Will this be ok for my raspberry plant?

[21again]

The rapberry plants that I bought from Lidl earlier in the year are growing quite a bit now.

I haven't grown any fruit bushes before and have read that they need to be supported.

As they are in 12" pots (won't be letting them get too big as we only have a medium sized garden) will this be ok?

[tamsin]

Are they summer or autumn fruiting? If autumn then they need cutting down to a few inches before spring and new canes will grow with fruit on. If they are summer those canes will have fruit next year.

As they grow they'll produce multiple stalks like that 4-5' tall so will need supporting to stop the pots falling over. The pots might be a bit small, I've a couple of canes in an 18"x18"x2' trough this year but I plan to plant them out. You could always lift those last two paving slabs and dig down then line it with weedproof membrane to contain them.

[21again]

Are they summer or autumn fruiting? If autumn then they need cutting down to a few inches before spring and new canes will grow with fruit on. If they are summer those canes will have fruit next year.

As they grow they'll produce multiple stalks like that 4-5' tall so will need supporting to stop the pots falling over. The pots might be a bit small, I've a couple of canes in an 18"x18"x2' trough this year but I plan to plant them out. You could always lift those last two paving slabs and dig down then line it with weedproof membrane to contain them.

They are summer ones, I have cut down the original cane to a couple of cms above ground level.

Nope, don't want to lift up any slabs so they will have to stay in the pots for now and I shall keep an eye on them. I have seen some huge round pots at our local B&M store and they were reduced to £2.99 so I think I may have to go and buy a few of those.

[bluemoon]

One of the good things about raspberries is that they tend to fruit at the top of the stem, (no bending down to harvest them), but if you prune them to keep them small you lose the fruiting part. Summer raspberries will only fruit on last year's wood, so you need to keep this year's growth for next year's berries to develop on, then cut any fruited wood out at the end of the second year, keeping that year's new growth for next time.

[rustylady]

They really would be much better in the ground. They're fairly shallow rooted, but the roots spread sideways quite a bit.