raspberries

[queen of the cobs]

Dear all,

I have some autumn raspberries on my plot, well, they've actually more or less taken over one of the beds. They are about 2 feet high now, but no buds showing - I have a few friends who say theirs are much taller and with buds appearing already - should I be feeding them with anything specific? I gave them a touch of water when we had our dry spell, and I think they appreciated it. Hope it was the right thing to do - I've not grown fruit before.

[andrewo]

Give them a good potash feed, you tend to do this when you feed your daffodils with potash as they die back in March/April - this is how I remember to do it? If they are in the first year, then they might not produce much. It's still early days for them, give them a good water as they have shallow roots.

[Protea]

Were they cut back to the ground last autumn? if so - they will fruit in autumn so i wouldn't expect flower buds just yet - just new growth.

However - if i've misunderstood, and they are old canes that haven't got buds on (for double cropping) then those stems may have died back and i'd cut them out, ready for fresh growth 9which should already be appearing).

Does this make sense?

I double crop my autumn fruiting raspberries as i have a very vigorous variety that can cope with it - i therefore leave the last years summer canes to overwinter, trim then back to a healthy fruiting spur. then in spring they shoot from lower down the old stems to produce a small early summer crop. Those stems that don't shoot i cut out at ground level. As my old stems are fruiting, so the new years growth is growing and this will produce flowers later in the summer to provide later fruit.

[queen of the cobs]

thanks for the advice - could you recommend a good brand for the potash feed?

thanks.

[andrewo]

I just buy mine in bags from the garden centre, as a powder (I have used wood ash before now from bonfires). You can use a tomato feed (but I don't hold with them as many have chemical in them), I prefer comfrey, just plant it and put the leaves into a bucket with water, when well rotted, water down 50/50 and water the raspberries with it.