Wineberry Canes?

[EagleGirl]

Hi everyone!

We've always thought that the bramble berries we have were normal wild red raspberries. Just recently, during other research, I found out they are actually a different but related species, Rubus phoenicolasius (Japanese Wineberry, Wineberry, or Wine Raspberry). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus_phoenicolasius They not only have normal type thorns, but thin hair-like thorns that absolutely cover the canes, and give them a distinctive red and furry appearance. They also enclose the developing fruit in big furry red buds. The "fur" on the buds does seem less thorn-like and more soft, but the stuff on the canes is really quite nasty.

So, I've seen you all mention feeding raspberry and other bramble canes to your rabbits, and them not minding the thorns. Since I always thought these were what normal red raspberries were like, I was rather surprised that they could safely eat them... :shock:

But, if rabbits could eat these, that could be very useful, because a lot of pruning is needed to keep these things under control. (If you can even call it under control... :lol: Maybe a better way to put it would be "at least somewhat manageable.") And it would probably be the best way to dispose of the pruned canes, they tend to poke holes in garbage bags (and people!), and you can't really just throw them on a compost heap, unless you want more of them growing there! :x

So, given that these are different, and have so many tiny thorns, do you think rabbits would actually be able to manage eating them? Or would they just hurt themselves, as I first thought? :doc:

 

[Miss M]

Once their lack of toxicity was established, I wouldn't hesitate to give the canes to the rabbits!

Let the buns tell you whether they can eat it or not.

Betcha they can, though they may prefer newer, more tender canes to older, woodier canes. Depends on the rabbits.

 

[EagleGirl]

So you really think that either they could manage to eat it safely despite the thorns, or if not, they would know and wouldn't even try?

Those hair-like thorns are really nasty, and unlike regular thorns, there isn't even a gap on the stems where they could bite around the thorns... they are everywhere on it. And once they stick in you, they are hard to get out, they are so tiny, brittle, and hard to see... Ugg.


I'm really, really hoping we can move soon, and then get some rabbits. Meanwhile I'm doing research, and trying to save seed or cuttings from the edible and useful wild plants around here, so we can bring them with us. They might have all these things down there already for all I know, of course (and if not they might not be too happy about us bringing them... :lol: ), but if nothing else it's some good practice saving seeds. :roll:

When I found out that these are different from normal raspberries, I thought maybe we could buy some of the normal ones, and leave these behind. But the flavor is supposed to be somewhat different, from what I read, and these are the ones we are used to and like. Not to mention that they are ridiculously prolific... Which can be good and bad, of course. My thought is that if we keep cutting it down regularly and keep it neat, it won't be too hard to harvest the berries, despite the thorns.

 

[MaggieJ]

If you feel that the thorns may be a danger to the rabbits, you can just feed the leaflets. I do that with some really vicious blackberries that we have.

 

[Zee-Man]

Just was wondering about this. Rabbit edibility is pretty deep in the article, but yes wineberry is! Ends up is is a subgenus of black/raspberry.
https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/rubpho/all.html

 

[ladysown]

having fed lots of berry types to bunnies... I would feed the softer growing canes to them and avoid the older canes. They are in general more palatable to bunnies.