DIY Network

Raspberry Growing Tips Tips on growing healthy raspberries From "Fresh From the Orchard" episode DFFO-103

A visit to a commercial raspberry farm puts you behind the scenes with a successful raspberry grower. You'll learn the difference between summer-bearing and everbearing raspberries and be guided through the intricacies of mulching, watering and fertilizing your raspberry shrubs.

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Everbearing and Summer-Bearing Raspberries

There are two main types of raspberries; the classification is based on whether or not the primocanes bear fruit in the first season. Raspberries with primocanes that develop foliage only are called summer-bearing raspberries. They produce one crop per year, usually in midsummer. Raspberries with primocanes that bear fruit on primocanes in the fall and on floricanes in the summer are called everbearing (or fall-bearing) raspberries. If left unpruned, everbearing raspberries will produce two crops per year, one in early summer and one in late summer or early fall.

Bloom and Pollination

Raspberries bloom in late spring, and pollination is done mainly by honeybees. Avoid spraying pesticides when honeybees are out.

All types of raspberries are self-pollinating or self-fruitful. This means that you need only plant one variety. (Many other fruits are self-unfruitful, meaning you need to plant more than one variety in order for the plants to set fruit.)

Training Canes to a Trellis

Figure A

During the first growing season, raspberries do not need to be trained to a trellis. Starting the second year, the canes should be tied to the trellis. One way to trellis is to tie the developing primocanes loosely to the wire. The best time to do this is before the buds swell. Tie them with string or plastic tape (figure A). When they are tall enough to reach the top wire, tie them horizontally along the wire. Another way to trellis is to train only the floricanes to the trellis, and to let the primocanes sprawl on the ground. This keeps the two types of canes separated and makes for easier pruning.

Figure B

Fertilization

The best way to determine proper fertilizer rates is by way of a soil sample test. If soil sample results aren't available, fertilize two times a year (spring and summer) with a balanced (10-10-10 type) fertilizer with micronutrients (figure B).

Irrigation

Figure C

Raspberries need a fair amount of water to grow well. Sufficient water is especially important right before harvest. As a rule of the thumb, raspberries need 1 to 1 ½ inches of water per week; more in hot or windy weather.

A drip irrigation system (figure C) works well with raspberries: it reduces the chances of diseases by keeping the foliage dry (wet foliage encourages disease).

Cultivation

You can cultivate the area around the base of the plants to keep weeds at bay. However, Raspberries are shallow-rooted, so do not cultivate more than 1 or 2 inches deep.

Cultivating between rows of berries also gets rid of any canes that shoot up from the roots, in areas that you do not want them.

Removal of Nuisance Canes

Red raspberries send up new canes from both their crowns and their roots. You will want to remove canes that pop up where you don't want them – for example, between rows. Gardeners who plant especially vigorous red raspberries in their landscape sometimes place a 1-foot deep root barrier around the perimeter of the raspberry bed, so that the roots don't spread out into the yard and send up runners where they are a nuisance.

Dorman Red raspberries and black and purple raspberries usually produce new canes only at their crown, so unwanted canes are not much of an issue with these types of raspberries.

RESOURCES :

Kilns
L & L Kilns
Website: www.hotkilns.com

Clay
Highwater Clays
Website: www.highwaterclays.com

Extruders
American Art Clay Co. Inc. (AMACO)
Website: www.amaco.com