From Backyard to Berry Bowl: Your Complete Raspberry-Growing Guide
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Planting
Raspberries grow best in a sunny location, but unlike many fruits, they will also grow successfully in a partially shaded spot. However, the more sun, the more fruit!
The planting site should have rich and well-draining soil, great air circulation, and shelter from the wind. Avoid a wet and windy area, as raspberries do not like to stand in water or totally dry out.
Every year, feed your raspberry plants with a couple of inches of compost or aged manure; dig it into the soil a couple of weeks before planting (A good rate is about 3 1/2 cubic feet of compost per 100 square feet).
Plant your berries far from wild-growing berries. Otherwise, you risk spreading wild pests and diseases to your cultivated berry plants.
When to Plant Raspberries
- Start with one-year-old raspberry canes from a reputable nursery. Plant the early spring once the ground thaws out and can be worked (See your local frost dates).
- In mild areas, you could also plant in late autumn to give the plants a head start.
- Plant potted transplants in the spring after the threat of frost has passed.
How to Plant Raspberries
- Before planting, soak the roots for an hour or two.
- Dig a hole that is roomy enough for the roots to spread. If you’re planting multiple bushes, it’s easiest to dig a trench.
- Whether you’re planting bare-root or potted plants, keep the crown of the plant 1 or 2 inches above the ground.
- Canes should be spaced 18 inches apart, with about 4 feet between rows.
- Fill the soil back in, and tamp it down with your foot.
- Once the canes are planted, cut them down to 9 inches tall to encourage new growth. (Yes, it will look like a broken branch sticking out of the ground!)
- Depending on your plant variety, you may need to fashion a support to hold up canes. Many grow to head height.
- A trellis or a fence are good options. If you have a row, drive in two 6-foot posts at the end of the row and stretch galvanized wire between the posts. Summer-fruiting raspberries need three horizontal wires, and the fall types could do with two wires.
Check out this video to learn how to plant raspberries.
Growing
- Mulching is important throughout the season to conserve moisture and suffocate weeds. Keep a thick layer of mulch surrounding plants at all times.
- Water 1 inch per week from spring until after harvest. Regular watering is better than infrequent deep soaking.
- Keep your raspberry bushes tidy by digging up any “suckers” or canes that grow well away from the rows; if you don’t dig them up, they’ll draw nutrients away, and you’ll have fewer berries next year.
- If you wish, you can replant the suckers, and you’ll have new plants! Dig them up, set them in a fresh area of prepared ground, and water them after planting.
How to Prune Raspberries
Prune summer-fruiting raspberries immediately after you’re done picking! Cut only the canes that produced berries back down to the ground.
(Remember, this plant produces berries on two-year-old canes while one-year-old canes grow right beside them. You shouldn’t have trouble telling which is which: the older canes have brown stems, and the young ones are still green. Prune only the older ones, the ones that have finished their fruitful year.)
Tie the remaining canes to the supporting wires with garden string. There should not be any more than one cane every four inches of wire, so cut down additional canes.
Ever-bearing or fall-bearing raspberries
- This is easy. Just cut all canes back to the ground in late winter before growth begins in the spring. They give fruit on canes that are in their first year of growth, after which there is no reason to keep them. Mow them to the ground or use pruning shears for a small patch.
- Clean up all debris—diseases and pests overwinter.
- Pruning is only required during the growing season if you want to keep a uniform order. Dig or pull up new canes that grow well away from the rows. If your raspberry canes are disease-free you can transplant them to raise more plants.
Note: The above assumes you are harvesting a fall crop. To get both fall and following summer crop, do not remove the primocanes that produced the fall crop. Prune them back in spring to about 12 inches above the support, or to the last visible node that had fruit, cutting off the dead tips.
Types
There are many, many raspberry varieties available today—and each one is unique! Ask your local garden center or cooperative extension service which raspberry varieties are best suited for your area. Here are a few to get you started:
- ‘Canby’: red berries; summer-bearing; nearly thornless; recommended for New England, Upper Great Lakes, and Northwest
- ‘Heritage’: red berries; ever-bearing; recommended for the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio Valley
- ‘Plainsman’: red berries; ever-bearing; does well in higher altitudes (the Rockies and High Plains)
- ‘Fallgold’: yellow berries; ever-bearing; recommended for the Upper Midwest and Canada
- ‘Double Gold’: yellow berries tinged with peach; ever-bearing; better for warmer areas, as the fall crop can be quite late
- ‘Royalty’: purple berries; summer-bearing; better for warmer areas
- ‘Jewel’: black berries; summer-bearing; disease-resistant, and great for warmer areas
- ‘Black Hawk’: black berries; summer-bearing; heat and drought tolerant
Tired of raspberries? Try your hand at growing blackberries, blueberries, or strawberries instead!
Harvesting
- All varieties will begin to produce fruit in their second season. In some cases, ever-bearers may bear small berries in their first autumn.
- In early summer, berries will ripen over about 2 weeks. You will need to pick berries every couple of days!
- Try to harvest berries on a sunny day when they are dry.
- Gently pull raspberries away from their central plug once they’re richly colored all over. They should come away easily. Don’t tug too hard on your raspberries when picking. A ripe raspberry will leave the vine willingly.
How to Store Raspberries
- Raspberries won’t keep for long, so enjoy them soon after picking them!
- They can be kept refrigerated for about five days. Don’t wash the berries after picking unless you’re going to eat them straight away. They will grow moldy and mushy if not kept dry in storage. If you do need to wash them, let them air dry completely before storing them.
- Raspberries can be frozen! As with freezing blueberries, make a single layer of berries on a cookie sheet. When frozen, place into airtight bags. Use on waffles, in cereal, or whenever you need a refreshing, healthy snack!
Cooking Notes
Fresh raspberries are wonderful in cereals or paired with a dollop of Greek-style yogurt or cream and an indulgent drizzle of maple syrup.
Freeze excess berries to use in smoothies and desserts, or make them into raspberry jam.
If the fruit is to be made into preserves, it should be done with fruit that’s as fresh as possible.
Catherine Boeckmann
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Small berries can be a result of unsatisfactory growing conditions, like too little sunlight, too little water, or too much nitrogen in the soil, as well as other factors, like too little pollination or infection by damaging insects and viruses. It could also be the case that your raspberry plants need more pruning (see above for tips). Make sure they’re getting enough water, sun, and low-nitrogen fertilizer. If that doesn’t help in future seasons, you may need to get some new plants.
We have spent the day cutting last year canes from our patch. This is not an ever berrying patch. Is it necessary to remove the old canes out of the patch or could they be left on the ground as a mulch? Eileen
Hi Eileen,
It is not necessary to remove the old canes; they will not prevent new shoots from sprouting. If you prefer a cleaner garden look, you may wish to remove the old growth, but there is no reason to otherwise.
I just purchased 6 Heritage raspberry plants in pots but am confused on pruning. It seems some of the comments are prune the brown cane this coming winter all the way to the ground leaving the new canes but other comments seem to suggest cutting the old cane down by 75%. Being totally new to this, can you clarify plus can you tell me if the plants should be fertilized and if so, what to use?
‘Heritage’ raspberries are the everbearing, or fall-bearing, type, meaning that they will produce berries on the old canes (called floricanes) in early summer, and you will get a second crop, this time from the new canes (called primocanes), in late summer/fall. So, a cane of this variety will produce fruit in late summer/fall of its first year, and then again in early summer of its second year. However, the second year crop is not as good in quality as the fall crop from the previous year, and produces less; it also is more prone to certain raspberry pests. Therefore, many gardeners simply prune out the second-year canes during the dormant season in winter/early spring, in order to have a better quality, larger yield in fall. If, however, you choose to harvest that second year, then leave those canes to produce your early summer crop. (Some gardeners trim the laterals of the second-year canes back a few inches.) New canes will also be developing in spring; select about 5 or so of the best ones and remove the others: these will produce your fall crop.
Note that the first year, the canes will fruit on the upper half, while the next year, they will fruit on the lower part; the upper part of the cane that has fruited will die back. Therefore, some gardeners trim back the deadened tips of those canes during the winter, before the second crop is produced the next growing season. Also note that plants should not be pruned the first year you place them in the garden, except to take out dead or damaged wood, so that they can focus on establishing themselves.
As to how far down to prune a cane once it has done fruiting, cut back to as close to the ground as possible, so that any buds that break will be from below the soil line. Otherwise, if buds break from the portion above the soil, the canes that result are usually weak and unproductive.
Before planting, working lots of organic matter into the soil, such as composted manure. Then each year in early spring before growth starts, apply fertilizer again. What you need will depend somewhat on your soil, as well as your crop. It helps to test your soil first to see if there are any deficiencies. In general for raspberries, you can apply 50 to 100 pounds well-rotted cow or horse manure or something like 4 to 5 pounds 10-10-10 per 100 foot row.
Hope this helps!
Raspberry shoots that should have bore fruit this summer, died of this winter in Oaklawn, Illinios. Do you know what caused this?
Hi, Ray: You don’t say how old this growth was, but sometimes new growth can be killed by cold. More likely than not, though, your canes became diseased last year and died for that reason. Thanks for asking and sorry for your loss.
I have a great bed for planting my raspberry bushes but it is along a portion of my deck that is attached to the house. Is it okay to plant them close to the house? What are the pros and cons?
Thanks!
I don't have any new plants this year. What am I doing wrong. Usually i have them coming up all over my garden.
That is odd. Could some animal be nibbling the shoots as they appear? Herbicides applied? Cultivation around the raspberries that may have chopped the roots underground? Check the health of your bushes—perhaps they are under stress. Has the winter been challenging for the plants, or has the weather been cold than warm than cold, for example, that might be confusing them? If so, perhaps they might recover and their roots start to explore soon.
