Caring for raspberries for a good harvest: complete information

Content:

The article describes in detail what the care of raspberries should be in order to have a good harvest. In spring, summer, autumn and winter: features of watering, feeding, pruning shrubs and their remontant varieties.

How to grow raspberries so as to get a big harvest of this very tasty and aromatic berry? Many gardeners are asking this question. This plant is very fond of warmth and light, but not everyone knows how to care for it. Although the first thing to get a large and tasty berry is to choose the right variety. But which one, it already depends on your area. In addition, you need to properly water the raspberries, cut them, fertilize and fertilize. This is all very important for proper cultivation and obtaining a rich harvest. Also, raspberries are common and remontant, and their spring, summer, and autumn care is noticeably different.

Raspberry care: preparation for planting, predecessors

The best predecessors of raspberries

In order to breed a raspberry tree, the first step is to choose the right site. In the place of the future raspberry tree there should not be the slightest draft, wind and shade. There should be direct sunlight on the site all day, and the groundwater should be as deep as possible.
The most successful place will be along the house or fence.
If the place where the raspberry grows is not chosen correctly, it is immediately visible externally. Signs of an incorrectly chosen place: small berries - raspberries have little moisture, which means it grows in a too high place.
Rotting roots - too much moisture, which means it grows in the place where the groundwater runs too close.
Dying off of stems - raspberries grow in the wind, which means they have too much draft and a lot of shade.
Freezing of the kidneys - bushes grow in a too low place

You also need to choose the right predecessors for raspberries. The best for her will be beans, peas and lentils, but if apple trees, potatoes or strawberries used to grow in this place, then the harvest will be poor. Also, the soil must be prepared before planting, because it loves light and loose soil. Raspberry is a shrub, and its roots are close enough to the surface of the earth. That is why only 30 cm of the fertile layer of the earth is enough for it, but at the same time the earth must be acidic enough, otherwise it will give a poor harvest. When you have decided on a place for a raspberry tree, you need to prepare the soil. This should be done 2 weeks before planting. When digging in autumn, rotted manure and 70 grams of superphosphate or 50 grams of potassium sulfate must be added to the site, it is this amount of fertilizer that must be applied per 1 square meter of land.

Raspberry care: planting methods

The entire future harvest depends on how the raspberries were planted correctly. When planting, experienced gardeners recommend choosing a trench method. The correct choice of the method of planting raspberries also gives the same result. The correct technique for planting raspberries:

1. It is necessary to prepare trenches, 2.5 meters long and up to half a meter deep.
2. humus and compost should be poured into the bottom of the trenches.
3.On top of the fertilizer, a layer of earth of at least 10 cm should be poured.
4.you need to carefully put the raspberry seedlings in the trench and spread the roots, which should be half a meter apart from each other.
5. During installation, the seedling must be gently shaken so that no voids form between the roots and the ground.
6. The replacement kidney should be no deeper than three cm underground.
7. The bushes must be carefully covered with earth and compacted very strongly.
8. The seedlings need to be watered very abundantly, but the water must always be warm, not lower than 20 degrees.
In one place the bush grows for 5 years, and throughout it will be fed by the fertilizer that was introduced into the trench during planting. After all, it is within five years that organic fertilizers will decompose. Since raspberry bushes grow very quickly and strongly, the trenches should also be at a distance of 1.5 meters from each other. If the aisles are small, then there will be little space for raspberries, and picking raspberries will be very inconvenient.

Proper watering, loosening to get a good harvest of raspberries

If you want to get a large harvest of raspberries, then do not forget about watering. Raspberries must always be watered, at all stages of their development. In order for the water not to just spread on the ground around it, it is best to install a frame. It can be made of wooden boards or slate, and dug to a shallow depth. If, for some reason, you cannot make a frame, then you can simply make an earthen embankment around the perimeter and the water will not go anywhere either. It is best to water the raspberries twice a week, but abundantly enough so that the ground gets wet to a depth of at least 30 cm.Correct and regular moistening of the earth contributes to the growth and active development of shoots, which should gain strength before the start of active fruiting. Therefore, from the end of May to July, you need to increase the amount of water during irrigation, for each bush at this time about half of 30 liters of water should go at a time. It is advisable to water the raspberries late in the evening so that the water can be absorbed during the night. But if you water in the morning, then a large amount of moisture will evaporate during the day and will not have time to reach the roots of the plant. A very good way is drip, using special installations. This methom is quite convenient and the land in the raspberry grove will always be moistened, but it is quite costly in terms of the amount of water, since the consumption for each watering will require much more than with manual watering.

When raspberries are already growing on a plot, there is no need to dig up the ground near the bushes, you can damage the roots, because they are too close to the surface of the ground. But the aisles must be loosened, and this is done so that oxygen enters the kidney more easily, and the weeds are removed immediately. Loosening the land is a very good way to increase yields. The first time it is necessary to loosen the soil in the raspberry tree is in early spring, immediately after the snow has completely melted and stable warm weather has been established. And also loosening is carried out after each watering. To avoid watering raspberries too often, it is enough to simply mulch the soil. this can be done with dry sawdust, grass, straw, or hay. It is necessary to loosen the land throughout the season, and the last time it needs to be done before mid-August. If the loosening is carried out later, then the young shoots will not have time to develop, as it should be, and in winter they will simply freeze out. With the last loosening, you can make a slope towards the bushes so that all the autumn moisture gets exactly to the roots of the plant, and not just to empty ground.

In order for the moisture to be optimal for the life of raspberries, it is best to mulch the root zone of the plant. You can even pour a little manure under each bush, then when it dries up, the crust that it forms will prevent moisture from evaporating from the ground. It is also suitable as an excellent organic fertilizer. And while it will decompose for several years, then all this time it will feed raspberries with useful substances.But it is imperative to monitor the volume of mulch from manure on raspberries, because it should not be higher than 5 cm, otherwise it will be very difficult for young shoots to break through it, and some will not be able at all, because the manure itself is very heavy. If you do not have manure available and you cannot buy it, then you can mulch raspberries: with peat, fallen leaves, dry grass, dry sawdust, a mixture of sawdust with the addition of wood ash, old newspapers, which should be lightly sprinkled with humus.
If for some reason you do not want to mulch, then you can simply cover the aisles with a covering material that does not allow light to pass through. Then there will be an optimal amount of moisture under it and a sufficient temperature so that weeds do not grow.

Raspberry care: feeding raspberries for a good harvest

Top dressing raspberries for a good harvest

Raspberry care: feeding raspberries for a good harvest

It is imperative to fertilize raspberries, then the plants will receive more nutrition and, accordingly, develop more. And on well-developed branches with a thick stem and a lot of foliage, the yield will be greater. As a top dressing for raspberries, chicken droppings or slurry diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10 are great. And also last year's rotted manure.
If, for some reason, when preparing trenches in the fall, you could not fertilize the soil with organic matter and did not add a fertile layer of soil, then the first top dressing can be done in the spring by adding urea in the form of granules to the trenches. No more than 100 grams of fertilizer should be applied per 1 square meter. When the first ovaries appear on raspberries, ideally it should be fed with minerals, which contain phosphorus, calcium, sulfur, potassium and magnesium. The most optimal drug, which contains all these necessary substances, is superphosphate. From this drug, raspberries strengthen their immunity, the shoots become stronger, and the number of berries increases. Although for raspberries, it is organic fertilizers that will always be a priority. Manure, slurry, chicken droppings, compost and peat mixed with manure are great for her. But it is by no means possible to feed raspberries with nitrogen in autumn, since it greatly reduces the frost resistance of plants.

At a time when the raspberries begin to bloom, you can make the perfect food for raspberries yourself. To do this, you need to take: 200 grams of superphosphate, 200 grams of pure wood ash without impurities, 60 grams of urea and dilute all this in 10 liters of water. Each raspberry bush should be watered with this solution. If the raspberry has already begun fruiting, then after the very first pruning it needs to be fed with nitroammophos, it is added in the amount of 40 grams of the drug per 1 square meter of land. This fertilizer is applied for the 4th year of the plant's life. Also in the fall, under each bush, 3 liters of humus mixed with 100 grams of saltpeter should be added.

Raspberry: grooming, pruning, garter

Raspberry Care: Pruning

The number of flower-bearing brushes, and in the future, respectively, the number of berries is laid when pruning the bushes. When pruning annual raspberries, it is best to use the double pruning method. This method belongs to the breeder Alexander Sobolev.

The first time raspberry pruning is carried out in the second year of the plant's life. And they do this from late May to early June, because it is at this time that young shoots begin to grow upward. They need to be cut at a height of 1 meter above the ground, it will be more convenient for everyone, for raspberries, in that the branches will not bend too much under the weight of the berries, and sometimes even break. And for the gardener it is much more convenient to harvest, and there is no need to reach anywhere. Re-pruning is carried out the next spring, when the bush already has many young shoots, and it is they who need to be cut literally by 10 cm.

With annual pruning, it is advisable to leave no more than 5 young shoots for each bush, and the rest must be ruthlessly trimmed with pruning shears.In the case of such pruning, raspberries will lay many more flowering buds, and, accordingly, the amount of future harvest will increase. You can also increase the fruiting of raspberry bushes if you grow young bushes and are already fruiting separately. For this method, young and strong shoots are dug up and transplanted separately, and small and weak shoots are simply cut out. If you plant late-ripening varieties of raspberries, then only those shoots that have grown to three years of age will bear fruit. Such shoots should be cut up to 1.5 meters from the ground. Then only large berries will form in such bushes.

As the raspberry bushes grow, they will need additional support over time. For this, there are various ways of garter, and each gardener chooses a method that is more convenient for him. For example, many people make trellises and stretch thick wire between them, and every year the number of wires increases, both from above and from below. But a distance of at least 30 cm should remain below the ground. Namely, such a distance is left in order to tie young shoots to this wire for the winter in the autumn preparation in order to save them from freezing. And the stems of old shoots are tied to the upper trellis, where they are well ventilated, and this reduces all risks of infection of raspberries with viral diseases. In such a garter there are several more advantages: there is much less load on the branches of plants, it is much easier to care for raspberries, young and already fruiting shoots can be separated without replanting. Also, if there is no thickening in raspberries, then pegs can be installed next to each shoot and the shoots can be tied to them. The fan-shaped method of planting a garter is also often used. To do this, two stable pegs are driven into the ground opposite each other and, in turn, the shoots are tied to the stakes. Thus, a kind of fan is obtained.

Raspberry care: protecting against diseases and pests

How to protect raspberries from various diseases and pests is of interest to many, even experienced gardeners. Even if you do everything right in caring for raspberries, you can still lose your entire plantation due to any disease or pests. Their appearance may not immediately destroy the entire crop, but certainly half. If insects attack raspberries during flowering, they will immediately spoil the flowers and buds of the plant.

The main pests and how to deal with them: Raspberry beetle - this pest lays the larvae in flowers. Getting rid of them is very difficult only if you collect them by hand. You can also lay a film on the ground around the bush and shake off the larvae from each branch.
Spider mites and stem flies - these pests can only be exterminated with insecticides such as Decis or Iskra.
Kidney moth - this insect often attacks young shoots. To get rid of it, you need to treat the raspberries with a 10% solution of Bordeaux mixture or karbofos.
Stem gall midge - infection with this pest is immediately visible externally, orange swellings appear on the lower shoots. If this pest does appear, then it is necessary to cut off below the lowest bulge, and be sure to treat the raspberries with the preparations "Fufanon" or "Actellik".
Strawberry-raspberry weevil - the larvae of this insect eat out the flower buds from the inside. To get rid of this pest, you need to process raspberries with karbofos. The chemical is called "Confidor"
Shoot aphid - it is very easy to understand that your plant was hit by this particular pest. The leaves just begin to curl, young shoots grow crooked, and when raspberries bloom, the flowers just dry up and fall off. Also, this pest easily transfers viral diseases. But you can get rid of it either before the raspberries begin to bloom, or wait until the harvest ripens and you collect it. Raspberries are processed with drugs such as Iskra-M or Actellik.
Nutcracker - the larva of this insect feeds on the tissues of the leaves and stems of raspberries. To get rid of it, you need to treat raspberries with chemicals such as "Alatar" or "Inta-Vir".
Raspberry glass is a caterpillar that feeds on the roots and stems of the plant, penetrating inside. In order to get rid of them, you need to cut out all the affected branches and especially the lower shoots, as well as they must be burned, and one of the main conditions for their destruction is what you need to burn outside the aisles of your site.

You should always remember and not make this global mistake: it is impossible to treat plants with any chemicals when the plant is in bloom, or even just going. And before you harvest, you shouldn't use chemicals on raspberries at all. This is fraught with poisoning. It is better to have time to carry out processing before flowering, or after harvest.

In order for insects not to hatch from the larvae during flowering, you need to use the folk method. Every evening you need to process raspberry bushes with a cold infusion of tansy. To do this, you need the infusion: 500 grams of fresh tansy and 200 grams of dried tansy, pour 2.5 liters of water over them and boil for 30 minutes. Then you need to strain this solution and fill it with another 2.5 liters. Cool it well before use. And so that the insect larvae could not endure the winter in the ground, from autumn all the aisles must be dug to the depth of the bayonet bayonet.

Also, raspberries are often sick with various diseases. They can also be immediately seen externally: didimela - also called blue-violet spotting. When this disease appears, spots appear under the attachment of the petiole. It can spread very quickly, and buds no longer develop on infected bushes.

Powdery mildew - when this disease appears on the leaves and stems of the plant, they are covered with a white bloom, while the amount of harvest becomes much less than expected. The berries are small, blue-gray in color, and have a specific smell.
Anthracnose - purple spots appear on the plant, somewhat similar to ulcers. These spots can be found on absolutely any part of the plant. With this disease, the berries do not ripen at all.
Septoria - with this disease, the leaves are affected by white spots and die off.
Curl - the sheet becomes as if glassy, and begins to curl towards the center.
Bacterial root cancer - balls appear at the very base of the shoots, somewhat resembling a tumor. The plant gradually weakens, and later dies off altogether.
Disease can only be overcome with the help of chemicals.
The best in the fight against diseases are drugs such as: "Hom", "Oxy-Hom",
"Abiga-Peak", Bordeaux liquid 1%, copper chloride.

Raspberry care: disease prevention

It is best to carry out prevention than to further engage in treatment and spend your time and energy on it. For prevention you need:

1. Thin bushes, avoiding thickening.
2. Every autumn, branches affected by insects should be cut and burned.
3. Every autumn, dig in the aisles, and regularly loosen the raspberry tree itself.
4. there should never be any weeds on raspberries.
5. best of all at the time when buds begin to form on the raspberry and cover it with a covering material until the very beginning of flowering.
6. transplant raspberries to a new site every 5 years.
7. An excellent prophylaxis during planting is the treatment of the roots in a 1% solution of copper sulfate. More precisely, the roots must be completely rinsed in copper sulfate and then rinsed in the same way in plain water.
8. You also need to choose the right varieties of raspberries, and choose good and healthy seedlings for planting.
9. also for the prevention of diseases in the spring, you can process the planting of raspberries with Rubigan solutions. Dilute 2 ml of the preparation in 5 liters of water. Or benomyl 1 gram is also diluted in 5 liters of water.

Raspberry care: features and secrets

If you properly care for raspberries throughout the year, then you will get a correspondingly large harvest. After all, each season caring for raspberries is slightly different from the previous one. And care, accordingly, needs a little different.

In the spring, you need to properly prune. And this is done in order to remove all dried, not survived the winter or broken branches. But do not forget that you do not need to open raspberries warmed for the winter as soon as the first warm days come. Moreover, when the shoots have been pressed to the ground since autumn for better insulation. Indeed, firstly, spring frosts may still return, and secondly, the shoots simply do not have time to warm up yet, and after winter they are still very fragile and can simply break. You can open raspberry shoots only when the temperature during the day is stable above +10 degrees. If you tied the stems, then after you have opened them, you just need to untie them, but in no case can you unbend them. Over time, they will straighten on their own. But after they straighten themselves, they will need to be tied up. And pruning is carried out only in May, not earlier.

It is in the summer that raspberries begin to bear fruit. During the time when the berry will sing, you need to pick it at this time every two days. This is simply necessary so that the branches do not break under the weight of the berries. Throughout the summer period, in addition to the fact that in the summer you need to water the raspberries, feed and loosen, you also need to prune young shoots. After all, the bushes will give their strength to the shoots, and there will be no strength left for the berries. Before flowering, you need to thin out the raspberry so that there are no thickets, and you can also process the raspberries with copper sulfate. Do not feel sorry for young shoots, new ones will always have time to grow, but it must be borne in mind that they cast a shadow on the fruiting branches and take all moisture and nutrients from the ground. But if you thin out the raspberries, then the plants will be stronger and the yield will be greater. Experienced gardeners also recommend pruning two-year-old shoots in the summer. Then all the new shoots will have time to get stronger before the next season.

In the fall, pruning should be done in front of the shelter for the winter. For the planned pruning of raspberries, as well as for its thinning, early autumn is the most ideal option. It was at this time that the overgrown shoots have already been formed and watering can be practically halved. Before closing the raspberries for the winter, it must be watered very abundantly for the last time, at least 5 buckets of water must be poured for each square meter. At the very beginning of October, absolutely all the leaves must be removed from the raspberries, and the shoots must be bent to the ground. If you do this later, the branches will simply dry out and if you bend you will most likely break them.

And it is also necessary to change the mulch, and dig up the aisles and loosen the ground. And this is done in order to destroy all insects that can survive the winter. Also, from the very beginning of September, you can start feeding raspberries with potassium. On the zoom, you need to cover them with anything like a film, in addition to bending the branches to the ground. Also, before winter, you need to carry out the next pruning, and cut out all the shoots that have already borne fruit. Raspberry is a very frost-resistant plant that easily and without loss tolerates temperatures down to -36 degrees. But despite this, insulation is still needed for the winter. Insulation will also trap snow.

Raspberry care of remontant varieties

There are also remontant varieties, and they need a little different care. But the yield of these varieties is much higher than that of ordinary raspberries. Yes, and it bears fruit longer. In principle, caring for ordinary raspberries and remontant is similar, only the latter has its own characteristics. It is best to plant remontant raspberries in the fall, in the very first days of October. In order to increase the amount of harvest, you need to completely cut out the fertile bushes. And it is best to do this in the fall, well, at least in early spring. But if you cut it in the spring, then you don't have to wait for the harvest this year, it will appear only next year.So the choice of when to cut remontant raspberries is yours. For remontant raspberries, thinning the bushes is especially important, because the thicker the bushes are, the less berries will be on them, and even that will be small. Top dressing of this raspberry needs increased, because due to the fact that it gives a greater yield, accordingly, it spends more energy.

Repaired raspberries, as well as ordinary ones, need to be planted in a place where there is no draft, best along the house or fence.
What is the difference between remontant raspberries and ordinary ones: You can harvest the remontant raspberries at least twice a season.
It is not necessary to bend the stems to the ground for the winter and cover it.
Pruning remontant raspberries is a little simpler than regular ones.

About raspberry varieties

The varieties of remontant raspberries are divided into several groups: large-fruited - Monomakh's Hat, Golden Autumn, Polka.
Early - Indian Summer.
Berries with a rich taste - Apricot, Orange miracle.
High-yielding - Eurasia, Atlant.
But still, Hercules is considered the most productive variety.
While you are choosing a type of remontant raspberry for yourself, first of all, pay attention to: the taste and size of the berries
When raspberries begin to bloom, bear fruit and how long it takes.
How resistant it is to frost and how immune it is.
What is the shape of the bush.
And what a height.
The best varieties of raspberries, they were selected for their beauty, large berries, quality of shoots, immunity and productivity.

Hercules - this variety is very popular, its berries are very large and sweet, dark burgundy in color. By themselves, the bushes are straight, and they do not need a garter. This variety gives a large and high-quality yield until the very frost.

Hussar - these are very dark, ruby berries with an oblong shape. The variety gives a very large yield and lends itself well to transportation without losing its external qualities.

Giant - this variety does not have thorns, thanks to which it is loved by gardeners. Its berries are juicy and sweet, with the aroma of forest raspberries. The yield of this variety is simply huge, but it bears fruit for only 1.5 months.

Yellow giant - a distinctive feature of this variety is its large yellowish berries. Fruiting begins in July. And the bush itself grows up to 2.5 meters high.

Bryansk miracle - this variety of remontant raspberry has become very popular among gardeners due to the fact that it begins to bear fruit already in the first year after planting. Moreover, this variety has excellent immunity and is not subject to any diseases. The harvest is large, and the bushes grow up to 1.5 meters in height.

Breeders regularly develop new hybrid raspberry varieties with better, improved qualities. First of all, they increase the yield and each time a more enhanced immunity. but ordinary gardeners can get a very large harvest on their site. All that is needed for this is increased attention to raspberries and proper care. The main thing is to choose the right variety and plant the seedling correctly. And then you need to monitor and get rid of pests in time. after all, that any disease, that pests are easier to prevent with the help of prophylaxis than to treat seedlings in the future and eliminate the consequences. And also every gardener should pay special attention to the qualities of the seedlings, and if you buy them, then you need to take them only in a trusted place and from a trusted seller. But with the same success, planting material can be selected from your own bushes, or from the bushes of neighbors or friends. But you need to choose only the strongest and most fruitful shoots.

Raspberry care