Confusion over tayberry and loganberry....

[Scottishnewbie]

I rcently bought a loganberry and a couple of tayberries from homebase (reduced of course!).

Was going to plant them up today but noticed there was little in the way of explanation on the packaging. So i did a search on here and am now even more in the dark! if that's possible.....

is a loganberry a bush like gooseberry/currant or is it like a raspberry cane?

and i suppose the same question for the tayberries too!

many thanks

SN

[Nicos]

I THINK the loganberry is more bush-like of the two...but I've never grown either.....


Oh- I just found this....

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...%3Den%26sa%3DG

[Jeanied]

I hate to tell you this, but they are both very similar and come from crossing blackberries and raspberries. I have one left out of the 2 different canes I planted - I grow mine like cultivated blackberries. I don't know which it is - you will only be able to tell when they fruit because one of them goes very squishy when ripe (not sure which one though!)

*Hmm - Jeanied's clearly very confused today!

[SarzWix]

I've got a loganberry, and it grows more like bramble canes - i.e very long and rambling so I've planted it next to a wire fence and it gets tied to that.

[Scottishnewbie]

so am i right in thinking that the loganberry grows more ALONG than UP? so as long as i can tie it in along some canes then it should be ok?

and is that the same with tayberry? or do i treat it more like a raspberry cane then?

so confusing! not bothered that they are kind of the same, just want to be sure i plant them in the right place and in the right way so that they get maximum chance to provide me with some yummy fruits next year!!

[Jeanied]

I've got mine growing up a stake and then trained along wires at about 4ft 6 - I'm trying to train it one side one year and the other side the next. Without success I might add! It sticks out - more my fault than the berry!

[SarzWix]

The loganberry grows just like a bramble, except if you're lucky it will be thornless. I honestly have no idea about tayberries, but according to the RHS link that Nicos put on, they both have the same habit.

[northepaul]

I was always told by my old aunt (now long deceased) that they were the same thing, just a regional variation in the name....

[Scottishnewbie]

many thanks, it probably seems more confusing than it actually is then.....i'll get busy tomorrow planting them.

[SarzWix]

It's true that they're both crosses between blackberry and raspberry, but I think that the parentage is opposite for each? I could easily be wrong though

[sarraceniac]

It's true that they're both crosses between blackberry and raspberry, but I think that the parentage is opposite for each? I could easily be wrong though

I think you are right Sarz. The loganberry was an accidental cross in the USA in about 1890, discovered by a Dr. or Colonel, I forget which, Logan. Or is that fried chicken? .

The tayberry is a deliberate cross from, you guessed it, the Tay Valley. The loganberry is usually thornless but the tayberry isn't. The tayberry is sweeter and softer than the loganberry. The loganberry is supposed to have the superior flavour (or flavor) at least everybody on an American forum tells me that but personally I have a hell of a job telling the difference once they are in the house. if they are both ripe.

[Lovage]

Just to add to the confusion there is also the Boysenberry the Youngberry and probably more

I have found them all slightly disappointing and now stick to raspberries and wild blackberries

[Scottishnewbie]

Aaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhhh

[sarraceniac]

Just discovered, Logan was a judge and didn't invent fried chicken. Apparently he did breed four blackberry/raspberry hybrids after finding loganberries in his garden. None of them are memorable (praise be) and were all based on different varieties of raspberry. He also managed to cross a sheep with a kangaroo and so invented wooly jumpers.

If anybody wants the gory details, go here:-

BLACKBERRY--RASPBERRY HYBRIDS -- DARROW 46 (2): 67 -- Journal of Heredity

but take an horticultural dictionary.

[Jeanied]

Thanks for that Sarraceniac - a good light read! Am I right in thinking that one of the two has red/ purple fruits and the other has purple/black fruits? And one will slip the fruit off the cone easily whereas the other sticks so you have to pick it cone and all? Or am I dreaming again?