Raspberry Care

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi folks,

Just a couple of quick questions to check my understanding, if anyone can confirm what I think is corect for me it would be appreciated!

We've 2 types of Raspberries on our plot, summer fruiting and autumn gold. The autumn gold has been moved today, and is now supported by wire, and is still showing green leaves atm. The summer fruiting ones we are due to move tomorrow to the other side of the supporting wire so that we will still know which is which!

I believe we have to prune back the autumn fruiting rasps in February, how far back do we cut it, and how soon in Feb? Is it cut right down to the base or not? Do we wait until the last frost before pruning or just do it in February anytime? What about the new canes that have not yet fruited, I'm assuming that these (less than 18" tall) dont need to be cut back at all until after they have fruited for the first time, is this the case?

The summer fruiting ones that we are moving tomorrow haven't had any fruit this year (that we are aware of), so I'm assuming that this means we may get a crop next summer, as the growth appears to be this years. If not then it may be time for us to get some new summer fruiting canes next year, is this a fair assumption? Now, if the summer fruiting ones do fruit next year I also believe that we have to prune the fruiting canes back after they have finished fruiting, and leave the new canes that have grown, as these are what will fruit the following year! Is there a best time to do this, and how far back do we prune them?

Sorry to ask so many questions, but I'm still learning, and havent yet got a good fruit book, Mr D's Nan is getting us one for xmas (along with a good greenhouse one), so any recommendations would be really well received!

[rustylady]

It's not good to keep moving things for the sake of it Mrs D. That said, I do know that you get given things, or you take over an allotment where everything is in the wrong place.

Summer fruiting raspberries need planting against a permanent framework of wires or other supports. They fruit on the stems which grew the year before if you see what I mean, so after they have fruited you cut that stem back to ground level and tie in the new year's stems (which should bear fruit the next year)

Autumn fruiting rasps (which I personally don't grow) are treated more as annuals. I believe you cut the whole lot down to ground level in spring and wait!! No personal experience but that is the theory.

[Alison]

I grow autumn raspberries (autumn bliss, not that imaginative but very reliable) and you are indeed supposed to cut all the stems back to the ground. Alternatively you can leave a few stems and they will then give you an extra summer set of fruit. Don't leave them all as you'll wear the poor plant out and the new stems which will fruit in the autumn will be too crowded. I've only got autumn ones so tend to do this every year without any detrimental effect on the autumn crop (picked about half a dozen this morning!) but suppose if you've already got summer ones then there isn't much of an advantage.

[SueA]

I've got 'Autumn Gold' & you are supposed to cut them back down to the ground in late winter as they fruit on the new growth. It doesn't matter what the weather is like, just chop them down & they'll be fine.

[annie trip]

I've just put some summer ones i was given in a tub will they like it there??

[mazel-bee]

Hello Annie.
I have had my summer fruiting raspberries in pots for over a year now and even got a healthy crop from them this year. It's not ideal but they are surviving for me quite happily. I have got mine in pots as deep as I could find ( a mere 12") and they did get thirsty in the summer. I've feed them too. I think I need to sort out a home as they get bigger. Good luck and I hope that is helpful. Fresh homegrown raspberries are without a doubt the tastiest.

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi all, thanks for all the replies!

RL, we arent moving them for the sake of moving them, but because when we took over our plot the canes were in a bed that was completely tangled with nettles and russian vine, and they were all bunched together, so the only way we could get the weeds out was to dig them up, remove everything back down to bare roots and replant in a better position, spacing them out so that they werent in 4 massive clumps anymore!

We manage to get the summer fruiting ones moved today, they are now on one side of the 30' wire support run we put in yesterday and the autumn fruiting on the other, so should be easy to remember what to do with each type!

I counted the canes today, and including the seedlings (of which there are about 12) there are 84 raspberry canes that are now forming a fedge on one side of our plot! I know there are some others in the raised bed at the back, along with brambles, but as we havent started clearing that one yet they can stay there for a bit longer!

Top the southern side of the fedge we are transplanting our strawbs, for the same reason as moving the rasps, they are completely overgrown, tangled and mixed up with weeds and taking up a massive bed, so hopefully by the weekend we will have them all neat, tidy and weedfree! We are planting the strawbs through weed control fabric and then mulching over with bark chippings, hopefully this will not only suppress the weeds, but also help prevent the slug damage that we suffered on this years strawbs! So far we've moved 34 strawbs from a 6' section of the overgrown bed, only another 20' or so to go! Methinks we may have a few more than we have room for, so may be offerring them to some of the other plotholders!

Last question, what is an average harvest from a mature raspberry cane and from a strawberry plant? Methinks we may well have a fair few next year, so may well be jam making quite a bit!

[Earthbabe]

Well that's next year's yule/christmas pressies sorted then Mrs D. Raspberry brandy anyone. Raspberry vinegar.

[Mrs Dobby]

Yep EB! That was exactly my thoughts! Hence I'd like an idea of just how much of a harvest we are gonna get!

[Earthbabe]

I'd check Hessayon but a friend has it as well as my other fruit book, no wonder I can't find them. Memory def going. Must need a glass of wine. I've heard that can help prevent Alzheimers (good enough excuse for me).

[Mrs Dobby]

Lol, thanks anyhow EB! We have the Heyasson Veg Expert one, and are hoping to get the Fruit and Greenhouse ones at Yule from Mr D's Nan, so will have some info then, but nothing here atm, nor online that I can find!

[Bex]

My gosh Mrs D, 84 canes you could open a pick your own. I've only got 5 but if they provide us with a couple of desserts I will be happy.

[Lesley Jay]

Mrs D. you won't get a huge harvest from the fruit next year because you have moved it. The year after though you will have tons of raspberries and with the strawberries it all depends how old the plants are.

[Mrs Dobby]

Thanks LJ, I wont order too many jam jars yet then!

We have given them a good feed LJ, plus minimized the time they were out of the ground, so I'm hoping it wont be too much of a shock to their systems, but only time will tell I suppose!

If not too much fruit next year thats ok, I'll just carry on looking forwards to the bumper crop the year after!

Some of the strawbs are new plants, from runners this year, some are ones that have fruited this year, about 1/2 of each, so even if the ones that fruited this year are 3 years old and need to be replaced we should still get a harvest from the other half, hopefully!

We have got some strawberry seeds to plant up next year, so I'm hoping that any that dont fruit next year can be easily replaced with seedlings!

Thanks for the reply anyhows LJ!

[Lesley Jay]

With having so many raspberry canes you should get a fair bit of fruit next year but the following years I don't know what you will do with it all !!!