White blackberry "Polarberry"

[DannyK]

Seems to be on sale at excessive prices in 9mm pots.
None of the ads allude to the flavour, which to me seems to indicate it's indifferent.
Anyone come across this one?

[DannyK]

Sod's law! Just found this interesting site but I'd still be in forum o[pinions.

[Babru]

Just did a search for it....not the most attractive looking berry!

It is dear for a tiny pot, but if it's like other brambles it'll be taking over your garden in a couple of years.

[DannyK]

Sorry folks a senior moment, I forgot to post the link which does look interesting and covers lots of fruits.

I agree Babru, Very expensive. It seems to be certain firms, mainly selling through ads in newspapers that sell these grossly overpriced plants. I recently bought three two year old clematises from a specialist nursery at a fraction over the price of cuttings in 9mm pots.

[Babru]

If I saw one cheap on the reduced bench I might give it a try. I've had success with two novelty raspberries recently (dwarf Ruby Beauty and golden leaf Groovy), and had decent fruit from both, so you never know.

[Vince G]

I steer clear of novelties generally, bought a black raspberry and the fruit were tiny and tasteless so I binned it, but the plant was so hard to dig out, roots went down to hell.

Closest I get to novelty is red dessert gooseberries and pinkcurrants!

[Plot70]

Red dessert gooseberries are a nice juicy summer treat like strawberries but only as sweet as supermarket strawberries.
They are disease resistant but occasionally require some caterpillar picking in bad years.

[Babru]

Red dessert gooseberries are a nice juicy summer treat like strawberries but only as sweet as supermarket strawberries.
They are disease resistant but occasionally require some caterpillar picking in bad years.

That's interesting to hear about 'bad years' for caterpillars. I have a red currant and a white currant, planted last winter. Both were totally defoliated by little caterpillars. Truly awful, and a sorry sight. I was thinking if it's like this every year they would be coming out. They are in my garden, so not surrounded by other currants with pests to spare. Is there some hope that it's only occasional?

[Plot70]

I lost a crop of black currants due to ants covering the plant with aphids.
I had to kill the ants.
Putting food out for small birds all year helps with caterpillars because they feed there chicks with them.

[ameno]

That's interesting to hear about 'bad years' for caterpillars. I have a red currant and a white currant, planted last winter. Both were totally defoliated by little caterpillars. Truly awful, and a sorry sight. I was thinking if it's like this every year they would be coming out. They are in my garden, so not surrounded by other currants with pests to spare. Is there some hope that it's only occasional?

They're sawfly larvae.
It's worse some years than others, but it pays to keep an eye out for damage, and as soon as you seen any damage check the leaves over and pick off the caterpillars. You can avoid the worst of it that way.