Planting Raspberries

[Ralph Wiggum]

My wife would like to put in a small raspberry patch. Any advice on growing raspberries?

[MIKE IN lINO III]

We started out with a small patch of Raspberries, now, thanks to the birds they are all over the yard. They spread pretty easy.

I heard they grow best in direct sunlight but we have out best producers growing under a Mtn Ash.

Good Luck,

Mike

[Moose]

There pretty easy. Just plant them and water them until their well established. They will usually produce the fall of the next season. Do not cut them down till the 3rd year and then take out the obviosly dead canes in the spring of the year. We grow them in full sun, sandy soil in a 5x10 section of the garden. Do not put in very wide rows or they will shred your arms when you pick them. I fertilize them once a year and that seems to be plenty.

Good luck

[KEN W]

I grow what are called everbearers.The best I have seen is one from the U of M called Redwing.Plant the roots and let them grow this year.

The canes will be green.They will bear fruit on the top 1/3 of the cane.Then next year let them leaf out and cut off the tops that are leafless.These canes will have fruit on the them in July.

Meanwhile there will be new green canes coming up.These will have fruit on them in Sept.and be next years brown canes.

They are called everbearers,but they really aren't.You just get 1/2 the fruit on top one year and the bottom 1/2 the next.

If you plant regular once a year raspberries,they will bear all their fruit in July.

It is important to cut the brown canes off at ground level once they are done bearing whether you go with the everbearers or the once a year bearers.Each cane only has fruit `1 time,so if you don't cut off the brown canes after they bear,you will wind up with a thick bramble patch.

[Quetico]

Raspberries are great. Just realize they spread like crazy and are tough to control. They spread by underground roots. So dont put them in an area you dont want them to completely take over within a few years.

[Dark Cloud]

My father has a nice raspberry patch. He has them in narrow rows and the ground around them covered in wood/bark chips. The rows and chips help in picking them and keeping them weeded and the "runners" under controll...