Another interesting plant: I managed to acquire a clone of Bedford Giant right before brexit. Now I know why it’s called a giant! It’s super vigorous and probably has some raspberry in it. If it does, it could yield tetraploids when backcrossed.
“The ‘Veitchberry’ was of value as the parent of the hexaploid ‘Bedford Giant’, which arose by self pollination and the functioning of an unreduced gamete.”
Those look like maple leaves.
Yeah they do but they have a velvety texture like pure rubus odoratus pictured here. Natives used them as toilet paper.
Thanks for that info! Excellent context for a more critical look at the literature (and I got a lot of that stored away).
You’re gonna wanna be careful not to confuse them with less friendly flora. It’s all fun and games until you wipe with poison Ivy. I actually know of one person here in PR who accidentally used a giant nettle (“Ortiga Brava”, Urera baccifera) when he wanted the “Toilet Paper Tree” (stingless Helicteres jamaicensis). Must’ve been an awkward trip to the hospital.
Hello BerryAllen. I am an experienced breeder of Asimina triloba, for about 40 years. I’m getting interested in raspberry and have noticed your activity in rubus breeding on General Fruit Growing. I live in Harpers Ferry, WV, the far eastern tip of WV. Do you live anywhere close? Do you accept visitors?
Neal Peterson
I am currently growing a primocane Rubus idaeus seedling and a Rubus coreanus, hoping to cross them. Do anyone have source that novices can learn about emasculating and cross pollinating a Rubus spp?
For emasculation, carefully pry open the flower buds (no need to leave petals intact). At the bud stage, the anthers are not yet mature, and are not releasing viable pollen. ⁂ Edit: Forgot to mention the obvious; rip or cut off the anthers after prying open the flower. ⁂ Add pollen twice a day over a three or four day period, during the cooler parts of morning and evening. Keep the buds isolated with organza bags or other light bags until fruit set.
To collect pollen, pluck or cut off the anthers from a fully open flower (but not an older, senescent bloom) into a jar. Leave it open to dry overnight. If the blooming period doesn’t overlap, I think viable pollen can be stored in the refrigerator for a time.
I use these two videos for reference, and both plants are closely related to Rubus.
Really appreciate this. The idea of taking closely related species as reference never occurred to me. 
what do x’s mean and can occidentalis and ursinus cross?
Does anyone think its possible to cross R. parviflorus (thimbleberry) and R. probus? I’m trying to get larger fruit and something that might perform well in my subtropical climate. The immediate progeny would be a sterile triploid, but I could try my hand at chromosome doubling with heavily diluted antimitotic pesticides (trifluralin is currently the most easily accessible choice). A hexaploid should be fertile.
I could also try chromosome doubling thimbleberry seeds while germinating to try to achieve a tetraploid thimbleberry, then try crossing that with R. probus.
I have no idea if it’ll be possible, could be, but I guess the better question would be why these two parents?
Crossing a cool temperate species with an equatorial tropical species is likely to lead to lots of issues with seasonal hormones, dormancy, flowing times, winter hardiness, etc. Why not try something like a nice named variety of red raspberry x wineberry or x mysore?
Hi, I think that R. parviflorus (thimbleberry) and R. probus are both diploid, so you are in with a chance. No need to double chromosomes.
When breeding these rubus. Does it matter who is mom and who is dad for the outcome? For example if i would want to cross a tayberry with a rasberry and i want it more to be like a tayberry. Would i emasculate the rasberry and polinate the tayberry or the other way around? Or is it really a 50\50 in genetics and that doesnt matter
In my experience, it does matter which way the cross is made. Some crosses only set seed one way. I generally use the plant with the higher ploidy/chromosome level as the female parent. So, I would use the Tayberry as the female parent but you should try it both ways. I crossed a black raspberry with a red raspberry and it only set seed if the black raspberry was the female parent but I tried it both ways to start.
Thanks!
Have you considered Rubus illecebrosus? I have been trying to acquire one of those for a couple years. Some of those fruits can get fairly large, apparently.
Hi, I have read that Rubus ‘Benenden’ is sterile and produces no fruit. It may be possible to set some seeds by crossing to R. deliciosus or neomexicanus. I am going to give R. Benenden x R. neomexicanus a try.
Here are my 2 pots of Rubus neomexicanus. They are less than a year old and are going into dormancy. The wood is a bit thin but they should thicken up and become self supporting in the next couple of years. Hoping for a small amount of fruit next year.
Surly someone is growing it and has made some hybrids with R idaeus, if so please post a reply.
Well, it seems all of the species in this clade are self incompatible, so genetic diversity is key. Crossing or having Rubus neomexicanus, R. deliciousus, R. oderatus, or R. parviflorus would likely work fine. Which is what im trying to collect in a large breeding swarm for my project.
I collected a few rare seeds from my R. deliciosus plant where the only nearby raspberry so far is a purple domestic raspberry. So crosses with R idaeus might be possible, but i don’t know.
Hi, I am going to pollinate it with everything I’ve got and see what happens. At the same time, I will spray some of the flowers with GA3 to set some seedless fruit just to see what the flavour is like.
