Shrub · Rosaceae
Loganberry
Rubus × loganobaccus
Give it full sun, rich soil, and a sturdy trellis, and the loganberry hands you a long summer of tart-sweet fruit.
Full sun
Every 5–7 days
USDA 5–9
5–7 ft · 1.5–2 m
Overview
The loganberry is a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry, raised long ago and grown ever since for its big, deep red fruit. It belongs to the rose family alongside its bramble cousins, and like a blackberry it keeps its core when you pick it. The flavor lands somewhere between the two parents, sharper than a raspberry and richer than a blackberry.
It grows as a trailing perennial, throwing out long, fast-growing canes that want a fence or trellis to climb rather than standing on their own. Each plant lives for years, but the canes work on a two-year cycle: they grow one season and fruit the next, then they're done. Knowing that cycle is the key to pruning it right.
This is a plant for the open garden, hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9 and happiest with room to sprawl. It isn't fussy, but it is tender to hard cold and quick to form a thicket if you let the cane tips root where they fall. Give it a sheltered, sunny spot and stay on top of the canes, and it earns its keep.
Care
The short version: full sun, rich and well-drained soil, and a steady 1 to 2 inches of water a week. Train the canes onto a trellis, feed in early spring, and cut out each cane the year after it fruits.
Light
Loganberries crop best in full sun, which is where the fruit turns sweetest. They'll take a little partial shade, but the shadier the spot, the fewer and smaller the berries you'll pick.
Water
Give the plant 1 to 2 inches of water a week, and step that up while it's flowering and the fruit is filling out. Keep the soil moist but never sodden, since the canes hate sitting in waterlogged ground.
Soil
Plant in rich, well-drained loam with plenty of organic matter worked in. A slightly acidic pH between 5.5 and 6.5 suits it best, and good drainage keeps the roots healthy.
Temperature
The loganberry handles a wide range, from about 5°F to 86°F (-15°C to 30°C), which puts it in USDA zones 5 to 9. It's tender to hard cold though, so the canes need shelter or cover where winters turn severe.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor humidity in the 40% to 70% range is fine. What matters more is airflow, since still, damp air around crowded canes is exactly what gray mold and purple blotch want.
Feeding
Feed in early spring as the new growth starts, using a nitrogen-rich balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10 and topping it off with compost. One seasonal feed is enough to drive a strong flush of canes.
Pruning
Pruning follows the cane cycle. Cut the old floricanes that have just fruited right down to the ground after harvest, then train the fresh primocanes onto the trellis, and tidy and tie everything in over late winter.
Repotting
This is a ground plant and rarely sees a pot. If you do grow one in a container, refresh it or move it up every 1 to 2 years in late winter, watching for roots circling the pot or water running straight through.
Size & spacing
Plants reach 5 to 6.5 feet (150 to 200 cm) tall and spread a sprawling 6 to 10 feet (1.8 to 3 m) wide along the trellis. Give those long trailing canes plenty of room to run.
When to plant
The loganberry runs on the seasons, not the calendar indoors. Set new plants out in early spring once hard frost has passed, or in late fall where winters stay mild. The plant blooms in late spring and the fruit ripens from late June through August.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Early spring after the danger of hard frost has passed, or late fall in mild-winter regions
- Harvest: Blooms late spring; harvest late June through August
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 5–9
Temperature: down to -29°C
Troubleshooting
Most loganberry trouble shows up on the canes or the ripening fruit, and damp weather is usually behind it. Catch the early signs and you can step in before a problem spreads down the row. Match what you see below, then act while it still helps.
Purple-brown blotches spreading along the canes
This is purple blotch, a fungus that settles on the canes and spreads fastest in wet weather and a crowded planting. The marks start small around the nodes, then swell and run together. Cut out the infected canes, thin the rest so air moves through, and reach for a labeled fungicide only if it really takes hold.
Fix:
- Prune out and destroy infected canes
- Thin canes to open the canopy
- Apply a labeled fungicide if infection is severe
Soft berries furred with gray mold
This is gray mold, caused by botrytis, and it takes hold in damp, humid spells right as the fruit ripens. The berries go soft, then collapse under a fuzzy gray coat. Pull off and bin anything infected, pick ripe fruit often so it never sits, and open the canopy up so the berries dry quickly.
Fix:
- Remove and discard infected fruit
- Harvest ripe berries promptly and frequently
- Improve airflow around the canopy
Canes that stay brown and never leaf out in spring
Trailing brambles like the loganberry are tender in the cold, so a hard winter can leave you with dead canes even when the crown below pulls through. Look for brown, brittle wood that snaps instead of bends. Cut the dead canes back to live tissue or the ground, and in cold areas mulch the crown and lower or cover the canes before winter sets in.
Fix:
- Prune dead canes back to live tissue or the ground
- Protect canes over winter in cold sites
Toxicity
Good news for a household with pets and children: the loganberry holds nothing poisonous. The berries are safe to eat and every part of the plant is harmless to swallow. The only real hazard is physical, since the standard forms carry sharp prickles, so wear gloves when you prune and pick a thornless cultivar if scratches are a worry.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats None
Safe to be around. A cat that nibbles a leaf is in no danger, though the prickles on thorned canes can scratch a curious nose.
Dogs None
No toxic compounds here, so a dog can share a few ripe berries. Gulping down a pile of leaves may bring on a passing upset stomach, nothing more.
Horses Safe
Horses can graze near the canes without harm. The thorns are the only thing to watch, since a sharp prickle can scratch the muzzle.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits can browse the leaves and fruit freely. The plant carries nothing poisonous, so it counts as a safe forage.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep can graze the foliage with no risk of poisoning. Stems do bear prickles, so the thorns are the only real concern.
Birds Safe
Birds love the ripe berries and come to no harm from them. They help themselves to the crop and scatter the seed as they go.
People Safe
The berries are a treat eaten fresh or cooked, and the whole plant is safe. The thorns on standard forms are the only thing that bites back, so glove up when you prune.
Thorned forms bear sharp prickles that can scratch pets and handlers, while thornless cultivars exist; wear gloves when training or pruning canes.
Varieties
Loganberries come in just a couple of forms worth knowing, split mainly by whether the canes carry thorns. Here are the two you're most likely to meet.
Thornless Loganberry (L654)
Its smooth, spineless canes make picking and training far easier than the thorned form.
Loganberry LY59
This is the standard thorned, heavy-cropping clone that growers have raised commercially for years.
Companions
The loganberry shares soil diseases with a few common crops, so the smarter move is knowing what to keep it away from rather than what to plant beside it.
Keep apart
Solanaceous crops (tomato, potato, pepper, eggplant): Share Verticillium wilt; avoid planting brambles where these crops recently grew
Wild brambles: Can harbor viruses and diseases that spread to cultivated canes
How to propagate
Loganberries are easy to multiply at home, and the plant does most of the work itself once a cane tip touches the ground.
LayeringEasy
Late summer to early fall · Roots in about 4 to 8 weeks; transplant the rooted tip the following spring
Tip-layering is the usual way to make more trailing brambles, and it takes almost no effort. In late summer or early fall, bend a growing cane tip down and bury it in the soil, where it puts out roots in about 4 to 8 weeks. Leave it in place and lift the rooted tip to its new spot the following spring.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Summer (softwood) or late winter (hardwood) · Several weeks to a few months to root and establish
Cuttings are less common than tip layering but work well for bulking up the thornless clones. Take softwood cuttings in summer or hardwood ones in late winter, and give them several weeks to a few months to root and settle in before you treat them as established plants.
Myths
A loganberry is just a kind of raspberry.
It is a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry, and it sits with the trailing blackberries rather than the raspberries. Like a blackberry, it holds onto its core when you pick the fruit, which is the easiest way to tell the two apart.
Every loganberry plant has thorns.
Both thorned and thornless cultivars are grown, so the prickles are not a given. Choose a spineless form and the picking and pruning get much easier, with no sharp canes to fight through.