Bramble Opportunities

Bramble industry in NC:

-100 acres 1996

-150 acres 2002 (approx)

-90% blackberries

-Arkansas varieties

Brambles are good for you…..

Terminal market pricesAtlanta Terminal Market 12-1/2 Pint Flat

$0.00

$5.00

$10.00

$15.00

$20.00

$25.00

$30.00

$35.00

$40.00

$45.00

January FebruaryMarch April May June July

AugustSeptember

OctoberNovemberDecember

Month

Price

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

Market opportunities

PYO and pre-pick on farm

Restaurants

Grocery chains

Local markets

Processing

Specialty markets

Brambles are “Specialty” Crops

Value Added Potential

Marketable yield (lbs/plant)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

BlackButte

Arapaho Apache Shawnee Navaho TripleCrown

Kiowa Chickasaw

Climatic requirements

Raspberries Cool summers, sustained cold winter

temperatures

Blackberries High temperatures, tolerates fluctuating

winter temperatures

Cultivars

Select cultivar for local conditions and markets

Test new cultivars on limited basis to observe performance

Raspberry varieties by regionMountains and foothills Reveille, Latham, Citadel, Mandarin, Autumn Bliss, Cherokee, Summit, Red Wing,

Heritage, Ruby, Nordic, Nova, Caroline, Josephine, Anne??

Piedmont Southland, Dormanred, Mandarin Heritage, Caroline, Josephine, Anne??

Coastal Plain Dormanred

Blackberry varieties by region

Mountains and foothills Brazos, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Darrow,

Navaho, Apache, Ouachita and Chickasaw???

Piedmont and Coastal Plain all of the above and Arapaho, Apache,

Black Satin, Boysenberry, Chester, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Comanche, Hull, Kiowa, Ouachita, Shawnee

Inputs:

Plants

Irrigation equipment

Chemicals

Trellis

Pruning supplies

Picking containers

Labor

Labor INTENSIVE

Planting

Pest and weed control

Pruning and training

Harvest

Viruses!

Planting stock

Plugs (from TC), handles, suckers, root cuttings, tips, transplantsGood quality,reputable source,disease free, true-to-type“Certified” plants Virus indexed, grown in conditions to limit virus

infection, superior growth, derived from tissue culture plants

Place orders early Fall or spring planting

Nurseries selling brambles

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/smfruit-index.html

http://www.smallfruits.org/nurserycommdatabase.xls

http://www.aragriculture.org/commhort/fruits/Blackberries/licensedprop.asp

For more informationWeb sites NCCES http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/

(blackberry and raspberry HIL’s) http://web.vaes.vt.edu/VAES/Publications/

vaesnumpubs.html

AG publications (NCCES) Growing raspberries in North Carolina Blackberry production in North Carolina (out of print,

but on WWW)

For more informationGrower organizations North American Bramble Growers Association

(www.nabga.com)

Other publications Commercial Bramble Culture, Univ. Georgia (

www.smallfruits.org) Brambles - Production Management and Marketing Bulletin

782-99 Ohio State Univ. http://ohioline.osu.edu/b782/index.html

Bramble Production GuideNRAES, 152 Riley Robb Hall, Cooperative Extension, Ithaca, NY 14853607-255-7654