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Berries

BLACKBERRIES

Trailing types of blackberries grow on the western slopes of the Sierras and Cascade mountains, and westward to the Pacific Ocean. Rubus ursinus (synonym R. macropetalus) is the only blackberry native to the West Coast. It has slender trailing stems armed with flattened prickles, and is found abundantly on prairies, burns, clearings and dense woodlands from the coast to the mid-mountains and from British Columbia to Northern California and to Eastern Idaho. This native blackberry has been extensively used as a parent in breeding. Analysis of freezing quality blackberries shows at least one quarter parentage of this type.

The Evergreen blackberry, R. lacianatus is native of England, where it is known as the cut-leaf or parsley-leaved blackberry. It appeared in Oregon around 1850, brought over to the west coast with explorers from England. Since that time, it has been spread along the Pacific coast by birds.

The Himalaya blackberry, was introduced by Luther Burbank at the turn of the century. He thought it was from the Himalaya mountains in Asia. Later he learned it was actually R. procerus of Germany. This is the common blackberry in the Pacific Northwest and is found wherever humans disturbed the land. The Himalaya has become a well known weed, as well as a source of berries for pies and jams, however, it is not commercially grown.

The wild blackberries have been important in the heritage of cultivated blackberries in the Northwest. Although blackberries were picked wild and processed for canning, few grower were interested in growing them commercially because of the thorns. In 1926, Mr. Philip Steffes of Sublimity, Oregon found a thornless plant growing east of Stayton, which was identical to the thorny Evergreen blackberry. When it was tested and found to be as productive as the thorny form, it quickly gained popularity and soon became the main blackberry sold in the United States, and grown extensively in Oregon.

THE LOGANBERRY

The origin and history of the Loganberry in the 1880's was the beginning of the use of breeding to obtain better commercial varieties. Judge J.H. Logan was an interested backyard plant breeder, who began experimenting with breeding small fruits in his home garden at Logan Heights near Santa Cruz, California. Unsatisfied with the many varieties of blackberries, Judge Logan tried to cross two varieties of blackberries and unwittingly planted next to an old variety of red raspberry which had been cultivated for years in the area. The canes of all three fruited and flowered together and Judge Logan gathered and planted the seed. The 50 seedlings grew and produced a plant which was similar to the blackberry parent Aughinbaugh variety, but much larger and stronger. This, of course, was the Loganberry; a cross between the blackberry and raspberry. The remaining 49 plants were the Mammoth Blackberry, the longest fruit of any variety ever grown. Since this time, viable crosses have been made between the cultivars of raspberry and blackberry producing offspring like the Logan to confirm it's parentage.

While the Logan proved to be productive and well adapted to western climatic conditions, the flavor was not popular with customers and marketing difficulties made it desirable to search further. The heritage of the Logan, being a blackberry by raspberry cross, stimulated interest in using it for breeding purposes and thus overshadowed the use of wild varieties for many years. Therefore, the Logan became a famous parent in the breeding of many cultivated varieties that are now commercially grown the in the Northwest. The Logan itself is grown mainly for juice, pies and wine.

THE BOYSENBERRY

Another link in berry history was the discovery of the Boysenberry. In the late 1920's, George Darrow of the USDA began tracking down reports of a large, reddish-purple berry that had been grown by a man named Rudolf Boysen. He enlisted the help of Walter Knott, a Southern California farmer known as something of a berry expert. Knott hadn't heard of the new berry, but agreed to help Darrow in his search.

The pair soon learned that Rudolf Boysen had abandoned his growing experiments several years earlier and sold his farm. Undaunted by this news, Darrow and Knott headed out to Boysen's old farm, where they found several frail vines surviving in a field choked with weeds. They transplanted the vines to Knott's farm where he nurtured them back to fruit-bearing health. Walter Knott's began selling the berries at his farm stand in 1935 and soon noticed that people kept returning to buy the large tasty berries. When asked what they were called, Knott said, "Boysenberries." As their popularity grew, Mrs. Knott began making preserves which ultimately made Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California world famous.

THE YOUNGBERRY

The Youngberry was another major breeding line used in many of our cultivated varieties. It was developed in Morgan City, Louisiana by B.M. Young in 1905. The Youngberry is a hybrid between the Phenomenal (a cultivar very similar to the Logan) and the Mayes Dewberry or trailing blackberry. It was not introduced until 1926, but it quickly became important in replacing the Logan to a great extent in California and to some extent in Oregon and Washington.

OTHER BLACKBERRIES

In 1927, a cooperative project between the USDA and the Oregon Experimental Station began a Rubus breeding program designed to cross the domestic varieties with ten native blackberry selections. The domestic varieties used were mainly Boysenberry, Loganberry and Youngberry.

The search for superior native parents revealed that natural hybrids were occurring. Native blackberries are dioecious (characterized by having male flower and on one plant and female flowers on another) whereas the fertile natural hybrids had perfect monecious flowers. At first, these were thought to be new wild crosses with perfect flowered plants. Later, however, they were discovered to be like the cross between the native and domestic blackberries. Santiam, Johnson, Starr and Lincoln are selections from the wild that presumably arose as natural hybrids between naturalized or native species and Logan. Other perfect flowered selections used in breeding, such as Black Logan, Kayberry , Kosmos and Ware, do not closely resemble Santiam and other selections from the wild and therefore may have some other domestic parent than Logan, such as Himalaya or Evergreen.

In looking at selections of berries that have been outstanding in tests for canning and freezing, we find that all of them have Pacific Coast native blackberry entering into their origin to some extent. The varieties Logan, Young and Boysen are also in the parentage of all but Chehalem.

A wild variety found near Salem, Oregon by B. Zielinski and named Zielinski was successfully crossed with Logan and found to have characteristic similar to the wild blackberry. Two of these were named Pacific and Cascade, and are grown in home gardens for their native blackberry flavor and often used for home canning, jams, jellies and pies. Both are vigorous, ripe early and produce up to four tons per acre. Both are considered too soft for processing.

The Santiam, a natural hybrid between R. ursinus and a Logan, has a rich native blackberry flavor. The berries are small and black with very small seeds. Santiam ripens early and has medium vigor, but produces an average of only two tons per acre. The Santiam is grown commercially in Oregon to some extent. In 1936 a cross was made between the Santiam and Himalaya by George Waldo, USDA, Corvallis Oregon. The Chehalem was selected out of seedlings from this cross. The fruit of the Chehalem is smaller than a Logan with bright skin, shiny black color and small seeds. The flavor is excellent and especially good for frozen products. The seeds are small. It is well adapted to the Pacific Coast, and is vigorous and productive in moist, rich soil. The Chehalem has been grown to some extent commercially in Oregon.

The Black Logan, whose origin in not clear, was crossed with the Youngberry by George Waldo, and introduced as Olallie in 1950. The fruit is large, and slightly longer and more slender than the Boysenberry. Olallie is excellent for processing. Plants are very productive, with vigorous, thorny canes. Ollallie is better adapted to the climatic conditions in California as it often winter kills in Oregon.

THE MARION BLACKBERRY

Seedlings from the Chehalem by Olallie cross have been outstanding in productiveness, having large size and high flavor. The most outstanding of these selections is the Marion Blackberry or Marionberry. The Marion was introduced by Waldo in 1956. Adapted to western Oregon, the Marionberry is named after Marion County, in which it was tested extensively. The fruit is medium to large, round in diameter and somewhat longer than wide. The Marionberry is a trailing vigorous grower, generally producing only a few long canes which grow up to 20 feet. The spines are large and numerous, and fruiting laterals are long and strong, with many fruit. The Marionberry produces up to 5-6 tons per acre. The quality of the Marionberry is high, with flavor superior to the Boysen or Evergreen. Marionberries are well suited for use in local fresh markets and for commercial or home canning, freezing, pies, ice cream flavoring, jams and jellies.

THORNLESS EVERGREEN BLACKBERRY

The most productive of all the commercially grown blackberries is the Thornless Evergreen, or Black Diamond. This variety is very popular with growers because of it's ease in growing and larger yields. The Thornless Evergreen is very vigorous, disease resistant and productive, yielding 6-10 tons per acre. The fruit is black, one and half inches long, firm and sweet. The seeds are quite large, being one of it's least desirable qualities. One of the problems with Thornless Evergreens is that the season is very late, which makes it more difficult to harvest due to weather and labor problems.

RED RASPBERRIES

Oregon’s red raspberries are known for their radiant red color and profound flavor. The Willamette and Meeker varieties are predominant among the commercial varieties grown in Oregon where a majority of the crop is processed as individually quick frozen raspberries, frozen raspberry puree, or frozen raspberry juice concentrate. Other processing methods include canning, drying, processed bakery fruit fillings and essence, as well as aseptic packaging. Raspberries are distinguished from the blackberry and other dewberries in the same genus in that the fruit separates from the receptacle producing a hollow core. The fruit is medium to bright red depending on the variety, of medium size (3.0 g) and moderately tart with small seeds. Red raspberries are well suited for commercial or home freezing, as well as jams and jellies, with a small percentage of the crop destined for fresh markets locally and worldwide.

BLACK RASPBERRIES

Black Raspberries, affectionately known as Blackcaps by growers, are native to North America. These uniquely flavored berries are popular in specialty foods, especially jams and ice cream, and are used as a coloring agent as well. The fruit is blue-black, round and small (2.0 g), and exhibits a whitish bloom on the exterior of the berry. Black raspberries have a distinct and moderately tart flavor, small seed and like the red raspberry, contain a hollow core.

Blackberry Pie

1 1/4 c Sugar
2 tb Cornstarch
4 c Blackberries
1/4 c All purpose flour
1/8 ts Salt
2 Pastry for 9" pie

Combine sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Toss with blackberries. Line 9 inch pie plate with pastry. Add blackberry mixture. Adjust top crust; cut slits to allow steam to escape. Bake in 400 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes.

Information provided by the Oregon Berry Commission http://www.oregon-berries.com/

Oregon's Tricounty Farm Information Area

We have farms that serve Berry and Berry products to the following cities within Washington County, Multnomah County and Clackamas County area:

• Portland, Oregon - Berry
• Beaverton, Oregon - Berry
• Hillsboro, Oregon - Berry
• Clackamas, Oregon - Berry
• Canby, Oregon - Berry
• Oregon City, Oregon - Berry
• Sauvie Island, Oregon - Berry
• Oregon City, Oregon - Berry
  
• Aurora, Oregon - Berry
  
• Forest Grove, Oregon - Berry
  
• Eagle Creek, Oregon - Berry
  
• Banks, Oregon - Berry
  
• Newberg, Oregon - Berry
  
• Wilsonville, Oregon - Berry
  
• Tigard, Oregon - Berry
  
• Cornelius, Oregon - Berry
  
• North Plains, Oregon - Berry
  
• Milwaukie, Oregon - Berry
  
• Corbett, Oregon - Berry
  
• Tualatin, Oregon - Berry
  
• Sherwood, Oregon - Berry