Blight on wild blackberries

[Babble64]

Over the weekend I discovered a blight of some kind on our wild blackberries! It's a yellow/orange substance clinging to the leaves, making them curl. It's not on every plant, but it's on plants throughout our woods. Feeling sad because I LOVE to harvest our wild berries and was looking forward to do that in a few weeks.

Does anyone know what this is? Is it likely to take over all of our plants? I could live one season without the berries but I hate to think it will wipe out everything we have!!

 

[lurhstaap]

I'm not sure what it is, but if you want to try to help the plants you may try removing all the visibly blighted leaves and safely disposing of them in a way that ensures that whatever it is won't infect anything else. Good luck! I'd be very unhappy in your position as well. Wild blackberries are the best.

 

[Babble64]

I don't think it would be possible to remove individual leaves....the plants that are affected seem to have most of their leaves covered with this stuff. Perhaps what I should do, though, is clip out those plants and hope it doesn't spread to the others.

One of the nicest thing about wild blackberries is that they are like a free gift....because I don't put any effort into them. And it's always like a treasure hunt, to see which spot in the woods is most prolific each year.

Thanks for your help lurhstaap!

 

[thomas pendrake]

Blackberries are not only delicious, they are very healthy. I am unfamiliar with the blight mentioned, but I wonder if you may have black raspberries. I believe I have seen such a blight on wild black raspberries. I have enjoyed having both in the same area. Black bears also enjoy them.

 

[cmckinney01]

This is sad news. I just planted some blackberry bushes last year and was happy to see the amount of berries they produced for the first year. I didn't even know if I would get a single berry but I got several berries. I haven't seen this blight yet and hope it dies off without damaging any more plants.

 

[thomas pendrake]

This is sad news. I just planted some blackberry bushes last year and was happy to see the amount of berries they produced for the first year. I didn't even know if I would get a single berry but I got several berries. I haven't seen this blight yet and hope it dies off without damaging any more plants.

I'm curious as to what part of the world you live in. How are the wild blackberries there, are they native to your area? We have both bush and cane varieties here (Florida).

 

[Arielphf]

That sounds like some sort of rust. Ribes, the genus that blackberries are part of, serve as a secondary host to many species of rust (white pine blister rust, cedar apple rust). You might look at something like this: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/pdf/HYG_3010_08.pdf. There are several types of this fungus, so check out which one it might be. Most rusts have two hosts, or more, at different stages of their lives. If you can determine which rust you have, you can control it by removing the secondary host from anywhere near your blackberries. I have cedar apple rust on one of my arborvitae trees, so I don't try to grow apples in my yard.

Edit - and of course, the link I provided describes a rust that only has blackberries as host.

 

[Smartmom]

I am not so sure either. I was wondering if there is any harm done to the berries. I see you mention that the leaves are discolored. I absolutely love blackberries too. My grandmother use to make the best blackberry cobbler. In fact a few days ago my daughter made one. All I can say is yummy!