Features Of Growing Raspberries, Planting Material, Root Suckers And Cuttings, Raspberry Seedlings - Raspberry Paradise - 2

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

Features of growing raspberries, the favorite berry of Russians. About raspberry preferences

Despite the fact that forest raspberries grow well on their own and give good yields, garden raspberries are somehow much more finicky. And there are real "raspberry addictions" that are best kept in mind.

1. Raspberry is a low-winter plant, at a temperature of -30 ° C, some varieties can freeze completely, in more frost-resistant varieties, the buds at the ends of the shoots can suffer from severe frosts. Raspberry shoots are especially damaged if they stopped growing late. Therefore, for example, in our conditions, even for zoned Ural varieties, wintering under the snow is preferable.

2. Under natural conditions, raspberries grow on forest edges, clearings and woodlands protected from the wind. In open areas, wild raspberries look much worse, their shoots are often broken by gusts of wind. Therefore, for a garden raspberry tree, it is better to choose a place protected from strong winds, or to provide its stems with very good support. By the way, in places protected from the wind, raspberries are better pollinated. bees and wasps also prefer calm places.

3. It develops best in the bright sun, which not only accelerates the ripening of fruits, but also contributes to their better pollination. In theory, raspberries can withstand a little shade, but their fruits obviously don't get better from this.

4. This culture does not tolerate thickening at all: in such conditions the bushes develop worse, their resistance to pests and diseases weakens, the quality of berries deteriorates, and the yield falls. Therefore, timely and correct shaping and pruning is necessary.

5. Raspberries are extremely demanding on soil moisture and do not tolerate drought at all - if there is a lack of moisture in the soil, raspberries get sick and give small berries. In summer, at the time of pouring the fruits, the soil in the raspberry tree must be constantly moist, and therefore watering the raspberry requires a lot of trouble and time. Mulching the raspberry tree with a thick layer of suitable material (half-rotted manure, sawdust, bark, straw, etc.) helps to make life somewhat easier for the gardener in terms of watering. At the same time, raspberries cannot stand excessive moisture - they get wet and eventually die.

6. It grows well and bears fruit only on loose and extremely fertile soils. Raspberries grow very intensively and at the same time take up a huge amount of nutrients from the soil. Therefore, timely application of large doses of organic and mineral fertilizers is necessary. The greatest need for raspberries in nitrogen and potassium fertilizers.

7. A significant part of the feeding roots of raspberries is located in the surface layer of the soil, although in principle the roots can penetrate far into the depths - up to 1 or more meters (more precisely, as far as the soil allows). Due to the superficial location of a significant mass of roots, the ground in the raspberry tree should in no case be loosened, much less dug up (and such recommendations are found all the time in the literature).

8. Planting 2-3 varieties in raspberries in general contributes to better pollination of raspberries, although it all depends on the specific variety. It is possible to get good yields with one variety in a raspberry berry and bad ones with five varieties.

You can't do without high-quality planting material

Raspberries are propagated, as a rule, by lignified and green root suckers (shoots) and root cuttings. Sometimes by dividing the bushes, but this option is ineffective (usually the bush can be divided into only two new bushes).

Root offspring

This is perhaps the simplest and least time consuming method of breeding raspberries. But only a few specimens of shoots form a fairly good root system, and therefore young bushes grow weak, and grow extremely slowly. Although in the case of planting a small number of new bushes on the plantation, it is usually possible to find a few good specimens.

Root cuttings

To get them, in the fall, the horizontal roots of the fruiting raspberry bush are carefully dug out. Then, the excavated areas of the roots (those that are not less than 4 mm in diameter) are cut into the required number of cuttings in accordance with the adventitious buds on them or the shoots that have already started to grow. The cuttings should be at least 10 cm long. The resulting root cuttings are planted immediately in a permanent place or, more often, for growing in a well-fertilized bed. Using this method, you can get a fairly large (meaning the needs of an ordinary gardener) number of young plants. But the harvest from these plants will not be obtained at all soon. They will spend a year in a separate growing bed, and only then will they resemble normal planting material and can be planted in a raspberry tree.

In general, both when propagating by root suckers and when propagating by root cuttings, there is a high probability that with the planting material of a good varietal raspberry, it will be possible to "grab" specimens that are by no means varietal, which managed to break into the raspberry grove, for example, from a neighboring site, trail, forest etc. In addition, when establishing a new plantation, when a sufficiently large amount of planting material is required, both of these options will be ineffective. In other words, they are more suitable for single, rather than mass plantings. And there is a very high probability that it will not be possible to find strong specimens with a good root system. Of course, even with a weak root system, raspberries usually take root, but there is no guarantee that the result will be a strong and actively fruiting raspberry bush. And time for the formation of new bushes,thus, it will take much more, because while they still get stronger and grow … And for some reason I want to get a big harvest right away.

Therefore, you can use a somewhat more troublesome, but more reliable method in terms of quality and quantity of planting material. True, you will have to bother all summer to grow good raspberry seedlings.

Targeted cultivation of seedlings

So, for this operation, you need to choose the best raspberry bushes on your plantation with an age of at least 3 years. It is better if such uterine bushes are on the edge of the raspberry tree - then it will be easier to provide the young shoots with the most suitable light conditions.

In early spring, when it is usually customary to cover the raspberry tree with a decent layer of mulching material, this operation will have to be excluded for the mother bushes selected for reproduction. In other words, no mulching material is poured within a radius of 70-80 cm around selected bushes. The result will not be long in coming: the number of overgrowth shoots will far exceed that which usually occurs in a raspberry-covered with a large layer of mulching material.

As soon as they reach a height of 15-20 cm, the soil between them, carefully so as not to damage the shoots, is also covered with mulch. At the same time, they control that all young shoots are above the mulch. After that, the uterine bushes themselves with a minimum number of roots are carefully removed. More precisely, only the very cores of the bushes are removed. It is impossible to completely remove them (the roots from each bush stretch very far), and it is not necessary, because you can harm young and still weak shoots.

After that, the grown young shoots are cut so that the remaining ones are no closer than 12-15 cm to each other. Deprived of mother bushes and left for cultivation, the coppice sprouts will have to actively develop their own root system, and by autumn they will turn into full-fledged seedlings. In autumn, these seedlings are cut in the usual way at a height of 15-20 cm and carefully dug out with a large clod of earth for replanting. It is preferable to carry out this operation at the moment when the seedlings have already finished their growth - around the middle of September.

The secret of obtaining seedlings with a good root system with this method of propagation is that the shoots separated from the mother bush begin to quickly grow the root system. The coppice shoots that grow near the mother bush are in no hurry to acquire a powerful root system, because they are fully dependent on it. Having separated the coppice shoot, we, thereby, make it take care of the formation of its own root system.

Correct planting is the basis of the future harvest

Theoretically, raspberries in one place can grow up to 15-20 years, but the most productive period lasts, as a rule, no more than 10-12 years. By this time, the rhizome is gradually aging, the shoots become small and weak, and the yield naturally decreases. In this case, you have to lay a new raspberry tree in a new place. Of course, in order not to be left without a crop for a couple of years, you need to take care of laying a new raspberry plantation in advance.

When to plant?

In principle, young plants can be planted both in autumn and spring. The only thing we need to remember is that we have all kinds of winters, including those with very low temperatures and late snowfall. Plants with a bad root system and not having time to adapt to a new place, when planted in autumn, may not survive the winter period and die. This is especially true of purchased planting material, which is no longer in the best condition during planting. Therefore, the autumn planting should be carried out no later than 35-40 days before the soil freezes. Better if you do it in early September, and not later. It is preferable that the seedlings were your own. This allows planting with minimal damage to the root system, which means that the period of time required for the adaptation of plants will also decrease. When planting purchased planting material with an open root system, the option of spring planting is more reliable.

If the situation developed in such a way that it was necessary to plant the purchased raspberries, and in not very good condition, in late autumn, then it would be wiser here to try to extend the adaptation period of the plants and let them prepare normally for winter, covering the plantings with thick covering material, and so leave them for the winter … For plants under the covering material, the conditions for getting used to a new place will significantly improve, because the temperature under the thick covering material will be 5 … 7 ° C higher.