Raspberries are some of the best small fruits for South Dakota. Home-grown berries can be picked at the peak of freshness and either eaten fresh or made into jams and preserves. There are red, purple and black raspberries. Almost all the raspberries adapted to our South Dakota climate are red raspberries. The pruning needs of red raspberries, both summer- and fall-bearing, are covered in this article.
Red raspberries can produce a quart of fruit or more per linear row, but high yield fruit production requires annual pruning. While raspberries have a long-lived root system, the canes are biennials meaning the individual canes live for only two years. A summer-bearing raspberry cane grows the first year, often to a height of 3 to 5 feet and then flowers and fruits the second summer before dying. Fall-bearing raspberry canes produce flowers and fruit at their tips during the late summer or fall of their first year and then a second crop lower on the same canes the following summer before dying.
Heading Cuts
Red raspberry canes should be pruned at ground level.
Raspberries grow from canes, which are shoots that have few branches. The best means of maintaining productive raspberries is to prune the plant's canes with heading cuts. Heading cuts are a type of pruning that stubs off the cane flush with the ground. These heading cuts result in the formation of numerous new canes that sucker from the roots.
The heading cuts on raspberries must be made flush with the soil surface – lower than what is done with flowering shrubs - so the new canes arise from suckers rather than branches off the stubbed cane. These branches usually produce very little fruit and the fruit that is produced on them is typically low-quality.
When to Prune?
Red raspberry canes that fruited the previous summer should be removed before the next spring.
Summer-Bearing Raspberries
Summer-bearing raspberries should have all their old, dead canes removed by the end of March if this task was not completed last fall. Some growers leave these canes up for the winter to serve as snow catches to provide snow to insulate the soil and additional spring moisture. These dead canes are easily identified by their brittleness and they usually have a few mummified berries still attached. Once these canes are pruned off, remove any weak canes. These are the shorter canes, those only one or two feet tall. Broken canes should also be removed at this time. After this work is completed thin out the remaining canes so they are separated by about 6 to 8 inches. Do not tip back the ends of the canes as this is where the flowers will be most abundant.
Fall-Bearing Raspberries
Fall-bearing raspberries are usually grown as a single fall crop rather than harvesting a fall crop and another crop the following spring. The late-summer, early-fall crop of the first year usually has much higher yield and better quality than the summer crop the following year. Fall-bearing raspberries will also begin fruiting a week or two earlier if the canes are grown for only the fall crop and not allowed to continue to grow into the second year. If only the fall crop is desired then all the canes can be pruned to the ground from November through March during the dormant season. Once the new canes sucker up in the spring, the canes should also be thinned to a spacing of about 6 to 8 inches apart. This pruning is usually done in late May or early June when the canes are about a foot tall.
If both the fall crop and the summer crop are desired from fall-bearing raspberries, begin by removing all the dead canes by the end of March. These are the ones that fruited lower on the canes last summer, not the ones that fruited at the tip last fall. It is usually easier to separate the two if this task is performed just after the two-year old canes fruit in the summer. Once these two-year old canes are removed, tip back all the one-year old canes, the ones that fruited last fall, by pruning off about ¼ their length. Remember, the summer crop occurs on the lower portion of the cane, not at the tips.
Row Edges
Regardless of which raspberry is grown, spring is a good time to redefine the row edges. Raspberries will sucker out beyond their beds and must be held in check with cultivation and mowing. The width of the raspberry row should be about 2 feet. Wider rows may yield more fruit but not as much as anticipated due to the crowding. The fruit is also more susceptible to diseases due to the poorer air flow. Running a cultivator along the edges to a depth of a foot will help hold the plants in place. However this is temporary as raspberry roots are very aggressive and will continue to expand out into the soil beyond the bed. Mowing or further cultivation will be needed during the summer.
Red raspberry canes should be pruned at ground level. Raspberries grow from canes, which are shoots that have few branches. The best means of maintaining productive raspberries is to prune the plant's canes with heading cuts. Heading cuts are a type of pruning that stubs off the cane flush with the ground.
A major advantage of primocane-fruiting raspberries is how easy they are to prune. Simply cut the canes to the ground each year in the late fall or early spring when they are dormant. Use a mower, sharp lopper, or hedge trimmer. New canes will emerge from the ground in the spring.
Unpruned raspberry bushes will still grow, but won't yield more berries. Leaving them unpruned also makes them more prone to disease. Raspberries bear fruit on two-year old canes, the canes that sprouted last season. Here, they look much better.
Manage your everbearing raspberries to produce one large crop each year by pruning plants in late winter (early- to mid-March) while the ground is frozen and before new growth has begun. By hand, rotary mower or other mechanical device, remove all above ground growth leaving a 1- to 2-inch stub for each cane.
Raspberries need lots of water from spring until after harvest. Because the root system is in the top two feet of soil, watering regularly is better than an occasional deep soaking. Raspberries need 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week from flowering until harvest.
Dead raspberry canes will be white to gray in color. When dead canes are pruned, the tissue inside the stem will be tan to brown and dry. Live canes will be brown to purple in color. The tissue inside the stem will be white to greenish white and moist.
Summer and everbearing raspberries bear fruit on 2-year-old canes. Remove these canes to ground level once your harvest is made. They will not produce more fruit and their presence can increase the risk of insect and disease problems. This is also a good time to remove any damaged, insect-infested or discolored canes.
If only the fall crop is desired then all the canes can be pruned to the ground from November through March during the dormant season. Once the new canes sucker up in the spring, the canes should also be thinned to a spacing of about 6 to 8 inches apart.
Summer raspberries grow on the canes that grew LAST year, whereas autumn raspberries grow on canes from THIS year. When it comes to pruning summer raspberries, you will cut back the old woody stems leaving the new green stems to grow.
Summer-bearing cultivars produce one crop in early summer, while everbearing cultivars can produce crops at two different times a year, with a crop being produced either in early summer or a later crop in mid-fall. Most everbearing raspberries are the red or yellow-fruiting types.
Water raspberries plants during the day. Give them about 1"-2" per week during growing season and up to 4" per week during harvest. The plants are rather shallow rooted, so moisture needs to be at the surface.
Install a single trellis wires horizontally between posts or stakes at a height of 3 to 4 feet above the ground. Raspberry canes are trained to grow vertically along the wire, parallel to the side of the trellis. Suitable for most raspberry varieties, especially summer-bearing varieties.
Apply about two ounces of a 5-10-5 fertilizer around each plant. Starting the second season and annually thereafter, fertilize raspberries in early spring before growth begins. Apply a balanced fertilizer, such as a 10-10-10, at a rate of 15 to 20 pounds of fertilizer per 1,000 square feet of planting.
Raspberries need plenty of moisture to sustain their lush foliage and swell their fruit, so keep them well watered in dry spells, especially when flowering and fruiting. It's best to water at ground level – a drip irrigation system or leaky hose is ideal.
Raspberry plants get big, really big, and they spread out. You have to provide them with room to spread a little or they won't thrive. You also have to remember that they will be there for several years. So if your planning on sandwiching them in between your tomato plants and your flower box, please rethink your plan!
Raspberry bushes grow best in full sun (at least 6-8 hours), in rich, well-drained soil. Gardeners from zone 3 all the way to zone 10 can grow raspberries successfully, given the right variety. Read plant descriptions carefully when purchasing and select plants that will thrive in your growing zone.
Introduction: My name is Errol Quitzon, I am a fair, cute, fancy, clean, attractive, sparkling, kind person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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