I may be cussing Mother Nature out for the slow tomato/squash season, but I can't be angry with her over the raspberry harvest. Cheryl was asking what I do for my raspberries, so since I was in the process of cleaning up that bed, I decided it was a good time to show her. Now, I don't profess to be an expert in raspberry growing and pruning. As with all my gardening, I grow them "by guess and by golly". All I can do is show you how I do it, and what works for me.
***Before I even begin, remember I grow Canby raspberries, which are a one crop summer berry. If you grow fall or everbearing, you will prune yours differently. ***
The first year for my raspberry bed was the spring of 2009. It began with four canes of Canby, which happened to be the only variety being sold at our nearby nursery, planted in the 4'x8'raised bed. I had been hoping to find Heritage, which was the variety I had grown for many years. This was my first experience with a summer bearing variety. I planted them in straight dairy compost, and I harvested a whopping 6 ounces of berries this first year!
Spring of 2010, I amended the bed by adding 2" of dairy manure compost. The canes grew so tall I ended up weaving them horizontally around clothesline rope. A lot of suckers were growing around the base, and I let most of them grow. Big mistake, as I ended up with a jungle of intertwined canes that were difficult to pick.
But the berry harvest improved quite a bit in this second year, as I picked 9 1/4 pounds of fruit. By mid-July the berry harvest was finished, and it was time to prune out the old canes. Of course, this was one of those trial and error things. I knew to prune out the old canes and any that were smaller than a pencil in circumference, so I did that and also removed several that were close to the edge of the bed. I left most of the larger canes to grow for the 2011 crop.
Later in July 2010, the wind began knocking down the tall canes so I decided I should cut the tops back a bit.
The shortened canes survived the winter well, and began to grow new foliage in the spring of 2011, and I again added 2" of composted dairy manure to the top of the bed.
I topped them again as they began growing, trying to keep them a manageable size for picking the fruit. I got a bit carried away, and lopped them down to about 4' high.
Lopping them down must have been the right thing to do, as it didn't take long for them to put forth a lot of horizontal growth and blossoms, promising a good crop of berries for summer meals. In fact, the harvest nearly doubled to 17.2 pounds of berries for 2011!
Now the 2011 harvest is finished, and it's time to clean up the raspberry bed again. I still think they are too thick for proper growth, so I'm being ruthless with the thinning this year.
A lot of canes have been removed from half the bed.
Raspberry canes tossed everywhere.
You can see that the old canes are brown, and the new suckers are light green.
Decisions have to be made as to which canes will stay for the next season. I try to only keep 4-6 of the strongest canes in each clump of growth, removing old canes, small canes and those growing at the inside of the clump, leaving outer ones.
This clump of eight canes will have to be studied a bit to decide which ones to remove. I'll probably end up removing nearly half of them. I've found the canes in the center of a clump don't bear much fruit, but the outer ones, those that get sunshine and fresh air, bear many large juicy berries.
I'm happy with the spacing in this clump of canes.
The results of a morning's work. Most of the thinning and topping has been completed, but it's too hot now, so the rest will be done in the cool of the evening.
Very nice harvest and that sure was a good amount of labor. Well done.
ReplyDeleteInteresting way to prune though. It's my understanding that raspberry canes grow in one year, producing nothing (suckers you call them). Left and cropped to 3 feet high lets them grow strong fruit bearing canes the next year. After the cane bears fruit, it dies and must be removed as they'll take up space and never grow fruit again.
If that's the case, wouldn't it be a good idea to harvest fruit then remove that cane, or somehow mark it so it can be removed at pruning time?
Of course, whatever you did seemed to work as you got a ton of production out of your 4x8 bed this year. 17 pounds, amazing!
Excellent post, very detailed and informative. Thanks for sharing Granny.
ReplyDeleteWill the cut canes, replanted survive and bear fruit? If so, send me some:) Wow, you sure do get a lot of berries with just a few canes!! I guess that is a good variety to grow. I have several canes in fact, I let them cover a good big circle, but barely handfuls in spring/late fall(:
ReplyDeleteOK, I actually read Sinfonian's comment wrong.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what I did, Rich. I pruned out the old fruit bearing canes (they were last years new growth, I explained they were the brown woody canes, not the light green new canes) as they were the ones that fruited this summer and they'll never bear fruit again. I pruned out the excess suckers and cut the tops of the remaining young new canes back to 3-4 feet. These canes will bear fruit next year.
Everbearing raspberries are pruned differently, as they bear fruit on the tops, which are then cut back, then they produce another crop on the bottom of the cane. They can be treated as a one crop by just cutting everything down in the spring and allowing them to only fruit in the fall. It gets confusing, doesn't it?
You're welcome Kris. I thought I explained it well, but it seems to be causing some confusion ;-)
ReplyDeleteRandom, no they won't. Summer bearing plants only bear fruit on one year old canes.
ReplyDeleteYou have everbearing canes. If you'd rather have one larger harvest rather than a handful twice a year, you can cut your canes to the ground next spring...all of them, then let new canes grow through the summer to produce one crop in the fall. I found that to be the easiest (lazy) way to grow when I had the everbearing variety.
It all sounds so confusing...I'll have to wait before I tackle that one, and be satisfied with the blueberry plants. :o)
ReplyDeletethis is exactly what i needed to give me that push to buy raspberry canes this year. thanks so much for sharing, gran!=)
ReplyDeleteps - i wonder if the canes you cut could be propagated?
Kelli, I doubt they could be propagated, but why would you want to? There are zillions of suckers to be dug out constantly, all of which have good root systems and can be moved to another area of the garden if need be. Just one cane will put out dozens of suckers, so not having enough plants is never a problem, having too many is the problem.
ReplyDeleteI've always grown everbearing raspberries. I don't get two small harvests a year. I get to large harvests a year. Or I did until I left them behind. I prune them much like you do. I just get a fall harvest in addition to the summer one. I know a lot of people mow them down after they are done bearing (often in winter), but I like my summer berries too.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Granny!! I really have some work to do on my raspberries at the plots.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this :)
Daphne, I never could get two big harvests from them. I do wish I had a fall bearing variety to compliment the summer bearing though.
ReplyDelete*******
Robin, just remember to look up the pruning instructions for your variety. Heritage are pruned differently from Canby.
Hey Ginny, how come you're hiding way up there? I almost missed ya! Yes, it is confusing if you don't know what type of raspberries you have. Once you learn to prune for your variety, it's quite simple.
ReplyDeletewow! i didn't buy any canes last year because i thought i'd need a lot to get a significant harvest. will try to get at least two for next season. raspberries are up there as one of my favorites.=)
ReplyDeleteGood info,Granny,.....i love raspberries but i have no idea if i could grow it in our country...:(
ReplyDeleteHangKebon, if the plant is available to you, I'd think you could grow it. Several of the bloggers are growing them in large containers.
ReplyDeleteYou've inspired us to add raspberries to the garden this fall... maybe everbearing. I've just loved seeing your raspberry harvests!
ReplyDeleteZentmrs, I'm very tempted to add some everbearing canes to the next bed, where I now have the tomato buckets. We really did enjoy the berries this year, I'd love to extend our season. Of course, I'd love to find someone to help me when it's time to prune them all. That's never gonna happen!
ReplyDeleteLearn something new every day! Thanks for the insight Granny!
ReplyDeleteThank you, thank you, thank you for the post. I guess I must have everbearing, at least most of them, because I got a few berries last fall on the tips of some of the canes. Mine are in their third year in containers. The harvest wasn't terrible, better than last year, but nothing like your 17 pounds. I really do want to put them in the ground, but I don't have much ground left.
ReplyDeletep.s. I'd help you prune if I was just a little bit closer ;-)
Cheryl, I got them all pruned. You can come over and pick them up for me ;-) Honestly, I'm still climbing over the prunings in the paths. I don't know what to do with them!
ReplyDeleteOh....I see. I missed this post last weekend!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting method of pruning that variety. I'm growing Heritage raspberries, and is my first year with 6 plant. I'll have to look up how to prune them.
ReplyDeleteThe easiest way to propagate the new canes I have found is to save up 2 liter plastic bottles, as many as you would like new canes. Toward the end of summer after the berries are mostly through, bend over some of the thinner canes into the bottle and fill half way with potting soil (cut a drain hole in the bottom). You can leave them here most of the fall until you have new beds ready for them to be added to. They will have great root clusters (the size of the bottle) and are easily transplanted or given away to friends.
ReplyDeleteJason, rooting new canes is not my problem, keeping the new suckers under control and out of the veggie beds is what keeps me busy! I always end up with too many canes, making the raspberry bed a jungle and difficult to pick. If I had it to do over again, a wide row would go in the yard, where the suckers could be mowed down with the grass each week.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'm so excited to work on my raspberries :)
ReplyDelete