How to achieve a good raspberry harvest

Raspberries are water-hungry plants, especially when the berries are forming. The decisive period for summer-bearing raspberries — it's mid-spring — beginning of summer, for fruiting in autumn — this time is from late spring to late summer. However, for the health of raspberry plants, maintaining constant soil moisture is necessary at any time of the year, including during periods when there are no berries. Although from mid-autumn to mid-spring natural precipitation is sufficient on its own. But keep the water regime — This is not all you need to know about how to achieve a good raspberry harvest and provide your plantation with everything you need.

What is needed for a good raspberry harvest? Mulching!

As water becomes an increasingly valuable and expensive resource, mulching comes to the fore because it is a useful activity: it reduces the loss of water from the ground, in addition, it provides a small but constant flow of nutrients. But most importantly — Mulching the soil around raspberries reduces the need for watering. Simply spread well-rotted organic matter on the soil around the stems without touching them. Ideal height — about 10 centimeters, but a layer of any thickness will be useful. The best time to mulch — immediately after feeding the plants.

If rotted organic material is unavailable or in short supply, grass clippings will perform the same function. Previously, it was believed that during decay, grass contributes to the leaching of nitrogen from the soil. But, as scientific tests have proven, this is absolutely not the case. In fact, the reduction in soil nitrogen is too small compared to the benefits of mulching, which outweigh any losses.

What else is needed for a good raspberry harvest? During the hottest periods, even mulching will not be enough to conserve soil moisture, so weekly deep watering during this time will be necessary if you want the best fruit from your raspberries. Correct — water from a watering can, abundantly, but at rare intervals. In average climates, one watering per week, which would thoroughly saturate the soil with water, is quite enough.

For raspberries, the use of organic fertilizer, such as bone, blood or fish meal, is justified. Two handfuls of this fertilizer should be sprayed evenly over one square meter; this is best done at the end of March, in the third week. This will ensure a slow release of nutrients over several months. You can repeat this feeding at the end of May and at the end of June. 3 feedings will provide your raspberries with all the nutrients they need.

If you use animal manure, especially horse manure, fermented in a large container, and apply it immediately before flowering, then you can reduce the amount of fish or bone meal introduced by almost 2 times, because plants with such fertilizing will need nitrogen by 2 times less.

How to care for raspberries so that there is a good harvest? Features of trimming

Pruning raspberries is easy, and this is a very important item on the list of what you need to know on how to achieve a good raspberry harvest. The only complication is that the raspberry varieties that bear fruit in the summer and those that bear fruit in the fall are pruned at different times of the year, and in different ways. The reason for this is that summer-fruiting raspberries form berries on canes that grew last year, while fall-fruiting raspberries form berries on canes that grew in the current year.

Firstly, it is much easier to prune raspberries that bear fruit in the fall. Its shoots are completely dormant in winter, and this is a good time to shorten them. You can simply take a sharp pruner and trim all the shoots to a height of 15 cm from the top, and the job is done! Some gardeners recommend cutting off unnecessary shoots not to ground level, but leaving a trunk 15 cm high. This is necessary so that you can clearly see where the raspberry bushes grow and do not trample them when young shoots appear.

Raspberries that bear fruit in summer should be cut out immediately after they have been harvested. It should be understood that raspberries — This is a biennial. The first year it just grows and bears fruit — in the second year. Therefore, it is better to remove all the shoots that provided you with berries this summer so that they do not suck nutrients from the soil. Old shoots are easy to distinguish from new ones, because young shoots are much greener and more tender. When pruning, you also need to remove all the shoots that have grown this year, but look too weak; they need to be cut at the root. This is important if you really want to know how to care for raspberries so that you have a good harvest.

When you are done trimming your raspberries, you will have a large pile of stems, which will be very useful for supporting dwarf French beans and climbing beans. So just store these canes in a dry place and use them next year. As raspberry shoots grow, summer-bearing varieties are best tied to supports. Depending on the variety and how tall the bushes are, the garter may have to be repeated up to 2 times.

Bad and good neighbors for raspberries

The best neighbors for raspberries — garlic, turnip, tansy, calendula, and this has long been recognized and proven. These plants repel insects harmful to raspberries, such as ants, flies, moths and a variety of flying insects that harm the berries. Planting raspberries next to pine trees is very useful. Pines, and in general all evergreens, acidify the soil, which raspberries love. And the pine tree annually drops its needles, which also enrich the soil with nutrients and serve as a good mulch.

Bad companions for raspberries are eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and related crops. Strawberries, although not related to the nightshade family, should also be kept away for the same reason. These crops are susceptible to and spread verticillium wilt, to which most raspberry varieties are very susceptible.

No need to mix different varieties of raspberries and blackberries. If you are growing two or more varieties, they should be kept as far apart as possible. Minimum distance — this is 15 meters.

Good soil for raspberries

It is best for you to always have on hand a certain supply of well-rotted manure or compost, any other organic fertilizer, a constant source of water and some mulch. Straw is good for mulch, but in principle you can use anything for it, even waste paper. Mulch will really provide good soil for raspberries, loose and moist.

Proper planting of raspberries

And the first thing you need to know is how to achieve a good raspberry harvest — this is the correct position. To properly plant raspberries, you need to dig holes 30 cm deep at a distance of 1 meter from each other, in each of these holes you need to put one handful of organic fertilizer, then add a little water and pour a mound of earth on which to place the seedling and straighten the roots. It is necessary to sprinkle the bush with soil not to the very surface of the soil, but to leave a small depression so that water from precipitation accumulates in it. You can sprinkle a little well-rotted manure on top and sprinkle with mulch, but not more than 7 centimeters in height.