Topic: Looking after a raspberry crop

[carosanto]

I have Tulameen and Autumn Bliss, and this is the second season for both.  I got nothing - well a measly 3 I think- last year.  Over the winter I lost 2 of my autumn bearers, even tho all plants were well mulched with wrm and home compost.  They now all have flowers a-plenty.

It's dry and very warm here at present so should I be giving my flowering plants plenty of water?  What about feeding...any suggestions here.  I have waited a while for these plants to bulk up and want to be sure of a good crop this year.

I am a newbie at growing rspberries so any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Caro

[aquilegia]

I planted my first raspberries last year too. I got a good crop off the summer ones, but not a lot from the autumn as it snowed just as they were starting to fruit!

I double dug the soil (heavy clay) and dug in loads of garden compost and well rotted manure.

With fruiting plants I tend to give them a high-potash feed as they start to flower (oh - I must remember to feed my strawberries!) And I mulched them autumn and early spring. My plants are doing really well and have bulked up loads.

I would normally only water them when they start fruiting. But I'm not sure if this is right, just what I did last year.

Hope yours are better this year.

[antipodes]

To be honest, I have Heritage type, they fruit July onwards and I don't do anything to them at all! I find them to be completely feral and I am always destroying shoots that they send up in neighbouring areas!
I manure them in winter, mulch heavily and I never water them! And I get loads of berries!

[jennym]

Raspberries are quite shallow rooted, and I'm on heavy clay so I always make sure the soil hasn't dried out at the depth their roots are at. They do like a well dug well mucked soil like aquilegia says, but they don't want to be on a waterlogged soil, and on some soils they will just romp away like antipodes says. Here they definitely need more water when they start fruiting.

[kt.]

Each of my canes has plenty manure around it when planted.  My raspberry bed now has 3 inches of wood chippings as mulch.  They will now be left to their own devices until they need cutting back.

[non-stick]

To be honest, I have Heritage type, they fruit July onwards and I don't do anything to them at all! I find them to be completely feral and I am always destroying shoots that they send up in neighbouring areas!
I manure them in winter, mulch heavily and I never water them! And I get loads of berries!

Mine are like that - fruit from July to the first frosts and other than a bit of weeding before they get too big and cut down in the winter I do nothing with them - we get lbs and lbs of them.

Forever removing strays from elsewhere - lucky I guess

[queenbee]

I have grown raspberries for nearly 20 years and some of them are that old. Here in the north of England the later varieties do not do so well and are usually infested with the Raspberry beetle.

Also raspberries prefer a more acid soil so I usually water with ericacious plant food. Perhaps if you do a soil test you might be able to confirm your soil type. My raspberries are so old that I do not know what variety they are but they give me such a huge crop despite only having six plants. 

[Digeroo]

I am not sure I understand raspberries at all, so I will appreciate any comments as well. On the same soil some seem to be feral and others rather delicate. Joan seems to be very rampant.  I moved some of them right in the middle of the summer due to a manure contamination problem and still got fruit.  

I was given a few runners of someones plant variety unknown and these are going amazingly well with no effort, I just shoved them in, beginning to believe they like a bit of neglect.  

I bought some summer ones two years plus ago and have been very disappointed but they have suddenly perked up and I finally look like giving a good crop in their third summer.  No problem with drainage.

At my previous house they grew like weeds similar alkaline soil.   But this is my third attempt in my present garden.

[grannyjanny]

Sorry to highjack this thread but what & when is the easiest way of getting rid of the runners? We have Autumn Bliss & they are going off in all directions.

[antipodes]

I admit that I am really lucky with my soil, a sandy loam (the Loire is just 2 km down the road so obviously that helps), which I only improve with manure and compost. I have manured the last two years and now I am really seeing a difference - excellent moisture retention and soil organics.
Raspberries have always been good, but this year I cut them down ruthlessly in February (maybe a bit late) and they have come back heartily. Neighbour puts pine bark over her bed and she gets good berries too. They benefit from heavy mulching I find.

For the runners, I just dig them out over and over. They eventually give up. There is not much you can do to stop them, apart from driving something down into the soil around the bed - the runners are at the surface pretty much.

[Digeroo]

I am thrilled at the moment when I see a runner.  Certainly no wish to get rid of them here at the moment.  I just think great a few more raspberries next year. 

Though I have plunged the spade straight down into the soil all along the row between me and next doors gravel path to stop them wandering that way and stop them picking up any weedkiller.