We have raspberries, an everbearing red variety, now well established. I had problems with rabbit damage when the canes were new-rabbits seem to love the first tender leaves, that emerge in the spring. I don't think that flooding around the base of the plant will have much adverse affect, unless the flooding persists for more than a day. We also have soil high in clay content, and the raspberries do fine. I cut them back in the fall, and cover the bed with 8 inches of shredded tree leaves. Worms emerge the following summer, and by fall, the leaves have all been consumed, and incorporated into the soil. The main thing with raspberries is that you have to keep thinning and cutting back, or the bed will become inpenetrable, and the quality of the fruit will decline.

ok cool! at least i know that theres a chance they wont die. also, how long would it take before i start to see growth? and if anyone can help with the other berries thatd be great, my parents buy me the supplies and they are ok with it as long as it doesnt go over like 200$

Raspberries should begin to green up, with the first leaves emerging in April, here in Madison, Wisconsin. By June, the canes might be 20 inches, and by mid-July, you might see some flowers and the beginnings of green fruit. You won't have a bumper crop the first year, but you should be able to pick a handful of ripe fruit in August, and the canes will continue to bear fruit through mid-October.

It should be possible to grow a clump of blackberries in a raised bed of 2 feet by 2 feet with 10-12" of soil in it.
Any trellis or support can be put into the ground outside the raised bed.

Strawberries might only need 6" deep soil. Strawberries send out runners and could eventually require many more square feet of ground than blackberries.

You might want to see how your blackberries do right in the ground this year; in some ways they are less fussy than raspberries. If you have very cold winters, you may need to mulch the raised area in winter as a small raised area will freeze more easily than flat ground.

Hi Pik_Pik-
From the two varieties you mentioned, and the timing of your purchase, I'm guessing these are the carton'd raspberries from Home Depot or other big box store. When I first started off growing fruit, I took the same route. For me, the carton'd fruit was a total bust. Out of 11 cartons, only one survived... and it wasn't because I did anything wrong. (Save the cartons and receipt!!) If yours are showing signs of green-ness/life, then perhaps you'll be OK, but I just wanted to give you a word of caution on buying plants this way... if they don't work out for you, then don't give up...

A better way to buy raspberries to to go through a company like Nourse Farms who specializes in them. For $15, you'll get 5 bare root plants which are in infinitely better shape than the ones that come in those cartons, and they'll be better varieties too.

You may want to search on both 'Fall Gold' and 'Ebony King' varieties here on GW. I'm sorry to say that Fall Gold isn't usually a favored variety... and Ebony King only seems to be mentioned with these cartons.

Sorry to be a downer... I do hope they work out for you... but if they don't... just know there are better options for accomplishing what you're trying to do..

All the best,
-Glenn

Here is a link that might be useful: Nourse Farms

thanks Glenn i knew i was taking a risk with these to begin with as i also grow live plants in my fish tanks (my main hobby) so i decided to just get the healthiest looking canes i could find. i did want to go to a local nursery to get plants or order them offline,however i ended up going to walmart instead. If these current plants dont work out how long do i have to replant another set of raspberries/ black berries? as right now only the blackberries show green and only on the bottom half of the cane, the raspberries havent really changed in appearence. they are all in 1x3x3 hole i dug out and i hope to use the fencing as trellis so they act as border plants as well.

as for the strawberries mine are in 2 rows of 10 plants each in a rough 15x3x.75 foot bed i dug out a filled up. all of them were bareroot and so far are doing well, half of them were already waking up by the time i planted them so these already have 5-6 leaves and the other half some are starting to wake up and grow. my concern with these is that the bed is just a little lower than the actual ground so my idea was to put a small 6-12" high wood box around the bed, and fill it up and replant the berries so they are elevated.

also with the actual cane plants i was wondering if i could also do the same thing sorta like how Larry gene mentioned?

thanks for the help guys i really appreciate it!

Hi Pik_pik
If you already know what you're doing, and the canes look good, and you're seeing green, then perhaps you'll be OK. For the newbies, even long after the plants are dead, the big box stores will be happy to sell them to you... and we have many visitors come to this site in that situation. The pictures on the outside of the carton look so nice, don't they?!

At lot of the advice you will get here is very location dependent... so it always helps to have your zone info entered correctly.

Around here, you can plant a local bought nursery gallon-sized raspberry in the beginning of August if you like... But, you'll pay $25-$30 for that plant, and they only have limited/basic varieties. For the bare-root online-nursery route... the problem is as much that they sell out. Nourse basically answers your question in the link below.

also with the actual cane plants i was wondering if i could also do the same thing sorta like how Larry gene mentioned?

I'm not sure what you mean... both raspberries and blackberries are both cane plants... Do you mean growing them in a mound? Anyway, everything that Larry mentioned looked sound to me.
All the best,
-Glenn

Here is a link that might be useful: Nourse Farms Recommended Planting Season by zone

yeah i forgot to put my zone number in, im in zone 7.

what i meant for the caneplants was to basically build an elevated box around them as well (is it ok to bury the canes or do i have to replant them again?) i meant the 'actual cane plants' to not confuse myself, sorry about that.

Hi Pik_Pik-
Sure, you can plant the canes in a raised bed if you like... it may also help with containment (an important issue for root-spreading raspberries and some blackberries). When you plant 'em, you want to keep the original soil/air line as was originally grown... so yes, you'll need to replant them. Raspberries are usually tough as weeds, but you can't bury them in 8" of soil as might happen if adding a raised bed above them.

In fact, even with with the best plants from someone like Nourse, one of the biggest mistakes that newbie raspberry growers make is burying them too deep. The roots only want to be burried about an inch down... So, you dig a hole just big enough to get the cane to stand vertical, and then a bunch of 1" deep trenches along the surface. Then you lay out the roots in those trenches and then wipe dirt back on them.

Hope this helps,
-Glenn

ok thanks! i planted them at the original soil level so i hope they are ok.

how will i know whether or not the raspberries make it? currently the canes still remain the same brownish coloras when i bought them. btw ith canes i refer to 2 plants, they each have 1 2-year old cane roughly 12" high, and the top is pruned, same as with the blackberries.

Your canes as they now exist are of minor importance, any existing leaves may contribute a little energy to the roots.
The canes will probably not bloom or make fruit.

What is important is the new sprouts that should emerge in a few weeks next to the existing canes. That is your future crop for 2012. If you want to make raised beds, best to do that and replant the canes by mid-April, otherwise you risk injuring delicate new roots.

You won't know if your caneberries will make it for several months--perhaps July, too late to then immediately buy and plant new ones. If your current plants fail, buy some new ones this fall and plant them then.

Success will be if your plants sprout new canes that become longer than the old pruned ones that came with the roots.

Ok!

is there anyway how i can help the plants survive and grow? i added 10-10-10 fertilizer as per directions but other than that the weather has covered the watering side, i check the plants everyday when i get home for school for anything new and i actually just got inside.

will the canberries still spread out of the beds or will they be confined in their 2x2x1 box?

and do the green parts of the canes need to be exposed to sunlight to survive? on of the black berry canes had a part of its green stalk covered and i removed the mud but just being curious?

Hi Pik_Pik-
Containing raspberries is actually quite difficult. In some areas, I don't even try... I just put grass around them and then whatever comes up outside my little borders, just gets mowed. So, it all depends on how tall your box is. 2x2x1 = feet? Some have said their raspberries tunneled out of 12" raised beds. Yet mine have never gone under their 10" wooden barrier (where I have some other beds). It's hard to say. My guess is that you'd be ok with a 12" tall box.

I wouldn't have added fertilizer yet, as I'd be worried about burning the fragile roots at this point.

As for the green parts of the canes... I'm not sure what you mean. You should likely have last years stumps (dead cut canes), and any new canes growing (though it's a bit early for that). As long as you keep the original soil/air line, you should be fine. Any violation of that, and you may be asking for trouble.

Good luck,
-Glenn

ok then. ill see how it goes with the current caneberries as they are and if they dont make it i'll create a raised bed for the next plants i get in fall.

as for the strawberries ill build a raised bed and replant them at the higher soil level.

thanks so much for the help everyone especially Glenn and Larry Gene!!

Glad to help pik_pik. Good luck!
-Glenn