is this sunburn on the blackberries

i was just wondering if this is sunburn or something else going on with the black berries. sorry the picture is so blurry

Good God, it looks like a mini version of Indian corn. Don

You could have left out the good god comment. I'm asking if they look sunburnt.

This message was edited Jul 4, 2011 8:46 PM

Kathy Ann, I don't think it is possible to get more direct sun than mine do. I have never seen anything like that. I don't know much about berries other than how to eat them, but could it be a pollination problem?. Don

thank you for your input, maybe someone will come along and know what the problem is. I do know that the ones that are covered by leaves or under other berries aren't like these that look burned. which made me think that they are getting burned. my raspberries are getting burned by the sun also. they don't have these discolored spots on them but more of a spot that a green pepper gets when it gets sunburned or even a tomatoe.

I just want to know how to fix the problem, this is our first year getting berries and we had a bumper crop for the first year.

here they are before they ripened.

while searching the net for this information, I c ame across this thead. and it does explain that blackberries can get sunburnt.

guess i need to decided if I wantt o go to the expense of shading them part of the day and how to do that


http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg0510322428002.html

I also found this site which has a picture of what my blackberries look like, I'll have to read it further though, no time this morning

http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/ppdl/weeklypics/9-6-10.html

AH HA! we did have a ton of stink bugs on them this early spring, I think that might be the damage, it sounds like the damage is already done and nothing i can do now but keeping the stink bug damage off early in the game next year. we had alot of little yellow beetles on our red raspberries also but there's no damage much to speak of on them.

KA I'm growing thornless blackberries this year and mine are doing that too, it's my first time and these blackberry plants were planted in March so I'm not sure. The ones that are coming ripe correctly are very good though! From the sounds of your article it seems like they're just getting sunburned, I haven't seen a stink bug at all on my property and it's been severely hot this year so that's my guess!

We just came in from out back picking wild blackberries adn there isn't a sunburnt berry on the vine, go figure. i'm going to do something next year though about the stink bugs cause we had a ton of them on the blackberries when the berries were red. I think that the thornless varieties are alot less hardier meaning they are babies compaired to the wild varieties lol

It's likely sunburn. You are seeing individual cells succumb to heat. The 'before' pic shows no cover for the fruit. Where is the new growth to shade them?
I get this and worse all the time. But only on the most exposed canes.
Andy P

I'm having big time problems with this, too. The whacky weather must be causing it this year. I'm thinking it is the heat as much as the UV as the berries have been in the same spot for years and this is the worst it has ever been.

Kathy_ann,

all my blackberry bushes were patented by U of AR or AR State(?). Why don't you google for Arkansas Agricultural Extension service blackberries. They will have all the local problems in their blackberry bulletin.