raspberry shoots eaten, not coming back :(

[otorongo]

I planted some bare-rooted raspberries in the ground in February. They were all putting out young shoots. In March, something (probably one of the roaming cats) ate the shoots on some of the plants.

Now, 6 or so weeks later, the shoots on the undamaged plants have grown into healthy-looking (albeit still short) canes with lush foliage, while the damaged ones are still bare sticks and there are no signs of new shoots appearing. I'm wondering if they're dead or will come back later in the season?

[FB.]

They'll probably come back in a few weeks, once they've had a chance to grow some new shoots.

[FB.]

...oh I meant to say....

When a plant's stems get badly damaged early in the season, the plant sometimes seems to decide not to grow new shoots for many weeks - perhaps it's so that whatever is eating it gets bored/starved, causing the troublemaker to move on.
But, curiously, when it does start re-growing, it actually grows faster and larger than its companions.

I have actually used this principle to "supercharge" certain fruit trees.
By pruning them just as the new shoots begin to emerge, the tree then doesn't replace them immediately, but seems to go into a phase of readying lots of buds to break from dormancy, with the idea that an explosive burst of growth from multiple growing points will outgrow the pests attacking it.

This technique isn't without a downside, though, as it tends to cause the plants to grow for longer, so they can end up being damaged by early frosts if the following autumn is especially cold, and, with lots of soft growth late in the season when the wet weather of autumn arrives, it can increase susceptibility to certain diseases which find it easy to invade soft shoots in wet weather.

[otorongo]

That's great to know, thanks FB.

[francesbean]

Wish you lived closer to me (Bathish) I've got so many raspberry shoots coming up all over the garden and I noticed today from next door I'm gonna be swamped with them if the birds don't get them first.

#They're survivors and i'm sure will spring back soon.

francesbean