Cutting raspberry canes
Pruning and training raspberries | UMN Extension
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Growers must do annual dormant pruning for both primocane- and floricane-fruiting raspberries. Pruning raspberries is simple, especially fall-bearing raspberries.
Raspberries must be trellised if growing in a high tunnel. Many growers also choose to trellis open-field raspberries to make harvest and mowing easier. Trellising canes enhances light penetration and air circulation, thus reducing potential disease and pest pressure.
Primocane-fruiting raspberries
New primocanes emerge in the spring after the last year’s primocanes are mowed down.Pruning
A major advantage of primocane-fruiting raspberries is how easy they are to prune.
Simply cut the canes to the ground each year in the late fall or early spring when they are dormant. Use a mower, sharp lopper, or hedge trimmer.
New canes will emerge from the ground in the spring. Since the primocanes produce a full crop of fruit, there is no need to keep floricanes.
If you would like a small summer crop from primocane-fruiting raspberries, you may leave some primocanes behind to form into floricanes. Those floricanes will produce a modest crop again in the coming year. There is no set number to leave, but be sure to space them at least 6 inches apart and leave ample space for new primocanes to grow. You are unlikely to see an overall yield benefit, but some growers want both a summer and fall crop from the same plants. This is not a common practice because it increases labor without a likely yield benefit.
Remove low-hanging trellis wire, twine, drip irrigation, and soil moisture sensors before mowing down canes.
Training
Primocane raspberries require little training. Construct a simple trellis system with removable wires or twine at 2- and 4-foot heights in open-field settings, or 3- and 6-foot heights in high tunnels. Keep canes upright by tucking them between the wires as needed. This functions to keep the aisles clear and facilitate easy harvest.
Primocane plant growth rate increases when grown in tunnels. Thanks to the increased temperature and protection from weather elements, canes can reach 8 feet tall over the growing season.
Floricane-fruiting raspberries
Pruning
Pruning floricane-fruiting raspberries requires more labor hours than primocane-fruiting raspberries but is still very simple.
Floricanes produce fruit for one year and are then removed. While the floricanes are producing fruit, new primocanes are also growing and will produce the next year’s fruit when they become floricanes.
In the late fall after dormancy or in the early spring, cut down all “spent floricanes” — those that have already produced fruit. They are easy to spot because of the old, dried fruit clusters left on the tops of the canes and on laterals. Spent floricanes will also have many lateral fruiting branches.
Leave most of the previous year’s primocanes, as they will become the fruiting floricanes. Only remove some primocanes if the rows are overcrowded. The goal is to have one fruiting cane about every 6 inches.
Training
Floricane-fruiting varieties require a robust trellis system for adequate support. Additional wires located lower than 3 feet, and between 3 and 6 feet, are often needed as floricane-fruiting varieties tend to position fruiting-laterals lower on the cane.
You may decide to separate fruiting canes from the young primocanes in the canopy, by tying the floricanes to one side of the trellis and the primocanes to the other. This tends to make harvest easier, as pickers would have less foliage to search through to find the berries.
Rotating cross arm trellises
Primocane raspberries on a rotating cross-arm trellis“Rotating cross-arm trellises” (RCAT) are modular trellising systems with adjustable posts, used for raspberries and blackberries. The angle of the posts can be adjusted between 45 and 90 degrees from the ground. The trellis wires are strung through the posts, so adjusting the posts changes the angle of the wires and therefore the angle of the canes and berries.
The most common application of this system is to grow the canes at a slightly downward angle, and then raise the posts to a vertical position for harvest. The result is that the berries tend to hang down to one side, reducing labor by making the berries easier to find.
Author: Annie Klodd, Extension educator, fruit and vegetable production
Reviewed in 2022
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How to Prune Raspberries - FineGardening
Left unpruned, red raspberries are their own worst weed. When canes get overcrowded, they compete for sunlight, causing the shaded leaves and buds on the lower half of the plant to die. Without those buds, you’ll have fewer fruiting branches and a much smaller crop.
Crowded canes (photo above) also compete for nutrients and water, which leads to small, poor-tasting fruit. And the shady, moist conditions around a dense thicket are a magnet for fungal diseases, such as gray mold, spur blight, and anthracnose.
Pruning is the most effective way to avoid these headaches. A yearly thinning allows plenty of sunlight and air to penetrate the bramble (as in the photo below), which means you’ll have bigger, healthier crops and a much easier time picking those sweet red berries.
Before you start, know your primocanes from your floricanes
To prune any plant properly, you need to understand its growth cycle. In the case of red raspberry, the roots and crown are perennial but the canes are biennial (they live for only two years). The first year, they emerge as green primocanes and form fruiting buds. If you have a summer-bearing variety, these buds won’t flower until the following year. If you have an ever-bearing variety, the buds at the tips of your primocanes will give you a small fall crop, and the buds lower on the canes will remain dormant until next season. As winter nears, primocanes drop their leaves and develop a thin brown bark.
In their second year, the canes are called floricanes. The previous year’s buds grow into fruiting branches and bear a summer crop. As their berries ripen, floricanes begin to senesce. Their leaves turn red or yellow, and they die as winter approaches. A big part of pruning a red raspberry is getting rid of these spent floricanes. To keep your plants from getting unruly during the growing season, cut back any new canes that emerge outside the desired row width of 2 feet; however, don’t touch the new green shoots growing within the prescribed row width. It’s not until late winter that you prune the entire plant.
In fall, resist the temptation to cut out the dying floricanes that fruited that summer. Research conducted at Cornell University indicates that these canes send carbohydrates to the crown and roots well into early winter, helping the plant survive dormancy.
Four simple steps to pruning raspberries
Illustration: Judy Simon1. Remove last year’s canes
The first step of the late-winter pruning process is to remove all of last year’s spent floricanes. By removing these dead canes, you prevent disease spores from overwintering on them and spreading to new canes. Floricanes have peeling gray bark and old fruiting lateral branches on them. Cut all of these dead canes right to the ground.
2. Narrow the row
The recommended row width is 1½ to 2 feet. Prune to the ground any canes that are growing outside of this perimeter. It doesn’t matter how nice a cane looks; if it’s out of bounds, cut it off. Keeping the rows narrow is critical for preventing disease and making fruit easy to reach during harvest time.
3. Cut out the weaklings
Go into the plant row, and cut out any canes that appear weak, spindly, or short or that are showing obvious symptoms of insect injury or disease. The final cuts are thinning cuts. All that you want to have remaining in the row are the tallest, thickest, healthiest-looking canes. Continue to cut away the less vigorous canes, and space out the ones you plan to keep. Make sure that the canes aren’t so close together that they will crowd and shade each other. You’ll know that you are finished pruning when the raspberry planting has only three to five canes per linear foot. This should look drastically thin to you.
4. Attach canes to a trellis
There are a number of different trellis styles, but I like V-trellises best for red raspberries (see photos below). In this design, two parallel wires, spaced 3 feet apart, run along the outside of your row of raspberries. The wires are attached to support posts at each end and set about 4 feet off the ground.
Attach each cane to a wire using twine, twist ties, tomato ties, or rubber bands. (Make sure that the ties you use are easy to take off. The primocanes you tie to the wire this year will be the spent floricanes you’ll need to remove next year.) Tie the canes so that roughly half of them are on one side of the row and half are on the other side. Because the row is only 1½ to 2 feet wide at its base and you are spreading the canes out to 3 feet wide on the trellis wires, the row of canes will form the shape of a V. This opens up the center of the row to improve light penetration and air movement, thus inhibiting the growth of fungal diseases and encouraging new canes to grow in the center of the row, rather than along the outside edges. Furthermore, this trellis method puts the fruiting canes on the outside and keeps most of the new canes on the inside of the row, which makes for easier harvesting and less wasted fruit.
Once you’ve tied each cane to a wire, gather all of the cut canes and dispose of them. Leaving them at the foot of your plants attracts diseases and pests.
What about black raspberries?
The canes of black raspberry are biennial, just like those of red raspberry. But because black raspberry’s growth habit is different, this plant requires an extra pruning step.
The canes of black raspberry tend to grow longer than those of red raspberry. The tips of the canes arch down to the ground and form their own roots, essentially creating new plants. While this makes black raspberry easy to propagate, it also leads to overcrowding. The other major difference is that the primocanes of black raspberry develop side shoots or branches, which only develop on the floricanes of the red variety. These shoots form buds that will bear fruit the following year. To encourage more fruit-bud development and prevent the cane tips from rooting, you should tip the primocanes of black raspberry in summer before they get too tall. When the canes reach about 30 inches long, simply cut off the top 2 to 3 inches of stem growth. This will encourage more side shoots and fruit buds as well as keep the canes at a more workable height. In late winter, prune the canes as you would for red raspberry.
Note: Although you can train black raspberry on a V-trellis, a single-wire trellis will better accommodate the plant’s branching habit.
Raspberry pruning in autumn and spring. How to properly prune remontant raspberries. Video on pruning
If you are thinking about how to increase the yield of raspberries, then one of the most effective ways is the correct pruning of bushes.
Why Raspberry Pruning is Necessary
Raspberry is a biennial berry shrub. Berries ripen on cuttings of the second year. Then these stems, as a rule, dry up. Of course, such branches may have their own annual shoots, which, in principle, are capable of producing a crop for the next year. But there will hardly be many berries, and they will grow much smaller. In turn, the left two-year-old shoots will take away extra resources from young stems, which will in no way contribute to a good harvest.
Thus, in order to keep the raspberry bushes in good shape, two-year-old shoots are pruned after fruiting.
The second type of pruning is carried out in the spring. It serves both for preventive purposes and for the formation of a lush bush with many berry buds.
The following pruning principles apply to non-repairable raspberry varieties.
Pruning raspberries in autumn
Pruning raspberries doesn't have to wait until autumn. It is best to prune raspberries immediately after harvest. This option will contribute to the best development of shoots this year. In addition, pests can be found in two-year-old shoots and the sooner they are destroyed, the better.
Biennial shoots can be distinguished by the brown color of the bark. We cut them so as not to leave any stumps. After pruning, the branches must be destroyed. We do not touch green annual stems, with the exception of those that appeared in the second half of summer. We also cut out such shoots, because. they will not be able to gain the necessary strength before winter.
The second task of autumn pruning is to thin out the bushes. If raspberries are grown in a bush way, then we leave 5-6 annual shoots per bush. When grown in rows 8 - 10 stems per meter.
Thirdly, care must be taken not to spread the root system, which ensures the capture of the garden by young shoots. To do this, within a radius of 30 cm from the bush, we chop the roots with a sharp shovel to a depth of up to 25 cm.
Pruning raspberries in spring
At the beginning of spring, when the snow has just melted and the ground has not yet warmed up, spring preventive pruning of raspberry bushes is carried out. Bushes inspect and cut frozen, dry, diseased (with pests) stems under the root. If a part of the shoot is frozen from above up to 30 cm, then it is cut to the first healthy kidney.
Remontant raspberry pruning
Remontant raspberry cultivars are capable of yielding also on annual shoots. In warm regions, such raspberry bushes bear fruit twice a season. If there is no need for a double crop, then the repair raspberry bushes are cut off completely in the fall. Most often, this procedure is performed after the onset of frost, because. berries on such bushes can grow until late autumn.
Pruning is done, leaving small stumps up to 3-5 cm high. They are covered for the winter. In May pinch the tops of the shoots.
Double pruning
The principle of double pruning is to form a lush bush with a lot of fruit buds and berries. The first pruning is carried out in June, when the annual shoots have reached 80 - 100 cm in height. Their tops are cut off by 10 - 15 cm. The second pruning is done the next year in the spring after the buds open to the same length.
It is important to carry out the first pruning no later than June, so that new shoots can grow on the cut stem before the cold weather. To do this, raspberry bushes must receive proper care and all the necessary feeding.
Autumn raspberry pruning video
Therefore, many novice gardeners and summer residents mistakenly believe that caring for it is not required at all. But for the abundant fruiting of this berry bush, it is necessary to observe certain agricultural practices. Pruning is one of the mandatory procedures that ensure a stable harvest.
Contents
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1 Why raspberry pruning is needed
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1.1 Video: why autumn pruning of raspberries is needed
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2 Timing of pruning raspberry bushes
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3 Features of pruning raspberry bushes in autumn
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3. 1 Video: how to prune raspberries in autumn
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4 Raspberry pruning in summer
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5 Pruning of raspberry bushes according to the Sobolev method
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5.1 Video: how to prune raspberries using the Sobolev method
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6 How to increase the yield of raspberries
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7 Raspberry bush formation
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7.1 Video: Raspberry garter on a trellis
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Why raspberry pruning is needed
Most raspberry varieties have a two-year development cycle, while flower buds are formed exclusively on the shoots of the second year of life. Annual stems bear nothing but foliage. Only the next season flowers appear on them and fruits ripen. The branches die off and dry out at the end of fruiting, so they must be removed in time. Otherwise, the young animals that replace them will not get the necessary amount of nutrients, they will not have time to mature well before winter and may freeze, or even die.
Raspberry bushes grow strongly in autumn
Shoots growing from the rhizome appear very actively, in warm summer more than twenty young branches can form from one bush. During their growth, they intensively draw juices from the main plant, preventing it from developing normally and bearing fruit. If you leave all the grown annual shoots, then the raspberry will be too thick and impassable. There are few berries in these thorny thickets, they are smaller in size, and it is difficult to collect them.
Dense shoots do not let the sun's rays inside the bush and interfere with free air circulation, which is fraught with the appearance of pests and various fungal diseases. The root system of raspberries is powerful and branched with a large number of adventitious roots, on which root suckers (daughter plants) develop. Root appendages can extend over a distance of more than three meters. So that raspberry plantings do not turn into wilds, extra young must be cut out.
In the absence of proper care, raspberry plantations quickly run wild and turn into impenetrable thickets
Raspberries become wild very easily. If they are not limited, then they quickly spread around the site and capture new territories.
When planting raspberries, you must immediately mechanically limit its territory and prevent it from penetrating the border of the allotted area. We dug a ditch about half a meter deep around the entire perimeter and laid sheets of old roofing iron there. Then everything was carefully sprinkled with earth and a garden path was made nearby. The barrier significantly reduced the amount of overgrowth. But it still periodically appears, and far enough from the mother bushes.
Video: Why do we need autumn pruning of raspberries?
This is best done right after picking the last berries. Some gardeners do not wait for the entire ovary to ripen and cut out the raspberries as early as mid-August. In this option, all the vitality of the plant will go to the benefit of the young shoots of this year. Fresh shoots will be strong, strong and will have time to lignify before the onset of cold weather. This will guarantee good fruiting for the coming year.Cut raspberries as early as possible
Old branches are always a source of harmful insects and infectious diseases, which are especially active in the warm autumn season. The faster you get rid of last year's shoots, the healthier the raspberries will be for next year. In warm southern regions, the culture can bear fruit again, so they are in no hurry with pruning and carry out this procedure closer to mid-autumn. It is important to have time at least 15-20 days before the onset of frost.
Features of pruning raspberry bushes in autumn
Autumn pruning of raspberries has a number of features that you need to know to achieve a good result. All branches must be cut to the very root, no stumps are left. For work, they use a sharpened garden pruner, preferably with a ratchet mechanism, which is characterized by increased power.
Cut raspberry stems to the very root
Cut raspberry bushes in autumn as follows:
- First, the plantings are carefully inspected and everything to be removed is selected.
- Remove damaged or diseased shoots so that they do not infect neighbors.
- Broken and loose branches should also be removed.
- Young sprouts that have recently emerged from the roots must be pruned. Their wood will not have time to mature and they will not survive the frost.
- Cut out last year's fruiting branches. They can be easily distinguished by the presence of a large number of lateral branches and by the dark brown, cracked in places, bark.
Raspberry shoots of different ages are very different in appearance
Raspberry plantings need to be thinned out, it is recommended to leave about 7-10 strong and strong stems in each bush. At the same time, you need to try so that the branches do not block each other, but are fan-shaped. The distance between adjacent plants should be at least 0.6 m. Therefore, if the raspberry has grown too much, the extra side shoots should be removed. Branches that go beyond the borders of plantings are also cut down.
All cut raspberry branches and leaves must be collected and burnt at the end of work.
All pruned branches must be burnt
Pruning of remontant raspberry varieties is done a little differently. Experts recommend cutting all stems completely, leaving stumps no more than 2-3 cm high. The procedure is best done in late autumn, after the first frosts or even in winter. From the rhizomes, young shoots will appear in spring, which will bear fruit in the middle or end of summer. If you leave these branches, then there will be berries on them already in June, but this will greatly weaken the bush and the young shoots will grow frail. Therefore, autumn fruiting on annual shoots will also be weak.
Lopping raspberries is much easier.
Raspberries are difficult to cut because they are prickly. Small light needles dig under the skin and are very difficult to get later. The procedure for pruning raspberry thickets is never much fun. You have to wear tight clothes and thick tops that protect your hands. A few years ago, we began to use long-handled loppers instead of pruners. You can work simply in thin fabric gloves. You can even pull out a cut branch with the same tool, biting it a little and holding it between the working blades.
Video: how to prune raspberries in autumn
Pruning raspberries in summer
Due to the tendency of raspberries to grow, it is necessary to limit the growth of excess root shoots so that they do not take vitality from the mother plant. Numerous shoots that have appeared at a distance of more than 0.2–0.3 m from the bush must be ruthlessly cut down. This is done regularly, the density of plantings should be controlled throughout the growing season. You can not even remove the sprout itself, but simply stick a shovel into the ground next to it at a slight angle to cut the root that feeds it. Experienced gardeners are advised to immediately outline a certain number of strong stems (10–14 pieces) that will bear fruit next year, and periodically destroy the rest of the unnecessary shoots.
Excess young shoots of raspberries should be cut out
Raspberries should be constantly inspected and yellowing leaves, diseased shoots and all suspicious branches should be removed in a timely manner. Removed elements must be burned to stop the development of infection and protect the rest of the plantings.
At the end of the harvest, the fruiting branches only take away the juices from the plant in vain, so they need to be cut immediately.
Only the required number of shoots are left, the rest are removed
Raspberry growths have to be removed several times during the summer. It is easier to do this with a small sharp metal spatula. When it is stuck into the ground, the feeding root is cut off at the same time and the shoot is undermined. If you bypass plantings about once a week and remove unnecessary young shoots, then this process takes very little time.
Pruning of raspberry bushes according to the Sobolev method
Two-stage pruning according to Sobolev has won great popularity among summer residents and gardeners. The method got its name in honor of the most authoritative Russian gardener Alexander Georgievich Sobolev, who is the founder of raspberry growing in our country.
Sobolev A.G. developed a method of double pruning raspberries
Pruning of raspberry branches is carried out in two stages:
- 12–15 cm. The success of the entire event depends on the timing of the event. Being late with the first pruning will lead to the fact that the shoots by winter will not have time to mature and gain strength. There is a high probability of their freezing during the winter cold. After this procedure, the growth of the branch in height stops and side shoots begin to develop rapidly. Literally 2-3 days later, the first small sprouts are already visible in the upper sinuses. By autumn, instead of a lonely standing shoot, a large and powerful stem is formed with several lateral layers, reaching half a meter in length.
- The next spring, after the foliage appears, the second stage of pruning is carried out. Now the side branches are shortened, they are cut by 10–15 cm. This is done to stimulate dormant buds, which then form fresh shoots. By the time fruiting begins, their number increases many times over. Each raspberry bush is literally strewn with buds, flowers, ovaries and ripened fruits. The duration of fruiting increases greatly, the berries ripen from the beginning of July until the very cold.
According to Sobolev, raspberry pruning is carried out in two stages
The disadvantage of the method is excessive and strong fouling of raspberry bushes, leading to a serious thickening of plantings. The ventilation of the raspberry tree worsens, most of the branches remain in the shade, as a result of which the plants are more often affected by pests and various infectious diseases. To prevent undesirable consequences, raspberry bushes are placed at a greater distance from each other. At least one meter is left between adjacent specimens, and the rows are pushed apart by at least two meters.
Formative pruning has several nuances:
- do not leave more than 10 branches on one plant in the first year;
- for the next season, the old shoots that bear fruit are replaced with new ones, but their number is reduced to 8 pieces;
- harvest 2 replacement stems every year;
- at the last stage, it is necessary to leave 4 formed young branches.
After double pruning, raspberry bushes bear fruit very abundantly and are literally strewn with berries
In this case, the yield of raspberries will be maximum. But plantings must be thoroughly thinned out throughout the growing season, unnecessary shoots must be removed in a timely manner.
The Sobolev method allows you to collect up to 6 kg of berries from one raspberry bush.
Video: how to prune raspberries using the Sobolev method
How to increase the yield of raspberries
Not always gardeners can boast of a good harvest of raspberries. Most often, the reason lies in the illiterate care of the culture.
You can increase the yield if you follow a few simple rules:
- Thin out the raspberries in a timely manner and control its width. With an excess number of shoots and a strong thickening, the berries become smaller and their number is reduced. The optimal width of planting raspberries is not more than 40–50 cm.
Width of raspberries must be constantly monitored and excess shoots removed
- Cut out old last year's shoots immediately after fruiting. The probability of infection of young branches with pathogens of various diseases and attacks of harmful insects, which often parasitize on obsolete stems, is reduced.
Fruiting branches should be cut off as soon as possible so that they do not take juice from young shoots
- Plant raspberry bushes in well-filled beds with organic matter, and then regularly feed the plantings:
- Mulch the soil in the raspberries with rotted manure or humus in early spring after harvesting dry foliage.
Place a layer of mulch under the raspberry bushes
- Ensure adequate watering. With a lack of moisture, the formed fresh shoots become pale, lethargic and painful, then gradually fade. The culture is very fond of good moisture, a lack of moisture can have more long-term consequences, expressed in a poor harvest for the next year. But this year the fruits will be small and few. It is necessary to water the plantings not only during the active collection of fruits, but also during the formation of young shoots. The soil should be soaked to a depth of approximately 25-30 cm, this will require 40-50 liters of water per 1 m 2 . Plantings are moistened twice a week, on hot, sultry days they are watered every other day.
Raspberries love good watering
- It is good to prepare raspberry bushes for wintering. The stems are tied into bundles and bent to the ground as close as possible. In winter, it is advised to additionally cover the plantings with snow.
Raspberry stalks should be bent to the ground for the winter
- Regularly rejuvenate old plantings once every 5–7 years, for this, decrepit rhizomes are partially removed. After 10-12 years, it is recommended to change the place of planting the crop.
Old raspberry bushes need to be periodically rejuvenated
- Protect raspberries from pests and diseases. It is recommended to carry out preventive treatments with decoctions of plants with insecticidal properties (marigold, wormwood, tansy, mustard, etc.). To prevent the occurrence of infection, spraying with copper sulfate (0.3 kg) and fluff (0.4 kg) diluted in 10 liters of water (per 100 m 2 10 liters of solution) is used. Effective treatment solutions:
- Apply double pruning according to the Sobolev method. There is a modified version of the spring pruning of raspberry bushes, according to which, in some plants, the tops of the shoots are only slightly shortened. In another part of the bushes, the stems are cut off by about a third, and several bushes are subjected to radical pruning - they are left no more than 10–15 cm long. With this option, the duration of fruiting increases. Easily pruned branches give a harvest earlier, and on radically cut stems, the berries will ripen closer to the end of summer.
Trimming method according to Sobolev proved to be effective
In addition to the proper care of raspberries, a well-chosen planting site will be the key to a good harvest. The culture prefers well-lit places protected from gusty winds with loose soil of slightly acidic alkaline reaction. Variety selection is also important. It is recommended to buy planting material only in trusted places and from reliable suppliers.
You can increase the yield of raspberries if you follow a number of simple rules
Formation of the raspberry bush
The ground part of the raspberry bush can be formed in various ways. The crop needs a firm support that allows the distribution of branches evenly and makes harvesting much easier.
Depending on the type of support, the formation systems are divided into the following varieties:
- Kolovaya (beam). A stake (a metal pipe, a wooden rail, etc.) at least 1.8–2 m high is driven into the center of each raspberry bush, around which all branches are collected and tied. The tops are cut or bred in different directions. The simplest way, but with it the bushes are poorly ventilated and unevenly illuminated by the sun's rays. Because of this, the fruits ripen worse, and under adverse weather conditions, the stems can break off, as well as be affected by pests and infectious diseases.
The simplest is the formation of a raspberry bush near the central support
- Tapestry. Along the perimeter of the raspberry plant, edge posts are installed, between them at a distance of about 4 m - intermediate. Steel wire or reinforced polyethylene twine is stretched between the supports at a height of 0.5 and 1.6–1.8 m. Each stem is fixed to a horizontal stretch. The tops of the shoots are cut off at a height of 2–2.1 m or bent and tied to the top wire. Often a double trellis is used, in which transverse beams are placed on vertical posts and twine or wire is stretched at their ends. The branches are bred to the sides and fixed to the stretched twine. There are other modifications of this method.
There are several ways to form raspberries on a trellis
- Fan. Two long supports (up to 2 m) are driven in between adjacent plants. The bush is divided in half, the branches of one part are tied to the left column, the shoots from the other half are fixed on the right. In this case, the bush spreads out in a plane and becomes like a fan. A labour-intensive but very common and effective shaping method that ensures free growth of each stem, uniform light, good air circulation and no difficulty in harvesting.
The fan method of forming a raspberry bush is laborious, but very effective
Raspberry bushes are best formed in early spring before bud break. Later work is dangerous by breaking off the emerging sprouts.
It is impossible to neglect the garter of raspberry stems, because with thickened and poorly ventilated plantings, there is a high probability of the appearance of fungal pathologies and insect pests.
With the trellis method, it is not always necessary to fix each branch
In our raspberry garden we use a double trellis variation. At the corners of the plantation, 4 metal pipes with a diameter of 50 mm and a length of almost 2 m are driven in, between them there are intermediate supports, which are pipes of the same size with metal crossbars 40 cm long attached to it at different heights (50, 100 and 150 cm). .Steel wire stretched along their edges. Raspberry shoots are supported by three horizontal rows of wire on each side, we do not tie each branch separately.
Video: tying raspberries on a trellis
Raspberries can bear fruit in almost any conditions, but to get a full-fledged plentiful harvest of this tasty and very healthy berry, you will have to work hard.