I've been trying to get consistant fruiting out of my Fall Gold Raspberry run (15' long) for several years. They generally throw a sparse crop in Summer then their main crop well into Autumn. Summer last year, everything changed with a heavy infestation of Japanese Beetles. It wasn't until after they'd descended on my 50' long privacy wall of Virginia Creeper that they set about skeletonizing half of my three stands of (beloved) Woodsii Roses. THEN they lit upon all the Rasp buds with a vengence. I'd assumed weeks earlier that the dead leaves at the bottom foot of the Rasp run had resulted from a dry spell. Wrong. It was the Evil Baby JB's emerging - hungry - from having over-wintered beneath the run. I've since learned that JBs 1) apparently love the Rubus/Rosaceae plant family 2) are no-doubt here in Colorado for keeps and 3) are on the move across our Nation to decimate the crops of those who make a living growing said species. That said, I feel like a whiner. I mean, my suburb lot is only a fifth-acre and although I squeeze as much food crop out of it as I possibly can, my investment is nothing compared to Permies who strive for self-sufficiency on large-scale terms. You know who you are. I am sorry for the traumatic changes required of you.
I don't get to sit and chat with anyone very often so this has been a treat today. In fact, just sharing this ordeal with the raspberries has helped me make a decision I'd been putting off: That Rasp run has amounted to little more than a chronic pain in the ass. Holding fast to the fantasy of a lovely Raspberry crop in this miserable climate (High Plains - East of Denver) has brought no joy. Rubus appetites or not, the JB's have never touched my Blackberry runs, the Crandall Current run, my Goumi tree trio, the Mount Royal Plum, the newly planted Jujube, the Carmine Jewell Cherry tree trio, the dozen High Bush Blueberries nor the trellised Rambling Roses from which I harvest hips. And while they chow down on the Woodsii leaves, those hips, too, remain untouched. Moreover, the JBs leave all of my vegetables alone so my food grow is wholy in intact. So, I am going to say goodbye to my Fall Golds by digging them out and investigating what I might plant in their stead... with a nod to Blazing Saddles: We don't need no stinkin' raspberries!
The very best to you all from Cherrie' in Colorado (Not The Armpit of Colorado but close enough to it to be maybe The Arm Dangle of Colorado)
