Why and how to properly thin out raspberries in summer, spring and autumn

Raspberries are one of the most delicious and at the same time unpretentious berries found in summer cottages and in gardens. However, she also needs some care, and it is especially important to know how to thin out raspberries in spring. Only then can you get a rich harvest of berries every year.

Why thin out raspberries?

This is actually very important. Each root of the curtain over time gives rise to shoots that quickly stretch out and lignify. Negative consequences:

• it is inconvenient for the gardener to walk between the bushes and pick berries - thorns cling to clothes, scratch the skin;
• when trying to wade through the thickets, several stems of the bush inevitably break;
• a large concentration of stems and leaves in a small area leads to a deficiency of moisture, nutrients, sunlight, air.

In such conditions, plants weaken, become more susceptible to various diseases, and sometimes even die. In addition, ventilation significantly deteriorates, the air stagnates and overheats in the summer heat. And this creates suitable conditions for the reproduction of dangerous diseases, the development of parasitic insects.

Finally, even if the plant does not get sick and does not become a victim of beetles and caterpillars, due to a lack of moisture and nutrients, the yield will dramatically decrease. There will be few berries, and the size will unpleasantly surprise a gardener who is counting on a rich harvest.

For all these reasons, it is important to thin out raspberries in a timely manner. You should not be afraid of the procedure. After all, a powerful root system does not suffer. Even if you cut the plant close to the ground, green young shoots will appear in a few weeks.

When to thin out raspberries
You can do this work from spring to autumn. The main thing is to remember that each season makes certain adjustments to the thinning procedure.

Thinning in the spring

You can start work in the spring immediately after the snow has melted and the daytime above zero temperature has been established. First you need to inspect the raspberry tree. Arm yourself with a pruner (sharp and high quality, which does not bite or wet the stems, but cuts evenly and accurately) and remove all defective shoots.

These include the following stems:

• underdeveloped
• broken,
• sick,
• dry.

After cleaning, the optimal number of trunks per square meter should not exceed 8-12.

The remaining stems should also be worked on. Too elongated must be trimmed - the maximum height should not exceed one and a half meters.

Advice
By pruning the raspberries by 10-20 centimeters, you stimulate the development of side shoots. Namely, inflorescences are formed on them, which will eventually turn into berries.

In the spring, it is advisable to thin out any raspberry - both one-year-old and two-year-old, in order to provide yourself with a rich harvest.

Summer thinning

It is advisable to thin out two-year-old raspberries in the summer, by mid-late August, when the crop is harvested.

Subject to removal:

1. Biennial shoots. The fact is that raspberries are a fast growing plant. Two-year-old shoots quickly darken and woody. When fruiting ends, they dry up, and young stems become entangled in dryness. In addition, old, barren twigs take up nutrients. Therefore, as soon as the berry collection is finished, the two-year-old stems must be removed completely, at the root.
2. Part of young stems. Leave only the strongest and tallest, without signs of illness or damage.
3. Extra root suckers. They will greatly interfere with each other during growth, and a lack of nutrients will lead to the fact that all plants will be weak, sick. If there is no goal to thicken the raspberry tree (for example, you just bought a few plants and want to let them grow over a large area), then you should leave the shoots only about 30 centimeters from the root. Remove the rest ruthlessly, otherwise the thickets will become simply impassable.
4. Those shoots that have gone beyond the territory designated for the raspberry tree. If you need them, they can be carefully dug up and transplanted in a more suitable place. Otherwise, dig up and destroy.
5. Sore stems and bushes. Regardless of the season, if incurable diseases are identified, then the affected bushes must be cut out and destroyed. You cannot postpone the procedure, otherwise an epidemic will begin, and the whole curtain will fall.

We work with raspberries in the fall

The last thinning of raspberries is carried out in late September - early October, two to three weeks before the cold weather.

If everything is done correctly, then the optimal distance between the bushes should be about 0.5 m. It will not be superfluous to clean the free space - just dig up and select all the greenery from the ground. With this approach, you can remove not only excess raspberry shoots, but also weeds, preventing them from being reborn next year.

Thanks to such a simple procedure, next year the raspberries will grow with renewed vigor - the green mass grows especially quickly, the stems are drawn to the light, and the harvest of juicy, fragrant berries will pleasantly surprise even a picky gardener.

What to do with the stems?

Quite often, not too experienced summer residents have a question - what to do with cut stems?

Any sick and insect-affected stems are recommended to be burned or sent to the furnace of a sauna stove. After all, such shoots are a breeding ground for infection. If you leave them in a raspberry patch, hoping that they will rot and serve as fertilizers, you can bring the matter to a real epidemic - then you will have to cut and burn the entire curtain.

Another good option is to chop the herbs and stems on a garden shredder and send the waste to the compost heap. A high temperature and lack of habitual food will lead to the fact that any pests and infections will die. The stems and leaves will rot and turn into high quality compost, which will serve as an excellent fertilizer for the entire garden.

Finally, healthy stems are suitable as cuttings, and shoots dug up from the root are suitable for daughter plants. Gardeners store them for resettling raspberries or replacing an old bush, as well as for sale, exchange, or simply give them to neighbors who like the variety.

Pruning and thinning are essential procedures for raspberries. without them, the curtain runs wild, the harvest loses its sweetness and abundance. Do everything according to the rules, and the tenacious raspberry will delight with sweet aromatic berries.