Topic: Moving raspberries and gooseberries

[antipodes]

I want to take the plunge and finally move my raspberries so they grow in a straight lines along wires and also my gooseberries so I can try to fan train them and maybe get a better result from them. Does anyone know when this should be done? Autumn? I would want to prune them at the same time and usually I prune the raspberries in the winter. Not really sure about the timing.

[peanuts]

I'm sure you should move the raspberries when dormant, so sin the winter, very early spring.  Your idea of having raspberries in a nice straight line made me laugh though!  However straight the line to begin with, within a couple of years they are likely to be all over the place, spreading, or coming up wherever they want to.  Good luck!

[Jeannine]

Mine are in a straight line, I have  post and wire system and I tie them in as they come up, sometimes I feel like jusy letting them go though as it takes ages. I want to know if anyone has ever grown them in tubs!!

XX Jeannine

[antipodes]

yes you are right! I seem to think that I started off with about 6 bushes, now they are a huge clump that is completely wild!! This is why I want to dig them all out, enrich the earth, put up posts and wires and only replant about 5 of them. they take over completely!
The gooseberries are not very controllable either and seem to grow too close to the ground. I want to dig them out, put them in a straight line and try growing them up posts, as I have a hell of a time netting and picking them.

[powerspade]

When I moved to my new plot I took cutting of Blackcurrants, Redcurrants and Gooseberries. They have all taken and now I shall be lifting and planting in their permanent spots after the end of November when they are sleeping.

[Paulines7]

I can't even get to my raspberries.  They threw up so many suckers early on in the season and I didn't have the time to take them out.  I did get in to weed out some nettles but then the tree bumble bees (bombus hypnorum) arrived and loved the raspberry flowers. Good for pollination but as these bees can be aggressive, I left them to it.  I will have to sort them all out this winter and maybe move them to where they can have a bit more room.  I think I planted the rows too close together and they have only been in for two years.

As for my gooseberries, we had to move them into pots when we put up the greenhouse.  They will need to be planted but we will need to dig a lot of turfs out first and get rid of any weeds.   

November seems a good month to plant or move fruit bushes as we often get some sunny days then and it is not as cold as mid winter.     

[shirlton]

We have several people wanting some of our raspberry plants.All I will do is to put the spade into them and separate the old stems with roots attached.Cut these down to about a foot and they are ready to plant.I will probably do it in November some time.Plant the old stem and in spring the new shoots will sprout.They will only stay in a semi straight line for the first yearThese are autumn raspberries Im on about

[Obelixx]

Autumn is a good time to move anything once it's gone dormant or slown down.  Just make sure it's done before the soil gets frozen or waterlogged.

Raspberries should respond well to being renewed but beware of leaving bits behind.  We moved our yellow raspberries 2 years ago and are still finding shoots appearing in the beds we cleared.  I moved our single gooseberry last year to a new woody fruit bush bed along with blackcurrants and redcurrants and all have done very well.  Jim on Beechgrove recommends growing gooseberries as cordons to make pruning and picking much easier.   Simpler to net against birds and sawfly too.

[Jeannine]

Quite close to me is very large raspberry farm, they have all the plants on post and wire systems, acres of them. They are not at all unruly ., the canes are tied in as they grow, not all , some are forfeited, then at the very top the tallest cane is arched over and tied to the wire  to the right so they look like a row of arches from a distance, they are very neat and tidy.

[Paulines7]

......They will only stay in a semi straight line for the first year. These are autumn raspberries Im on about

Yes, and it is the autumn ones that I have the most trouble with.  In lovely straight regimented lines and tied into wires when planted.  Then in the second year sending out so many underground shoots that they invade the summer fruiting varieties and take over so I don't know which they are when they come shooting up.  Talk about triffids!  My land is very fertile as it was a former poultry farm and the soil really suits these raspberries ......and nettles of course!

[Russell]

Raspberries: yes autumn is a good time to move them but any time up to spring will do if you can lift them with a good root ball and don't mess them about too much. And yes you will leave lots behind no matter how hard you try. To get them to grow in neat rows be ruthless with the hoe. My old grandad (who could remember steam trains on the London Underground) like many railwaymen in those days was an allotment fanatic but refused to grow raspberries because they were too invasive. Much to my mothers disgust.
Goosberries: Yes train them on fences as fans cordons epaliers or whatever takes your fancy. Yes you might bleed a little in the process but it is far more painful to pick an untrained bush. I assume you are growing a real goosberry like organic barbed wire not some spineless wonder.

[caroline7758]

I attempted to thin my rasps out last winter but they are more unruly than ever. But despite this and being infested with bindweed, I've still had a decent crop.

[antipodes]

I assume you are growing a real goosberry like organic barbed wire not some spineless wonder.

yes they are Red ones, I think it's a Wineham's Industry.The spines are brutal. And the bushes are just all over the shop.