My mom likes raspberries, so I thought about buying her a couple of Bushel & Berry Raspberry Shortcake plants from Stark Bros. The online reviews are mixed, but these are designed to be pot-grown, and if people were trying to do their own thing, that could affect results negatively?
https://www.starkbros.com/prod...

Also, is this the same plant as this?:
Thornless Raspberry (Rubus idaeus BrazelBerries® Raspberry Shortcake™)

[Edited: They are both variety 'NR7', so presumably they are the same]

These plants would be grown in zone 8b/9a (we're mostly 9a with the colder winters arriving with less frequency) on a patio that gets a lot of sun, heat and humidity. They could be moved to get some shade if needed.

This particular variety appealed because it is self-pollinating, thornless and bred to be a patio plant with no staking or trellising needed, but if anyone has experiences that argue against this variety, or has a suggestion for something better or cheaper, I'd love to get some feedback.

I have no experience growing raspberries, and neither does my mom... I don't want her to have to do anything besides occasional watering if we don't get rain, but I can do any feeding and/or potting up if needed.

Also, Stark Bros. sells some sort of raspberry feed, but is Citrus-tone as good, maybe? I like their products, and it seems to be recommended for all fruiting plants.

Many thanks for any help you can provide,
Virginia

Just a question: is your mother as much of a black thumb as mine is?

What a lovely daughter! So thoughtful! I hope someone with experience will answer your questions.

ElPolloDiablo said:Just a question: is your mother as much of a black thumb as mine is?

She is good with houseplants, which I am not, and can water things on schedule. She stays busy, though, so anything beyond watering, I'd take care of when I'm over at her house, which is pretty much every week. As it turns out, I procrastinated (my real talent), and Stark Bros is out of stock on that variety...

Is your mom really black-thumbed, or is she maybe just not motivated because you have the green fingers, and will grow stuff for her?

Deeby said:What a lovely daughter! So thoughtful! I hope someone with experience will answer your questions.

I waited until they ran out , but I would still be interested in hearing about people's experiences with this plant. I might be able to find it locally, but am nervous about going anywhere unless I know it won't be crowded.

Any business I go to I do so in the first hour when they are less busy.

scvirginia said:
Is your mom really black-thumbed, or is she maybe just not motivated because you have the green fingers, and will grow stuff for her?

Yeah, she's really that black thumbed. She killed countless plants during my childhood by spraying their leaves with Johnson wood wax to make them shinier... and smother them to death. And that's without counting the legion of overwatered victims, cold drafts killing expensive orchids etc.
But now back to raspberries.

NR7 refers to a cultivar of raspberry selected in New Zealand around 1999. It's small, spineless, compact, with an upright habit and, this will no doubt interest you, it has been rejected as a commercial variety due to low yields, short fruiting season and serious troubles with pests following field tests in the US and Canada.
If you want my opinion NR7 is a hit or miss affair with excellent PR backing it. It's not something I would buy, and seems overpriced as well.

There's a smaller cultivar introduced in the 90's called Autumn Bliss which, while larger than NR7, is much much better all around. It will grow about 4ft, thus needing a large container (top tip: a wheeled trolley underneath it does miracles), but it's usually erect and much much less fussy than NR7. If you can find it, get this one.
Joan J is supposed to be an improved Autumn Bliss introduced in 2009, but I have no direct experience with it: it's supposed to be even better yielding and to start fruiting earlier.

Now let's speak of ancillaries. Special potting soils and fertilizers are more often than not gimmicks to push home gardeners into buying stuff they don't want and don't need. Get some nice general purpose soil from a farming supply store and it will do well.
Personally I have much shifted my preference for potted plants towards liquid fertilizers: those available nowadays are excellent products. They can be applied both through irrigation and by foliar spray. If you want the absolutely best stuff available head to the nearest shop selling pot growing supply. No, really: these stores have the top growing supplies and the guys running them are much more knowledgeable than your standard big box store employee.

That would be all for now. Any more questions, you know where to find me.

ElPolloDiablo said:

If you want my opinion NR7 is a hit or miss affair with excellent PR backing it. It's not something I would buy, and seems overpriced as well.

There's a smaller cultivar introduced in the 90's called Autumn Bliss which, while larger than NR7, is much much better all around. It will grow about 4ft, thus needing a large container (top tip: a wheeled trolley underneath it does miracles), but it's usually erect and much much less fussy than NR7.

This is exactly what I wanted to know. It sounded too good to be true, so I really wanted feedback from someone who might know. Sadly, we have few good nurseries hereabouts, and I don't want to mess with big box stores at the best of times, so I did sign up to get notified when Gurney's has it back in stock. Many thanks for your advice.

I can do a large container, and my husband will like rigging up some sort of trolley—that's a good thought. We have good compost, and when I mix up my dirt recipe for potting, I usually will throw in some plant-tone or holly-tone. The company that makes those recommends holly-tone (not citrus-tone) for raspberries, and I already have it for my azaleas and camellias, so that should work out fine.

That is hilarious about your mom and the wood wax. Yikes! I guess you inherited your gardening genius from your dad's side of the family?

Thanks again,
Virginia

Big box store plants are fine... if you find what you want and they have just been delivered. Give them a week and they will become an overwatered mess unfortunately. Big box store seeds are usually a miss, unless they have good brands like Thompson & Morgan, Sperli, Zollinger or Ingegnoli.

No, my supposed gardening "genius" is the result of many years of studies and catastrophic experiments. As Homer Simpson said "I bet Einstein turned himself all sorts of colors before he invented the light bulb".