Heirloom or other non-gmo berry bushes?

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good source for obtaining heirloom or other non-gmo blue berry, black berry, raspberry, strawberry plants, either in the Los Angeles area or online? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dwayne

Dwayne Seagraves wrote:Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good source for obtaining heirloom or other non-gmo blue berry, black berry, raspberry, strawberry plants, either in the Los Angeles area or online? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dwayne

I know there's a lot of selective breeding that happens with berries, but to my (limited) knowledge I've don't think any of the varieties you can order are technically GMO. Maybe I'm wrong and someone will correct me on this?

If you want more natural selections of various berries, Oikos Tree Crops cultivates a lot of native species that haven't been selectively bred.

Supposedly there are strawberries that have been genetically modified but I've never encountered them personally. Matt is right about this, hybrids and gmo are two completely different things. Hybrids are natural sexual interactions, they occur in nature outside of human intervention. Genetic modification in the style touted by monsanto et al. usually involves taking the genes from a whole different biological kingdom (bacteria, fungi, animalia, etc.) and forcibly (often via infection with a specific virus) inserting them into the genome of the desired plant.

Researching the varieties of berries that will do well in your area is very important, many berry plants are dependent on very specific environmental conditions to thrive.

Edit: Just noticed the LA part of your post (duh) I'm in a similar climate so I'll peruse my books and try to get back to you with some specific suggestions. I know that boysenberries are one of the easiest here on the coast in San Diego unfortunately I'm not very familiar with LA's nurseries.

Honestly......the best place to find what your looking for would be to drive out to the older communities around your rural areas and see if you could dig up some specimens. if it is a nice day most people would be happy to share some raspbery canes or over grown bushes. the established long lived varieties you could come across would be excellent.
usually any older built farm or rural homes will have this stuff......pie cherries , raspberries, goose berries, currants, plum trees etc.

some people might say no....as long as you were not suspicious ;0) looking folks could be agreeable, Places that are for sale, or sell fresh eggs, or raise animals for sale or meat would be a good place to start since they are use to working with the permies.

I echo what Matt said. Hybridization is actually pretty normal for a lot of plants and shouldn't be something to worry about. GMO is something very different and I don't think there are any berry bushes on the market that are GMO. If you're looking for more wild types, as Matt said, Oikos is the way to go.

i would say to do as someone else said, try to get some starts from some local farmers.

I had an entire bed of black raspberries get blown over this winter in a storm and they laid on the ground and all of them rooted wherever they touched the ground..which means I dug up and gave away dozens of babies to neighbors and friends.

it happens..

as far as getting good raspberries there are some heritage brands out there, one is even known as "heritage"..it is a red raspberry..I dont' think they are labeld as OP, heirloom or even as hybrids in most cases..but most berries are tissue cultures..cuttings that have been rooted, doubt very much if any have been grown from seed for many years..so you probably can get tissue culture cuttings of old types locally.