Problem Tayberries

[Normans Mum]

Hi all
Have had three tayberry bushes on my plot for the past 3 years. When we took on the plot they were all massively overgrown and I basically had to cut all three down to the ground. They have gradually come right and are trained along a wire fence. This year was, I thought, a good year with lots of flowers and subsequent fruits, but they seemed to ripen very quickly and dry out and were not good to eat.
Is this a bush that needs more care, I might not have given it enough water... or fed it enough ?
Help please.

[Kirk]

Never had a problem with Tayberries, other then having to wear the thickest leather gloves to get near them.

Have found they ripen what seems quicker then blackberries, as in go from green to red fairly quick.
Taste has always been good and sharp.

Like the related ones they dislike being dry, so a shaded area that does not get dry or good mulch well around it is generally required.

May sound daft but how sure are you that they are Tayberry?

[Normans Mum]

HI Kirk
Maybe I have got the name wrong.... this bush has no thorns and just has lots of soft green foilage. Perhaps it could be a loganberry...? Fruits are quite long and red, taste quite like a raspberry (the ones that didn't just shrivel up and die, that is !) Think watering might be the answer.

[simon12]

I planted 2 loganberries and 1 tayberry last year from a local garden centre but labelled as Blackmoor's (who's site describes them as thornless). All are thornless and virtually identical. I noticed no differnece between the fruits though I was not really looking. Looking at the plants now the only difference is the tayberry has slightly smaller & darker leaves. I have not had the problem you describe with any.

[Alison]

HI Kirk
Maybe I have got the name wrong.... this bush has no thorns and just has lots of soft green foilage. Perhaps it could be a loganberry...? Fruits are quite long and red, taste quite like a raspberry (the ones that didn't just shrivel up and die, that is !) Think watering might be the answer.

Is it a bush (like currants) or more like a blackberry with long stems. Tayberries are a raspberry / blackberry cross but grow just like blackberries and need to be trained like that ideally. They do look a bit like supercharged raspberries though but aren't as sweet. I prefer them cooked, make brilliant jam.

[Kirk]

I have tayberry and loganberry, I have lost track of which is which.
Concerning thorns: One has evil thones on stems and leaves, the other has evil thorns on the stems, the leaves and thorns on the thorns as well.

The only thing I have grown that is/was worse was a Black Velvet Gooseberry.
Now that really was evil, and took vampirism to a new level.

Will say there are thornless varieties I think of both tayberry and loganberry, so you may have one of these.

[Normans Mum]

Thanks for your advice. Either way, fruits have gone now. I will be more vigilant next year hopefully.