How do I put together my berry assortment?

Hopefully they are on holiday. Or even better, enjoy the fact that everyone else is on holiday. But once again, every plant producer is wondering which berry plants, varieties and assortments to choose for next spring. Because soon the young plants will have to be ordered. At Lubera Edibles, too, young plant production is controlled according to the order history and incoming orders. Later in winter or spring, you then have to take what is still available.

Breeding progress – for what?

Why and for what does progress in breeding need to be made in plants for the home garden, especially in edible plants? Is there any advancement at all – or is it just less or more reproduction of the old, old wine being sold in new bottles? And if there are improvements, what are they focussed on and how can we sell them? These are the questions I would like to answer in this article, using raspberries as an example.

For those who come too early...new data on berry demand AFTER spring

Traditionally, soft fruit plants are delivered to sales outlets and sold off in early spring. Depending on the season, there may or may not be additional deliveries. Using Google data, we show that the demand for certain types of fruit (or the corresponding terms) is sometimes continuous throughout the year or that there is a second peak after spring when the fruit in question is ripe. But can this effect also be demonstrated in specific plant sales? Are we perhaps systematically selling many...

Raspberries 2023 – the ranking of varieties, growth types, fruit colours and plant sizes

In the stationary market, the sales figures for the most important soft fruit variety, raspberries, are largely supply-driven: ultimately, what is sold is what buyers purchase and then what is offered at the points of sale. With the online range of our sister company Lubera.com, the situation is largely reversed: we sell what is in demand.

From mid-February until Christmas, a wide range of 36 raspberry varieties is continuously available. According to the sales figures at Lubera.com, we can...

The standard berry and its alternatives

The 2 to 3 litre pot, tall and usually square, has become the standard in berry plant production. If you wander through the garden centres in the spring and analyse the offers with a gardener's eye, all you see is always the same: almost the same pot, with a slightly different but always large label, nota bene with as little information as possible. It is a well-known fact that customers cannot read. At least that's what our advertising consultants seem to think. Garden centres are no better. I...

Lubera Edibles Podcast #19: Gardener's talk: How do I produce raspberries? The intricacies of raspberry cultivation

Since it is the strongest crop in terms of numbers and therefore also the most important, the raspberry is the focus of attention at both Lubera® and Lubera Edibles, whether in breeding, young plant production or finished product production. The raspberry is and remains our 'bread and butter' crop. Because of this significant position, we cannot avoid dedicating a separate podcast to the production of raspberry plants. Even if you already produce raspberry plants it is worth listening in –...

Raspberry breeding at Lubera – the reinvention of the raspberry for the garden

Raspberry breeding has been one of the largest breeding programmes at Lubera for over 20 years. Ultimately, only apple breeding is even older, which basically began when the company was founded in 1993. The first goal of raspberry breeding was simple and overdue: it was to replace the dominant Autumn Bliss raspberry with better varieties. To do this, we crossed Autumn Bliss with Tulameen together with Reto Neuweiler from the Wädenswil Research Station – this then resulted in the Autumn...

Raspberry plants with yellow leaves – symptoms and causes

That raspberry plants get yellow leaves is basically not a question but a statement. And it is relatively unimportant whether it is at a hobby gardener's home, during the production of pot/container plants, in our variety garden or even at our breeding facility. But as diverse as the individual raspberry varieties are, so versatile are the causes of the yellow leaves. And there is not always a serious disease behind it; it can also be a completely natural physiological effect. In the following...

FAQ Raspberries

One of the previous articles dealt, among other things, with the number of complaints about raspberry plants. What if the end consumer, i.e. the home gardener, comes to your company to complain about raspberry plants that did not grow well? We have compiled the most important questions and answers on the subject of raspberry plants for you. These are not so much cultivation tips for the production and cultivation of raspberry plants, but rather tips and tricks for the end consumer, which you are...

The production of raspberries in sets

The past years have already indicated it and this year's “Corona spring” has confirmed it: the demand for 'edibles' – plants with edible parts – continues. Especially in this special year, there were phases in which the hunger for edible plants could hardly be satisfied, or in some cases not at all. Raspberries were particularly affected by these supply shortages, as they were hardly available, especially at the end of spring/beginning of summer. How could one prevent...

Complaint rates and sales opportunities for raspberry plants

Every producer of raspberry plants knows this: there are complaints from end consumers and, based on these, also from retail outlets. Raspberries are among the plants for which a certain rate of complaints can be expected, even if one has completely fulfilled one's task as a young plant producer and of course as a plant producer. What is behind this phenomenon? When is the main complaint made, and could this not also be used as a sales argument? We have analysed and evaluated the complaints at...