Features Of Cultivation, Diseases And Pests Of Raspberries - 4

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Raspberry farming techniques

August

1. Regular watering and weeding. Harvesting.
2. If necessary, top dressing with potash fertilizers.

3. At the end of the month, additional fertilizing with complex fertilizers. In this case, I prefer the "Giant berry" or "Kemira" fertilizer diluted in water. I am doing this no longer with the aim of increasing the yield this year, but for the formation of stronger young shoots.

   

September

1. Gathering the last berries.
2. Cutting out of fruiting shoots. Removal of broken, darkened and weak young shoots.
3. Spraying with 1% Bordeaux mixture against a complex of diseases and trichodermine against gray rot.
4. Tying and tilting raspberry shoots to provide good snow cover. Most often, a bunch of shoots from one bush is tilted and tied to a bunch of shoots from another bush. The upper part of the arc formed as a result of such a bundle should not be higher than 35 cm. This must be done extremely carefully to avoid damage to shoots and buds.

November December

1. Covering the raspberry with the snow that has fallen to prevent freezing of the shoots in the event of severe frosts with an insufficient level of snow cover. Then, throughout the winter, it is necessary to control that the raspberry bushes are constantly under the snow.

Diseases and pests

Raspberries are a good berry, of course, but the problem is that it is not easy for gardeners. The love for it on the part of winged pests is very strong: it is attacked by numerous weevils and raspberry beetles, helping us in every way to "cope" with the ripening crop. And she also has a lot of diseases. All this greatly complicates obtaining the desired harvest. I will not list all pests and all raspberry diseases. I will name only those of them that are most annoying in our zone.

Raspberry diseases

One of the most unpleasant and completely untreatable diseases is considered to be a viral mosaic, which almost all varieties of garden raspberries are ill - this disease can be determined by the presence of yellow spots on the leaves of raspberries, which alternate with green ones, as a result of which the leaves really resemble a mosaic. Most often, the disease is brought in with planting material. If its symptoms are found, the plants are dug up and destroyed. And in the future, raspberries are no longer planted on this place (in general, according to official recommendations, the land where the affected bushes grew must be kept under steam for a year). I have never had a global damage to plantings with mosaics, and in isolated cases I just replaced this land, because if, in an extremely limited space of the raspberry tree, part of the land is not yet used, then too much waste will turn out.

In wet years, a lot of harm is caused by the usual gray rot, which affects leaves, buds, flowers, berries, and even shoots. It manifests itself in almost the same way as on strawberries. The most effective remedy to combat it is Trichodermine (100 g for 2 buckets of water). It is best to spray twice - before flowering and immediately after harvest. The second spraying with Trichodermine should be carried out no later than a week before harvesting, otherwise the berries will smell like mushrooms.

Curl is considered another incurable disease of raspberries. The leaves of diseased plants become lumpy and chlorotic. The shoots are very thick and grow poorly, the flowers on these shoots bloom, but the berries are not tied. Gradually, the diseased bush dies. The disease cannot be treated, so these bushes have to be removed.

Overgrowth is less common, but no less unpleasant. It is characterized by the fact that the affected plants form a huge mass of weak growth (up to 200 shoots per bush). Naturally, normal shoots from such a growth cannot be formed, and the plant must also be destroyed.

Among the diseases that are quite easily treatable are raspberry purple spot and anthracnose. Both of them show up as specific spots on trunks and shoots and can cause significant damage if no action is taken. With annual preventive treatments of raspberries with a 1% Bordeaux mixture (immediately after the leaves bloom and after harvesting), I think these diseases are not terrible.

Raspberry pests

One of the most unpleasant pests is, of course, the raspberry beetle. It is his larvae that feed on the contents of the berries during their ripening and are often found in them during the harvest period. Larvae and beetles overwinter in the soil at a depth of 15-20 cm, and in the spring, after warming up the soil, they come to the surface. Therefore, it is extremely important to mulch the raspberry tree with a thick layer of manure: some of the pests that hibernated deeper simply cannot overcome this path and will die. The females of raspberry beetles begin to actively move through the plants in order to lay eggs during the budding period. And at this moment it is necessary to spray with Intavir or another similar preparation in order to destroy at least part of our competitors. And when collecting berries, the larvae that come across must be destroyed.

During the budding period, the strawberry-raspberry weevil also begins to be active, pouncing on the unopened buds. To combat it, the same Intavir is used, spraying is carried out during the budding period.

An equally unpleasant pest is the raspberry fly, which severely damages young shoots. It begins to act at the moment the first growing shoots appear, laying eggs in the leaf axils. The larvae that emerged from them bite into the stem, and the top of the shoot withers, and then dies. The larva continues to dwell inside the shoot. Therefore, it is so important to inspect the raspberry tree weekly in order to see damaged shoots in time. They need to be cut or broken off below the point of damage and burned. If the damaged shoots are not cut out in time, the larvae gnaw through new holes, leave the shoots and go into the soil.

So that the berries are like honey

Naturally, the taste of berries of the same raspberry variety can vary greatly depending on the growing conditions. In other words, if you can create the most favorable conditions for the plants in your raspberry garden for their development, then you can count on the ripening berries to be tasty and aromatic. True, it should not be denied that the choice of the variety also plays an important role. So, if you prefer sweet and flavorful raspberries:

• - choose varieties with high taste;
• - do not be greedy and leave only enough shoots for which you can provide good lighting; evenly distribute the shoots during the garter process and tie each one - the shoot is separate, and not several pieces together (such recommendations are sometimes found in the literature);
• - grow raspberries only on highly fertile soil, do not forget about timely feeding and mulching; do not lack any nutrients;
• - make one of your principles the implementation of the necessary preventive measures to prevent the appearance of diseases;
• - at the beginning and in the middle of the growing season, spraying with the growth stimulator "Epin" - this will ensure more active development of plants and intensive fruiting;
• - If possible, at the time of the appearance of the ovaries, spray the plants with huminates - the berries will become sweeter.