# Price of Berries



## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

I almost fainted today at the farmer's market!!! I went to get some extra strawberries to round out the ones I picked at home to make freezer jam and started looking around at the berries there. Raspberries and blackberries were $23.99 a flat (12 small cartons) and blueberries were $27.99 a flat!!!! I had to pay $10 for a half flat of strawberries!  I'm glad that I have my own raspberries that are going gung ho right now. Made a double batch of jam a couple days ago and just went out and picked what I figured would be $12 worth this evening! I'm going to keep increasing my strawberries from the runners and I have 2 blueberry plants that I just got this spring. I might get a couple more to plant too. How much are berries going in YOUR area?????


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2007)

I have no idea how much flats are around here. We paid $3.99 for a pound of organic strawberries the other day. The non-organic were $2.99.

The $23.99 a flat for blackberries that you quoted sounds cheap. They're about $5 for a small carton here (about 8 oz, I think).


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

A small carton here, at the store on sale, is usually $2.99 I like making my own jams and jellies because I know that everything at my house is organically grown and there aren't a bunch of "extra" ingredients or "natural" flavors in it like the store bought kind. Tastes alot better too! I wouldn't be able to make as much if I had to pay for all the berries though!!!


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

june is the big strawberry season here. you can find day nuetral and everbearing varieties throughout the summer, but most farms have lots of june bearing and i will report the price of those. they were $3.75-$3.95 per quart in season at the local farm stands and country stores. black raspberries were @ $3 per 6 oz. container at the local grocery store. i didn't bother pricing raspberries at the farm stands and country stores as i had just enough. i had extra strawberries and was curious of the price. i was kind to my neighbor and sold her a few quarts for $3.25 per quart. i should have had about 40% or 50% more strawberries this year, but i had pest troubles. the ants and sap beetles destroyed lots of my berries...but i digress. much like you, i keep expanding my berry patches. berry prices will not come back down i bet, so if i want berries i had better grow plenty.


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## fretti (Jun 30, 2007)

COSunflower said:


> I almost fainted today at the farmer's market!!! ...How much are berries going in YOUR area?????


I was astonished that the U-pick blueberries at my favorite farm are going for $1.10 a pound! :grump: I know they weren't nearly that price last year. 

I didn't think I would have to resort to buying blueberries again. I planted 7 bushes last fall and they were loaded when a thief stripped them. The thief (thieves) were, I believe, city workers who came onto my property to mark their right of way. (My bushes were way inside my property line and are 10 feet above the road - not visible to passing traffic.) I called the supervisor and he said "humm. The lady down the street has video of guys in orange shirts stripping her cherry trees but I know my guys wouldn't take them." You guessed it. The city workers wear orange shirts. :nono: I was SO mad!

Thank goodness my raspberries did very well and the marionberries are absolutely loaded. I have probably picked 3-4 gallons from the 6 plants I put in last summer. I'm freezing them until I can process the berries. Next year I should have Honeyberries and Jostaberries to boot.


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

Man! That would make me SOOOO mad to have somebody strip my berry bushes!!! I agree with MELOC - I don't think berry prices are going to come down either. All of the health magazines are toting the health benefits of eating berries - esp. blue berries and I read that they are the most popular berry this year for consumers. I went out this evening and picked what would have cost me $12 worth of raspberries at the farmers market....I'll just keep expanding my OWN berry plots!!! No paying those crazy prices for ME!!!


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## oberhaslikid (May 13, 2002)

Here in Ohio I have my own Strawberries, Blackberry, Red Rasp and Black Rasp. This year the only one that produced over a quart was the Black Rasp berries.
I have 12 Bluberry bushes and they Just didnt do well this year due to the dry weather.
I bought some Bluberries for the first time ever this year to do a fruit spread recipe and I paid 2.49 a pint.


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## shar (May 3, 2006)

DH and I went to a Upick farm yesterday for blueberries, $1.39 a pound.
That was way up from last year.


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## moonwolf (Sep 20, 2004)

I pick my own blueberries and saskatoons and some wild raspberries. wild blueberries are sought around here. I don't know how many is in a 'flat', but generally about $25/gal is pretty much the going price if you want to buy them anywhere.


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## chicky momma (Jul 25, 2006)

The U-pick blueberries go for 1.25/lbs. or 4.25/lb for organic! Saw raspberries for 4.25 a 1/2 pint at the farmers market. Blueberries sold for 5.5o a quart. Just keep going up every year. The bulk blueberries sell for $22-27 for a 10lb lug. Lisa


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

A flat here is 12 little cardboard containers that hold probably 2 cups if heaped up. MW - do you know how long it takes for blueberries to establish themselves? Mine didn't produce anything THIS year but I figured it might take a year or two.


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## daisybell (Jul 13, 2007)

Blueberry plants take 2-3 years to start to produce. Almost all the blueberries were lost in the April freeze this year. Hopefully they will make it next year.
I am interested in growing blackberries and raspberries in containers. Does anyone know if this is possible and have you tried it?


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

Daisybell - I haven't tried it but I am tempted to put some of my stray raspberry starts into some half whiskey barrels that I have. I think as long as it is deep enough for the root system and to hold a steady moisture, it would probably be OK. I don't think that they would do well in anything smaller though. My raspberries are about 4 ft tall when bearing so you might have to stand on a stool to pick them.


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