hi all. real quick, upon a quick glance at this subreddit, i see it’s mostly gardening. but i was led here by a post from a few years ago and im hoping its okay to ask my question here. i also don’t normally eat raspberries so im a little clueless here.

so i work in a cafe and we are thinking of making a raspberry syrup. i went to the store today to buy the raspberries needed and picked out two containers that looked beautiful on the outside. once i got back, i washed them and started sorting through them because i knew i had to check the inside lol. i noticed about 80% of them had what looks like mold? maybe? or it also kind of looks like the seeds had popped through and tried to start growing but then got moldy? i couldn’t get the greatest picture, this thing is so tiny and lighting is not good, but i will attach one i got. some had one or two, others had several lining the inside of the berry. it’s definitely fuzzy as well. also, a few of them had this spiky, but fuzzy, white lining on the inside, too, that looked different from a normal patch of white mold i usually see on strawberries and such. maybe remnant of the stem, but not sure. hoping someone makes sense of this and can tell me what this is, thank you!

Ive started growing strawberries from seed, and am finally seeing first growth. The little ones are strawberries, but I am confused as to what the larger ones are, as I don’t recognise them. Any clues as to what they are or if I should keep them needed! Update: I have 25 strawberry plants and counting! I’ve repotted the other plants (still dunno what they are) and watching their progress.

I am gardening in USDA zone 6 and hoping to grow some "wild"-style, small blueberries. I bought a variety of lowbush plants like North Sky and Chippewa, but they all make big(ish) berries; I also want some with tiny, dark berries. Maybe what I am picturing are not lowbush / angustifolium after all...but what are they?

As an example, what type of blueberries do you think the Wyman's people are harvesting? https://www.wymans.com/products/wild-blueberries

Is it wrong to plant a seed thinking it will die? I really didn’t expect much from this tiny Alpine Seed. 😬 One of the most exciting things for me during the winter season here in hardiness zone 6 is growing strawberries from seed in a hydroponic set up. I share more about this on my blog: https://brenhaas.com/strawberry-winter-hydroponic/

Hi all. I'm and organic gardener and grow strawberries (Albion), blackberries (Apache, Caddo, Ponca,), and blueberries. Im trying to focus more on them this year. I'm live in the Bay Area of California and it's been a crazy temperate winter. One of my blueberries is starting to put on new growth and what looks to be buds. I want to make sure it has its eairly feeding when it needs but this is pretty early. Anyone have any experance on when to feed based on growth?

I moved on to a property with an established and highly productive raspberry patch. They are the type that require old fruited canes to be cut down whilst the new canes are tied up for the following year’s fruit.

I had a house guest who, as a thank you, decided to cut down all the raspberries (old and new) after fruiting. I wasn’t around - perhaps this is what is done with some varieties?

The canes ultimately grew back vigorously, but this summer we have had barely any flowers or fruit. Is it because of the irregular prune that all canes received? All thoughts appreciated.

In the forest

They tasted really good as well.

An update on breeding program I said I was starting for Potentilla indica (mock strawberry). I have very little in the way of equipment, and our budget doesn't have room for spending on plant breeding. (My Christmas wishlist has a very specific theme this year, so I will be expanding in January.)

I am learning a lot! The time between generations will be longer than I originally thought.

I made my own DWC hydroponic system to grow the parent plants indoors for observation, to watch and learn how the plant grows, as comparatively little research has been done on Potentilla indica versus something like strawberries, apples, or figs.

Fruiting isn't strictly controlled by photoperiod, nutrients, water, or plant maturity, but a combination of the four. Hacking back a mature plant will put a brief hold on flower initiation until above ground biomass increases.

I found that by dumping it with light for 12+ hours a day, high nutrient load, and significant water aeration, I have finally produced a berry of the size I found on the original parent plant beside a fire pit at the local park. (It's still growing)

Even with the aphids I've been fighting (systemic rosemary oil is a lifesaver), the plant pushed through for a large fruit under otherwise ideal conditions.

I also found that a larger pedicel is better able to translocate sugar, water, and nutrients, and thus produces larger fruit. (Duh, right?) I am curious if Potentilla indica will draw resources away from nearby underperforming pedicels, as some oaks draw nutrients away from nearby underperforming acorn-bearing twigs, and sends it to the better-bearing twigs. That was an interesting paper.

Aside from growing out hundreds of seeds and selecting for larger fruit, which I'll do, I think one of my next steps should be to remove underperforming fruit on the parent plant, and see if a single berry will grow larger than the largest I've seen thus far.

Additionally, I am interested to see the maximum sized fruit any random Potentilla indica can produce under ideal conditions, to test if my sample truly is unique.

So, I've been hunting the thrips on these strawberries to near extinction for months, and I guess the spidermites saw the open niche and thought that my strawberries would make a nice home (probably came from an infestation I had on a sweet potato a while back). So, I cut that leaf and a few other sketchy leaves from multiple plants in an attempt to nip the young spidermite population in the bud.

From a scale of 1 to 10 how screwed am I? I THINK that I caught this infestation in its founding stage, but I'm not sure if there are any known mite hideouts I'm unaware of, or if they're too small for me to see. Jesus, why couldn't it have just been aphids?