Raspberries are perhaps the foremost delicate fruit. This makes them an honest choice for home growing and fresh picking. Just harvested raspberries quickly pass from ripe to overripe. it’s difficult to seek out them good at the market; they ought to be eaten within each day or two of picking, otherwise they ought to be frozen for later use.

How to grow raspberries

Raspberries are available a variety of colors—red, black, purple, and yellow-gold. There are two sorts of raspberries when it involves harvest time—summer harvest varieties and fall harvest varieties. If you plant a number of both, you’ll extend the harvest for these sweet fruits.

BEST CLIMATE AND SITE FOR GROWING RASPBERRIES

• Plant raspberries fully sun. Fruit yield are going to be reduced if raspberries are planted in partial sun or shade. (In extremely popular summer regions, you’ll plant raspberries where they get some afternoon shade.)
• Chose a location where there’s many air circulation but faraway from a continuing breeze or wind.
• Avoid planting raspberries during a windy location; wind can damage the canes.
• Do not plant raspberries where other raspberries or blackberries have grown within the past few years; soilborne diseases like Verticillium wilt or plant disease can remain within the soil where raspberries have grown recently. Plant faraway from wild blackberries.
• Do not plant raspberries where blackberries or other bramble berries, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, or roses have grown; these plants same the share diseases with raspberries.
• Plant in well-drained, loamy soil. Add aged compost or commercial organic planting mix to the soil and switch it under to 12 inches before planting. don’t plant raspberries in waterlogged soil.
• Raspberries prefer a soil pH of 5.5 to 6.5. If the soil is alkaline, acidify the soil to stop lime-induced chlorosis.
• If the soil is sandy, add many aged compost and organic interest help retain moisture.

CHOOSING the proper RASPBERRY PLANT

• Raspberries are available several colors: gold or yellow raspberries and red raspberries are hardy and sweet; black raspberries are flavorful but not hardy and vulnerable to disease; purple raspberries are between red and black.
• Raspberries are often divided into summer-fruiting and fall-fruiting (also called ever-bearing). Summer-bearing raspberries grow tall and wish support; fall-bearing raspberries are shorter and may be grown with or without support.
• Red, black, and purple berries are often summer- or fall-bearing; gold or yellow varieties tend to fruit within the fall.
• Summer-bearing varieties fruit on last year’s canes. Fall-bearing varieties fruit on this year’s canes. Knowing which you’re growing is vital when pruning time comes.
• Raspberries are often purchased bare-root or in containers. Each plant will come as one cane—do not be alarmed.
• Choose one-year-old dormant plants with many roots. If you buy bare-root plants, search for Pieris rapae buds on the roots; new shoots or suckers will grow from these buds.
• Be sure to pick certified virus-free plants; viral infection is that the commonest raspberry disease.
• Raspberries are self-fertile, so you’ll plant only one cultivar.

YIELD and the way MUCH TO PLANT

• Summer-bearing raspberries will produce 4 to six pounds of fruit per each 3-foot section of row.
• Fall-bearing raspberries will produce 2 to three pounds of fruit per each 3-foot section of row.

SPACING RASPBERRIES

• Space raspberries red and yellow raspberries 2 feet apart during a row; they’re going to fill within the open space during a year or two.
• Space black and purple raspberries 3 feet apart.
• Space raspberry rows one to 2 feet apart.

PLANTING RASPBERRIES

• Plant raspberries in spring or fall. In spring, wait until after the last frost to plant.
• Plant summer-bearing raspberries in one row and fall-bearing raspberries during a separate row; this may make pruning much, much easier. Summer-bearing and fall-bearing plants are pruned differently. (See the section on pruning.)
• Erect your supports before planting. Raspberries are commonly grown on a post and wire trellis. (See training below for a way to line a post and wire trellis.)
• Soak bare-root plants in compost tea for 20 minutes before planting.
• Dig a trench twice as deep and twice as wide because the root balls of the plants; or dig a hole twice as wide and deep because the individual plant root ball. Raspberries aren’t planted deeply; roots are going to be only about 3 inches approximately deep at planting time.
• Add a mix of two cups of kelp and 1 cup of bonemeal to the opening before planting.
• Set the plants within the trench or hole in order that the crown of the plant is level with the encompassing soil; don’t bury the crown.
• Backfill the ditch or hole with half native soil and half aged compost or commercial organic planting mix. make certain to firm within the soil in order that there are not any air pockets round the roots.
• When the plant is in situ , cut the highest off the cane at about 10 inches above the ground; make your cut just above a node. This pruning at planting time will cause the cane to grow more strongly when spring comes. When new sprouts come up round the original cane in spring, hamper the first cane to the ground; the new shoots will grow rapidly.
• Add a layer of aged compost mulch or leafmold along the row or round the plant to guard the roots.
• Mulch raspberries planted in fall to stop frost from heaving plants out of the soil.

CONTAINER GROWING RASPBERRIES

• Raspberries are often grown in containers, however their spreading habit and thorns are often problematic in confined areas.
• Shorter fall-bearing varieties could also be the simplest choice for container growing.
• Choose a container a minimum of 12 inches wide and deep with good drainage. Use an organic potting mixture.
• Plant two or three canes together during a single container
• Repot raspberries per annum when the plants are dormant.

RASPBERRY CARE, NUTRIENTS, AND WATER

• Keep the soil evenly moist throughout the growing season; avoid wetting the foliage; splashing water can spread fungal disease.
• Water twice every week in warm weather as berries fatten and ripen.
• Feed raspberries a balanced organic in late winter to market growth and fruit within the coming season. Feed raspberries aged compost throughout the season—mulch with aged compost.
• Raspberries have shallow roots; protect shallow roots with a thick mulch of aged compost. Mulch also will keep down weeds and slow soil moisture evaporation.
• Mulch a thick layer of aged compost a minimum of twice a year.
• Protect raspberries from birds as berries ripen; place plastic netting over the plants.
• If berries are still on the plant when fall frost threatens, drape floating row covers over the plants.

TRAINING RASPBERRIES

• Give raspberries support. Trellis raspberries in order that they’re easy to reap , and canes and berries are exposed to air and sunlight; this may decrease disease.
• A trellis of wires stretched between posts are going to be enough to stay canes off the bottom . Stretch wires at one to two-foot intervals between post set firmly within the ground. Set wires at 2 feet, 3 feet, and 4 feet above the bottom . Use 7-foot posts set 2½ deep. Tie the canes to the wire

PRUNING RASPBERRIES

• Not all raspberry varieties are pruned within the same way.
• For fall crop and ever-bearing raspberries, cut all old canes to the bottom once they are finished fruiting.
• For summer-bearing red raspberries that produce fruit on two-year old canes, cut away old brown, fruit-producing canes after harvest. Leave the young, new canes to supply fruit the subsequent summer. In late winter, remove the littlest canes leaving three to 6 sturdy canes.
• Black and purple raspberries produce fruit on side branches that grow from older canes. Prune away canes that have produced fruit shortly after the fruit has been harvested (in late summer). nip the growing tips of latest canes once they are 3 to 4 feet tall; this may make them grow side branches which will later bear fruit. During the dormant period, remove the littlest canes on the plant leaving 4 to six sturdy canes per 1 foot of row. Cut away spindly side branches and trim remaining side branches back to eight to 10 inches long; these will bear fruit subsequent summer.
• A note about pruning at planting time: When a replacement plant is about in situ , cut the highest off the cane at about 10 inches above the ground; make your cut just above a node. This pruning at planting time will cause the cane to grow more strongly when spring comes. When new sprouts come up round the original cane in spring, hamper the first cane to the ground; the new shoots will grow rapidly.
• More raspberry pruning tips at How and When to Prune Raspberries.

PROPAGATING RASPBERRIES

• Lift young shoots and replant them to form new plants. obtain a healthy shoot or sucker with a garden fork; confirm some roots are attached to the shoot. Cut the sucker and roots faraway from the mother plant. Replant it immediately during a pot or elsewhere within the garden; don’t let the roots dry out.
• Do not propagate diseased plants; instead purchase new certified disease-free plants.

HARVESTING AND STORING RASPBERRIES

• Pick raspberries when the fruits are ripe. Ripe fruit are going to be soft and are available far away from the plant with little effort. Unlike blackberries, the plug or core remains behind on the plant once you pick the fruit.
• Unripe raspberries won’t ripen off the plant.
• Place harvested fruit during a shallow container—about three or four fruits deep—to avoid crushing the fruit.
• Raspberries will keep just two or three days within the refrigerator. Freeze berries you can’t use immediately.
• Slightly under-ripe berries are better for cooking or freezing.
• Ripe berries left on the bush will rot. this may also cause unripe berries still on the plant to ripen more slowly.

RASPBERRY PROBLEMS AND CONTROL

• Spray plants with compost tea when fruits form to assist prevent gray mold. Spray early within the day to permit plants to dry for sunset.
• If mildew or cane disease was a drag last year, spray plants with lime-sulfur in spring when buds begin to make .
• If fruitworms were a drag last year, spray plans with rotenone or pyrethrins in spring when buds appear.
• Yellow patterns on leaves or crumbly berries are often a symbol of viral disease. Remove infected plants from the garden.
• Orange pustules may be a sign of fungal rust disease. Trim off diseases leaves. Spray the plant with compost tea or a fungicide.
• Cane tip wilt could also be a symbol of cane borer beetles; remove the infested canes or plant.

FALL AND WINTER RASPBERRY CARE

• Remove spent canes in late summer or fall after harvest is completed.
• Tip-prune overwintering summer-bearing canes. Remove all of the fall-bearing canes that have just fruited.
• Keep raspberry rows and therefore the garden freed from dropped leaves and fruit; these can harbor disease over the winter.
• Mow between rows to stay raspberries from creeping out of their rows.
• Rake mulch far away from plants in autumn; this may prevent mice from nesting under the mulch. After the primary freeze rakes the mulch back over plant roots.
• Control the width of raspberry rows in winter.
• Prune canes in winter if they weren’t pruned right after harvest.

RASPBERRY VARIETIES to undertake

• Cold-hardy varieties: ‘Boyne’, ‘Nova’, ‘Nordic’.
• Heat tolerant varieties: ‘Dorman Red’, ‘Bababerry’, ‘Southland’.
• Red raspberries include ‘Algonquin’, ‘Chilliwack’, ‘Canby’, ‘Heritage’, ‘Meeker’, ‘Newburgh’, ‘September’, ‘Southland’, ‘Willamette’.
• Black and purple raspberries include ‘Allen’, ‘Jewel’, ‘Royalty Purple’. ‘Bristol’, ‘Black Hawk’, ‘Cumberland’, ‘Munger’.
• Yellow (gold) raspberries include: ‘Fallgold’, ‘Anne’.
• Fall-bearing (also called ever-bearing) raspberries include ‘Autumn Bliss’, ‘Heritage’, ‘Caroline’, ‘Autumn Treasure’, ‘Belle de Malicorne’.
• Summer-bearing raspberries include ‘Tulameen’, ‘Meeker’, ‘Latham’, ‘Taylor’, ‘Cascade Delight’, ‘Glenn Fyne’, ‘Glen Fyne’, ‘Glen Prosen’, ‘Leo’, “Milling Jewel’.