Harvesting Hybrid Berry Plants

Are you ready to enjoy delicious homegrown fruit? Harvest is the time to enjoy the results of your hard work. Keep a few things in consideration as you reap the fruits of your labor: the best time to pick the fruit from your tree, and how to store the fruit.

NOTE: This is part 11 in a series of 11 articles. For a complete background on how to grow hybrid berry plants, we recommend starting from the beginning.

When to Harvest

This perennial produces fruit on canes that live biennially; the plant sends up canes, the canes bear fruit in two years, and then the cane dies.
During the first year, no berries should be harvested. You may get small fruits during the first year, but starting with the second-year crop you will find the good harvesting fruit. In the second year harvest begins between July and August and the crop is hand-picked every 4 days. Berries should be picked during the morning hours as they become soft in the afternoon heat, then refrigerate them immediately. Berries are ripe when they turn a very dark red or black color and bruise easily.

Annual average yield per plant 4-8 quarts.

Storage

Boysenberries will keep about 5 days in the refrigerator. If you are not able to use the berries right away then put them on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze them until they are firm. Then put them in freezer bags to enjoy all year long.

When to Harvest

Loganberries will produce fruit the first season after planting. There will be crops of firm, deep red berries from August to September. Berries do not pull free from their core when picked, so you can’t use this to gauge the ripeness of the fruit.

The annual average yield per plant is about 10 pounds.