and can't find it listed anywhere. Would love to hear which raspberries others in MN are successfully growing and from anyone that might know where to find the Vikings.

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Comments (3)

northernmn
11 years ago
Well, maybe her Boyne berries in Canada were small, but mine aren't. Berries are a definately medium sized and excellent flavor. I have a 52 ft row that I amended the soil to a depth of 18" by 2 ft wide, with horse manure and compost before I planted. Normally Boyne can be a shorter plant but I have to trim mine off at 6 ft. Very productive. This will be their 2nd cropping year and they have blossoms everywhere. They send out a LOT of runners though. I think they are a definate keeper.

I also have a 52 ft row of Autumn Britten. Produce on primocanes in the fall. Bigger berries than Boyne but not as flavorful. Harder to pull off when harvesting too. I'm 25 miles north of Brainerd and some years it frosts before the berries ripen. I wouldn't do a fall producing raspberry again here unless maybe Prelude.

Caroline sounds interesting too.
doucanoe
11 years ago
I agree with northernmn about the Boyne's. Mine produce like crazy and the berries are good sized and very sweet.

I also put in a couple of Autumn Bliss that I got from a friend, but they are still small and haven't produced any fruit yet so I can't help you out with that except to say that the friend I got them from makes a FABULOUS raspberry jam out of her berries!

Linda
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fruitmaven_wiz5
11 years ago
I'm in Madison, WI and my fall-bearing raspberries (Heritage) produce rather late on their 1st-year canes. I just put them in spring 2011, but I'm looking for a good summer-bearing raspberry to add to my collection. I tasted several varieties this morning at the UW Madison Research Station Gardens, and Boyne was the earliest (smaller berries, mostly dried since they were nearly done). Nova and Taylor were large berries, good flavor, firm. Latham wasn't ripe yet. Prelude was very sweet, but didn't have the raspberry tang at all. I wouldn't buy it. I'm not sure what I'll end up getting, it's a bit late to put in raspberries now, they're hard to find online and expensive potted in the stores.
The best one was an unlabeled yellow summer-bearing raspberry. Perhaps Honey Queen or Fall Gold, from some online looking. Sweet, less tang than reds but not bland like Prelude, lovely pineapple/peach flavor. It's not Anne, because all the fall-bearing raspberries are a foot or two high. I wish they'd sell plants of that one!