Getting my raspberry patch into good shape for next year

16 years ago

I moved to a new house last winter with some neglected raspberry plants in the garden. However, in the spring I was pleasantly surprised to get a healthy amount of rasperries every morning for my cereal.

I'd like to try to increase my harvest or help the raspberries thrive. So, I removed the rose bush that was crowding the rasperry plants out. (I'm still digging out little rose shoots that pop-up) and i've removed any dead branches (raspberry and rose).

I've read that pruning is key - but I have a few questions. Apparently, it is best to remove branches immediately after fruiting. I didn't do this. Lots of branches just bent over and cracked - so i guess they are almost self-pruning! But some of the 2nd year branches (the brown ones) have new growth coming off them. Should I just leave these alone? Will they die over the winter?

Also, I've read that some plants have a fall harvest. I don't want to chop off the 2nd year branches if they are going to start to bud and give me a fall crop. (or maybe it's just the new (green) shoots that do the fall harvest thing?) I'm also not sure how I can tell if I even have plants that do the fall harvest - or if my growing season is too short. (I'm in ontario.)

Any thoughts?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

murkwell
16 years ago
If you were going to get a fall crop this year you'd probably already be harvesting them now.

For Primocane, AKA Fall Bearing, raspberries the fall crop is born at the tips of canes that emerged this growing season. With this type of raspberry, the simplest management is to mow all of the canes down at the end of the season when they are done fruting. Then the following spring new canes will come up to produce fruit that fall.

Alternatively, you can just cut the top part that fruited off, and leave the bottom portion of the first year cane to overwinter. The following spring/summer that lower portion will produce growth that will flower and fruit in the summer. That second season those second year canes are called Floricanes. After the floricanes fruit you should prune them to te ground since they will not fruit again.

If you have traditional Floricane raspberries, they will only fruit on second year canes. That means that any canes that emerge this season will not fruit. You must keep them over the winter and they will flower and fruit the following spring/summer. Once the canes have fruited, prune them to the ground.

If you're not sure what type you have then just prune any cane, or portion of the cane, that has already fruited and leave everything else unless it is obviously dead or diseased.
fruitgirl
16 years ago
Ok, murky gave some great info, but I'm just going to start fresh with my answer because I think it's easier that way.

First off, just to review, raspberry canes are biennial and the crown and roots are perennial. The canes the emerge from the ground in the spring and grow are called primocanes. In primocane-fruiting varieties, the primocanes will flower and bear fruit in the late-summer and fall of the year (thus the term fall-fruiting). You can manage a primocane-fruiting variety to produce both a spring and fall crop. To do so, you'll want to remove all floricanes after they fruit and die, and prune off the portion of the primocane that fruited in the fall. The next spring, the portion of the cane that didn't fruit in the fall will fruit. If you want just the fall primocane crop, you can simply mow off all of the canes during the winter.

In floricane-fruiting varieties, the primocanes remain vegetative all year, and go dormant in the winter. In the spring, these canes, now called floricanes flower and bear fruit (thus the term spring-fruiting). After fruiting, the floricanes die and should be pruned out. This can be done anytime after fruiting but before new growth begins in the spring. You can also prune the primocanes during the first, non-fruiting growing season to encourage lateral development and increased fruiting the followoing year.

I'm not sure why the canes that fruited for you this year are sprouting some new growth. This may be from secondary buds, but whatever it is, I'm sure it won't produce any fruit before frost, and won't survive the winter. I'd just go ahead and prune out the dead canes. I really think what you have is a floricane fruiting variety, because if you had a primocane fruiting variety you'd have flowers and fruit right now.
Related Discussions
I am now the owner of a neglected raspberry patch
Q
Comments (6)
We have a patch of everbearing red raspberries, that I started from transplant seedlings 12 years ago. The best time for digging up raspberries and moving them around is late March/early April, when they are just barely green. The transplants quickly recover, and take off, when they are transplanted in early spring. Sometimes I will dig out and remove a plant later in the season, to reduce overcrowding, or to give me a place to stand so I can pick the ripe fruit. In the fall, I cut our patch down to 10 inches, and clean it up. Since we are getting fruit well into October, the final clean-up is done in November. I am mulching the patch, in the fall, with 8 or 10 inches of shredded tree leaves, from a maple tree we own. These leaves will disappear over the following growing season, so I think they are feeding the raspberry canes. Our patch is very vigorous, and sends out volunteer plants into the lawn, every year. I think that raspberries can be transplanted in the fall, but I have not actually done this myself.
...See More
Pumpkins .. Get it right next year!
Q
Comments (1)
For distance, a lot depends on the variety. Some are MUCH larger plants than others. For the most robust variety I grow, I generally plant a couple of seeds to a "hill," and thin to two. I place my hills about 6-8' apart for this variety. For a more restrained variety I might place hills as close together as 4'. Planting in a row works well too. I haven't done this with the most robust kinds. But say, for an acorn squash, I might do a row, leaving 6-8 feet empty space, to either side, and plant my seed one per foot, within the row. A general rule to remember is that, at planting time, one almost always thinks that a plant will take up less space than it actually will. So, be extra generous with spacing. You'll be glad later in the season. Unless you live in a cold, wet environment, a "hill" probably doesn't need to be raised. In a really hot, often dry climate I've made my "hills" concave, in order to catch and hold water. "Hill" simply refers to the planting pattern, not to the altitude. When I plant I often put a couple of scoops of rabbit or goat manure under a hill, or dig in some of the same along my row. The absolute ideal, in my mind, would be to dig a large hole (wheel barrow size), fill it with manure and pile it a foot or so high, above the hole. I'd do this right after garden clean up in the fall, letting it rot all winter. Then, I'd plant a "hill" of squash or watermelon there. Every have a squash come up in a compost pile? They grow very very well. Once planted, I usually don't fertilize. But it wouldn't hurt to side dress with some sheep, goat or rabbit manure. Coffee grounds could be used as a side dressing with no danger of burning the plants. I'd absolutely avoid uncomposted chicken manure. It's too strong. My preference is to do the soil building months before planting, plant and let things grow without further treatment. Long term soil improvement will usually win out over topical application of fertilizer. Even if you dug a hole and dropped peelings and other organic kitchen scraps in there, during the winter, I bet you could plant a pumpkin in there and have very good results. Many gardeners over water. If the plants look fresh and alive, chances are you don't need to water. If in doubt, dig down (not right next to the plant) several inches into the soil. If it is damp, say at 3", you're probably okay without watering. When you do water try to water deeply. If watering a "hill" of squash you could set a hose, dribbling, right at the base of the plants, for a couple of hours. If using a sprinkler, try to water for an hour and a half to two hours. You want that water to sink down deep, and you want the squash's roots to go down after it, increasing drought tolerance. So, when you water, water deeply. Then, don't water again until things are truly getting dry. When the moisture starts drying out of the soil you want those roots to go after it, digging in deeply and increasing drought tolerance and the plant's ability to feed itself. Watering is best done in the morning, if possible, so that any water on the leaves dries quickly. Letting water linger on squash leaves can lead to powdery mildew. Where are you gardening? What is your climate? Here in Oklahoma it is very true that one shouldn't water while the sun is high. The water on leaves can serve to augment the sun's strength, causing the leaves to burn. The only real disadvantage of mixing varieties of pumpkin might be that some are much more vigorous than others and might crowd them out. Below is a link to a thread dealing with different kinds (use of, and species) of squash. It might give you more back ground on all that's out there and what might do best in your climate. George Tahlequah, OK Here is a link that might be useful: Green Country Seed Savers Link on Kinds of Squash
...See More
Getting a head of blight for next year
Q
Comments (13)
Replacing the topsoil won't help for long; the spores are everywhere and will blow right back in again. Sandy soil seems to be somewhat irrelevant: I can tell you that my soil which is close to beach sand in some places is heavily infected. Solanaceous weeds grow luxuriently right next to dead tomatoes!! I think they are quite immune. Tomatoes and potatoes get it, but I'd say tomatoes get it worse. Interestingly, "Garden Huckleberries"--various types of edible nightshades (!), are quite immune. They are abundantly naturalized in my yard, and they grow luxuriantly until killed by hard frost (they even tolerate light frosts--despite their tropical origins). I don't know if they are "carriers" or not but I doubt it. Keeping the leaves dry DOES help. The spores stick to wet leaves, which is why they collapse soon after our Autumn rains start. I don't irrigate my tomatoes much, but as much as I do, I use "leaky hose" systems. Sunset Magazine says to cover the tomatoes with a cover to keep them dry when the rains start. I haven't tried it but suspect it might work. Mulches seem to help. I don't know why--it would seem as tho the fungi would just work their way through the mulch. Maybe they do, but it takes them a while. Fungucides are practically useless. Our strain is extremely resistant. I'm not convinced bio controls work either, and furthermore, the bio controls only work as much as they do in warmer temperatures, whereas the late blight tolerates fairly cool temps. I'm trying to get benign fungi and bacteria established--on the theory that giving the pathogens some competition couldn't hurt. Previous owners of my property abused it badly for decades--the soil was "dead". There were huge dead zones where nothing--not even weeds--would grow. It was just bare soil. They say no tomato is blight-resistant but some seem to last longer than others. I am trying various tomatoes and keeping a list of the ones that perform the best. One thing that helps is to grow earlier tomatoes--they beat the blight. I've gotten good crops from my early tomatoes. Crop rotation helps but the spores are long-lived and ubiquitous. Someone grew tomatoes in my yard a long time ago--I still dig up old tomato labels. Corn is supposed to be a good crop to follow tomatoes with (but it is a heavy feeder and will need plenty of nitrogen). I think in general monocotyledonous plants tend to be resistant to common tomato diseases. "Solarization" is supposed to help but I have a feeling that the spores would blow in soon thereafter.
...See More
What roses are you getting for next year?
Q
Comments (62)
I have an order placed with David Austins and here is what I'm getting: Lady Emma Hamilton Belle Story Olivia Rose Austin Windermere - Own Root The Alnwick Rose - Own Root Lady Of Shalott - Own Root The Wedgwood Rose - Own Root The Endeavour St Swithun -own root Molineux -own root I also recently got my order from Chamblees which included: earth angel cream veranda darcy bussell golden celebration spice and strawberry Hill I also recently picked up Secret gemini sheila's perfume and moon dance all on Fortuniana. :)
...See More
porticus
Original Author
16 years ago
ok, so it's now clear that I have a floricane variety and not a fall bearing primocane. Too bad, but good to know! Thanks for the explanations and help with clearing that up.

I've removed any obviously dead or unhealthy branches. I'm going to leave those 2nd year branches with new growth - a bit of an experiment to see if they survive the winter - but also there are still some sunny days left, and I'm sure the perennial roots will benefit from the energy. (or at least i can't imagine it would hurt.)

I'm realizing that without the roses mixed in with the raspberry plants were also acting as a support for the raspberries, so now I realize i'd better get a some sort of trellis in there, so they don't get flattened by the snow in the winter.
storkace
16 years ago
A couple questions I had on pruning primocanes.
How tall do you leave these when pruning?
After removing all floricanes and thinning the primocanes to about 1 every 5-6 inches, I have noticed lots of new primocanes coming up in the last month or so. These are mostly just a few inches tall, and would I be right to assume these should all be cut off this fall?
sundacks
16 years ago
Same question as storkace, but my primocanes are 5-6 feet tall. I've always left them alone, but they're getting big enough to be inconvenient. Will I have a reduced yield if I cut them down to 4 feet?

Getting my raspberry patch into good shape for next year

Comments (5)

murkwell

fruitgirl

Related Discussions

porticus
Original Author

storkace

sundacks

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Getting my raspberry patch into good shape for next year

Comments (5)

murkwell

fruitgirl

Related Discussions

porticusOriginal Author

storkace

sundacks

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

porticus
Original Author