Home >> Home & Garden >> Planting Raspberries

Planting Raspberries

These shrubsare among the hardiest of the bush fruits and arer,erfectly at home in the northern United

States and southern Canada. The canes arebiennial, as in blackb.—", that is, theynormally are produced one year, fruit thesecond year and then die and should be re-moved in the annual thorough pruning thatthese shrubs require to keep them in goodbearing condition. The new shoots either appearat the base of the plant or as suckers a foot or soremoved from the plant.

There are 2 types of red raspberries, thosethat only fruit once a year, and those some-times termed "ever-bearing" that fruit early, inthe season (July), have a few weeks rest, andthen fruit again in Sept. or "nt;7 frost. Aftergrowing both types, I must admit to liking the"ever-bearing" group better, for in a goodarowing season it does seem that we have freshfruit from early summer to frost, with a break ofabout 2 tvCekS. -However, some gardeners maynot care for raspberries this much or may beaway from home in early summer. It also mustbe admitted that fruits of the "ever-bearing"types may not be quite as large or sweet as theothers. So, one has a decision to make concern-ing the type to plant.

Pruning the "ever-bearing" group is a littledifferent "--se the same canes that bearearly summer bear again in the early fall. Afterfruiting in the fail, the fruiting canes can beremoved, together with weak canes. Thispruning can also be done in the winter orearly spring.

Raspberry Pruning:

A. Two-year-old canes are removed entirely.3. Topping one-year-old canes slightly.

C.Remove weak canes.

D.Remove unwanted suckers.

canes, no work except seeing to it that all canesare kept within the limits set by these wires.There are other methods, but this works welland, if made of sturdy materials, needs noattention for years.

As noted, pruning is done after fruiting in thelate summer, for the s-crop varieties, or in thefall, winter or early spring for the z-crop or"ever-bearing" varieties. Canes left may have thetops snipped off at about 41- to 6 ft. high,depending on variety.

The Black Raspberry (or Blackcap) and thePurple Raspberry are treated in the samemanner, except that the shoots tend to be longand trailing and the ends might well be cut offwhen they have reached their proper manage-able height (5-- 6 ft) which forces lateral growth,especially- desirable since these plants onlyproduce 3-12 canes per plant and can get topheavy if the canes are cut off much higher.This heading back should be done as soon as thegrowth reaches this height.

Propagation is simply by dividing the plants,digging up rooted suckers, or using a sharpspade through the center of a plant fromwhich many canes have developed. The black-caps are reproduced by tip layering, merelyselecting a long arching shoot, placing the tipfirmly in the ground with just the end showing.This is done in late summer and by the follow-ing spring this should be rooted.

Planting can be done in either the fall or thespring, but ether things being equal, early

spring is probably best. When properly planted(about 3o-4S in. apart in the row for the rasp-berries and 3-6 ft. apart for the blackcaps) thecanes are cut back to about 5 in.

Insect Pests

Raspberry cane borer, red-necked caneborers and raspberry cane maggot all punctureand girdle the tips of canes and cause them towilt. Spraying just before bloom with in-

Regional Gardening

Insecticide #9 usually combined with fungicide#D prevents much injury, but careful pruningof wilted shoots is also necessary. Raspberryfruit worm is a beetle which eats holes in thefirst leaves and lays eggs in the blossoms. Smallgrubs feed in the developing berry. Spraying asabove is recommended. Japanese beetle isattracted to Raspberry and spray or dust of insecticide #15 or #28, together with hand-picking, should prevent significant loss. Redspider mites often reach the peak of abundanceduring harvest and a miticidc spray such asinsecticide #34, just before the fruit forms andafter harvest, is advisable.

Diseases

Mosaic resulting from infection by severalviruses is the most destructive disease. Dis-colored, twisted, curled, abnormal leaves are theprinciple symptoms. Planting the more resistantvarieties and careful removal of infected orsuspicious plants is the only protection. Infectedsoil should be avoided for new plantings andany aphids promptly sprayed with insecticide#15. Leaf curl and streak are treated in thesame way. Anthracnose may weaken or killcanes following the development of gray spotson the bark. Careful pruning and thinning ofweak canes and application of a general sprayschedule usually checks the disease. Caneblight and spur blight produce gray or purpleblotches on bark which may kill the cane or thefruit spur. A dormant spray of fungicide #Nor a general schedule is advised. A whitepowdery growth on the wilted tips of newcanes indicates powdery r-Pmew.

SPRAY SCHEDULE.

When first leaves open—insecticides # 15and # 9 and fungicide #D

2.Just before blossom—insecticides # isand #9 and fungicide #D

3.Soon after harvest—insecticides # 15 andfungicide #D

4. Early September—insecticides # 15 and#9 and fungicide #D