Japanese wineberries - worth growing?

[MJA54]

Hi,

I recently got a book about fruit for my birthday and having skimmed it came across the japanese wineberry, which I had never heard of before, but seems very interesting.

Does anyone have any experience of growing this please? We have half of a 8' x 4' raised bed, south-east facing, which is tantalisingly empty at the moment. Is a japanese wineberry a good choice?

Thanks

[Bigmallly]

I personally wouldn't give them the growing space, my choice would be Raspberry - Joan J.

[MJA54]

But isnt the problem with raspberries that the birds love 'em? I would rather not have to net them especially when they get tall-ish.

[Bigmallly]

Japanese Wineberry is a member of the raspberry family so birds will be attracted to them either way.

[MJA54]

But the japanese wineberry has a protective calyx (apparently!) that covers the wineberry until it is v ripe- so you reduce risk of birds snaffling them before you do. That's one of the reasons i thought it might be a good choice.

[veggiechicken]

Hi MJA and welcome to the Grapevine.
Birds love all soft fruit!! I have a Japanese wineberry - but, like BigMallly, I'd prefer raspberries.
If you're growing in a raised bed, does that mean that you don't walk on the bed? If so, planting something tall at one end of the bed may make access to the rest of the bed difficult. Lots of soft fruit needs a support - posts, wires, etc. Just a thought!!

[elleme]

I have wineberry in a slightly overshadowed spot in the eastern side of my garden. I find the fruit very tasty, but they are quite small and it's not a very heavy cropper. That may be partially down to my position but I haven't noticed gardening books saying it crops heavily either. It's sometimes touted as the most ornamental soft fruit because of its fuzzy reddish canes which show up in winter, but they don't stand out enough to really have much of an edge over other soft fruit. I wouldn't replace mine now it is established, but I might consider raspberries if starting from scratch another time.

[Alison]

Although they're related they grow differently. Raspberries are canes to grow in a row and wineberries are more like blackberries to be trained up a wall or fence. I have both and don't really notice the birds taking much of either - the strawberries however definitely need to be netted (they're the only fruit I do net)

[MJA54]

Thanks for the tips folks. We have an allotment with raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries etc and i think it would be nice to grow something a bit different at home, all the better if it is also ornamental.