What are the conditions for growing raspberries? How to grow raspberries? do you need pruning in spring?

Raspberries are relatively easy to grow and can bear fruit indefinitely through proper care. Do you want to know how to do it? Let's have a look!

In summer (usually June or July), raspberries harvest one crop per season.

Continuously planted raspberries (also known as deciduous or primary fruits) have autumn crops and can also produce fruit the following summer. Most raspberries are summer varieties and are self-sufficient, which means you will eat only one fruit. They are best pollinated by bees and begin to produce fruit a year after planting. Although raspberry shrubs naturally tend to grow in cooler climates, there are now a variety of species suitable for planting areas.

All raspberries need pruning every year! Raspberries are perennials, but it is important to realize that their fruit ​​ branches (or rattan stems) can only last two summers. In the first year, the new green sugarcane (primocane) propagates asexually. Sugarcane forms brown bark, dormates in winter and is called peanut in the second growing season. Hibiscus bears fruit from early to mid-summer, and then dies. New raw fibers are produced every year, so fruit is produced year after year. Your job is to trim those sticks every year. It can be trimmed around early spring.

When will it be planted?

Raspberries can be purchased as dormant, bare-root or potted plants. Once the soil is ready to work, bare roots are planted and transplanted in early spring. Plant potted transplants in the spring after the threat of frost. Check the local frost date. Choose a place full of sunshine to produce the most fruit. Plants will grow in some shade, but the harvest will be meagre. Your site needs rich and well-drained soil, good ventilation and shelter from the wind. Avoid wet places and windy places, because raspberries don't like to stand in the water and they don't dry. Prepare the soil with a few inches of compost or aged manure a few weeks before planting. (a good ratio is about 3 to cubic feet of compost per 100 square feet. (plough the soil well before planting. Stay away from wild berry plants, or pests and diseases will spread to your garden.

Soak the roots for an hour or two before planting. Dig a hole spacious enough to let the roots spread. Whether you plant bare roots or potted plants, keep the crown of the plant 1 or 2 inches above the ground. Space red and yellow raspberry plants are 2 to 3 feet apart and 8 feet apart. The spatial black and purple types are 4 feet apart. Depending on the variety you grow, you may need to provide support. A grid or fence is a good choice. If you choose to use one of them, establish them at or before planting so that the plants will not be disturbed when they mature.

Mulching throughout the season is important to retain moisture and suffocate weeds. Leave a thick cover around the plant at all times. Water an inch a week from spring to harvest. Regular watering is better than infrequent soaking. The roots send out a large number of branches, called rattan stems. Keep order by pruning most of them so that survivors can produce large quantities of berries.

Red raspberries: prune at any time after the last harvest and before the start of spring growth. Cut all the canes that produce fruit into the ground. Each mountain (per foot row) ​​ is as thin as six sturdy walking sticks. In areas where winter injuries are common, you may delay thinning newborns (new growth) until the following spring, you will be able to tell which canes survive. Cut the cane about 12 inches above the support before starting to grow in spring. Do not reduce each walking stick by more than 25% to avoid reducing production.

Black and purple raspberries: when the primocanes height is between 24 and 30 inches, pinch out the tip of each branch to induce branching. This will make it easier to select fruits and increase production. After harvest, cut off all the fruit to the ground of the walking stick. Before starting to grow the following spring, cut off all side branches so that they grow 12 to 18 inches. Choose 6 walking sticks on each mountain, and then cut off the rest. Tie these canes to the support system.

At any time after harvest, before spring begins to grow, cut all walking sticks into the ground. They take fruits from the vines of the first year of growth, and then there is no reason to keep them. Cut and swing to the ground or use pruning shears as small patches.

Note: the above assumption is that you are harvesting autumn crops. In order to reduce both autumn and summer crops, do not remove the original fiber that produces autumn crops. Trim them back to about 12 inches above the support in the spring, or to the last visible node with fruit, cutting off the tip of death.