How to care for raspberries in the open field and why planting and forgetting will not work
For the first experience of growing berry bushes, summer residents choose the most unpretentious of them. Planting raspberries will be an excellent practice for beginners in gardening and will delight experienced gardeners with its simplicity. It reproduces easily in many ways. Raspberries are even grown from seeds. But the advantages of a shrub are not limited to this.
Requirements for growing conditions
Raspberries grow well in an area open to the sun, reacting to a lack of light with a decrease in yield. Some gardeners grow it in partial shade, but this is only suitable for the southern regions. The bush does not like drafts, so you need to reliably protect it from strong northern winds. Most often, plantings of raspberries can be seen next to fences, as well as near the walls of residential or outbuildings. This arrangement has its advantages. It helps to save limited site space. From spring to autumn, barriers protect raspberry bushes from drafts, and in winter they hold snow near the plants and between them, preventing plantings from freezing.
Soil composition is not the most important condition for abundant crop fruiting. Light loams with certain characteristics are optimal for growing raspberries:
- neutral or slightly acidic reaction;
- good moisture permeability;
- rich supply of nutrients.
The peculiarity of the root system of the shrub is that it is located almost at the surface of the soil - at a depth of 15-20 cm. Therefore, it is not recommended to plant it on hills and slopes. On them, the plant will suffer from a lack of moisture. You should not place a raspberry tree in lowlands where water stagnates. Shrubs of culture do not like swampy soil. The close proximity of ground waters also adversely affects them. The minimum depth of their occurrence at the shrub planting site is 1.5 m.
Predecessors and site preparation
Answering the question of how to plant raspberries correctly, one cannot ignore its predecessors.
The shrub will be comfortable on the soil freed up after certain crops:
- legumes;
- Luke;
- parsley;
- garlic.
Advice
It is better to prepare a place for planting raspberries in advance, a year before sowing alkaloid lupine on the site. This will protect her bushes from the invasion of a dangerous pest - beetle. Lupine is poisonous to its larvae.
It is not recommended to plant raspberries in the country in areas where last season there were beds with such plants:
- potatoes;
- tomatoes;
- pepper;
- eggplant;
- strawberries.
The reason is simple: these crops are vulnerable to the same diseases.
To successfully bear fruit in one place, without bringing much trouble, the raspberry tree will be within 12 years, then it is better to transfer it to another site. If this is not done, the yield of the bushes will decrease due to the natural depletion of the soil. Pathogens will also accumulate in it. It will be possible to grow a culture in the same place only after some time (4-6 years).
Before planting raspberries, thoroughly prepare the site. The soil is dug up and enriched with organic and mineral compounds:
- compost (humus, manure);
- superphosphate;
- wood ash.
Landing dates
Garden raspberries easily adapt to new conditions, so you can place plants in the country from spring until autumnacting according to certain rules.
- In spring, the right time for the procedure comes early, as soon as the soil warms up and a relative warmth is established.Raspberry seedlings take root well, on which the buds have not yet had time to form and swell.
- In the summer (from early June to mid-July), you can plant raspberry bushes on a permanent site that have undergone preliminary cultivation in a greenhouse or at home. They will quickly take root and begin to develop actively, fully strengthening by the onset of cold weather. When buying material for summer planting, you need to choose plants with a closed root system. The risk of their death when placed in the ground is minimal. Such bushes are less sick and start growing faster, because during the procedure their roots are not damaged.
- In the autumn, strong, well-ripened raspberry vines are planted. They will painlessly endure the frosty winter. They are placed in the ground until leaf fall continues.
Many summer residents believe that autumn planting is more comfortable for a plant. At this time, raspberry survival does not interfere with strong heat, and constant soil moisture creates the most favorable conditions for its root system. With the arrival of warmth, overwintered bushes show rapid growth.
If the planting of raspberries is carried out in the spring, weather conditions greatly affect its result. Drought and heat will not benefit young plants. The culture is characterized by an early onset of sap flow. In many regions, by the time the seedlings are placed in the ground, leaves already appear on them. Even frequent and abundant hydration of the raspberry tree will not facilitate the process of their adaptation. The roots that have not yet taken root will not be able to provide the plant with water, while the leaves will evaporate it, drawing moisture from the shoots and weakening them. Pruning a bush will help here. Only buds that have not yet begun to grow are left on it.
Advice
When deciding for yourself when it is best to plant raspberries, it is important to take into account the characteristics of the variety chosen for breeding.
Layout scheme
There are 2 methods of planting a crop:
- trench (tape);
- hole.
It is easier to cultivate raspberries in a bush way in unprotected soil: it makes it easier to care for plants and soil. But with it, you need to be prepared for the rapid aging of the plantings. If you place the bushes on the site using the tape method, the raspberry will be updated on its own - with numerous root suckers. Also, with him, the area of the garden is more efficiently used.
With the trenching method, the area for the future raspberry tree in the country is preliminarily marked with a stretched cord. Then the planting furrows are dug. Their depth should be 35-45 cm, and their width should be 40-50 cm. They are made parallel to each other. A considerable distance is left between the trenches - 1.8 m. Having placed raspberry seedlings in the furrow, it is filled with a fertile substrate based on soil and humus. They complete the procedure by compacting the soil well. Such a planting scheme for raspberries assumes the location of its bushes with an interval of 0.5-0.7 m.
You can make the trench wider - a meter. Then, along its perimeter, it is recommended to dig in a border of slate sheets, deepening them by 30 cm.It should rise 3-5 cm above the soil surface.This will facilitate the introduction of manure and mulching and protect the area from filling with root shoots of the plant, to which Japanese raspberries are especially prone ... Making wide row spacings attractive by preventing weed growth is easy. It is enough to spend sowing lawn grass seeds or siderates.
With the hole method of planting raspberries, holes are dug around the perimeter of the site. You can arrange them in rows or in a checkerboard pattern. The width, depth and diameter of the planting hole are made the same - 30 cm. Fertilizers are poured downwards - compost or wood ash. The distance between the rows does not change (1.8-2 m), but the bushes are placed in them less often - with an interval of 1 m.
Landing features
All varieties of culture, including the exotic Japanese raspberry, which is becoming more popular to plant, prefer a nutritious soil.In order for her bushes in the country to grow well for a long time and bear fruit abundantly, additives are added to the soil dug out of trenches or from holes:
- compost;
- superphosphate;
- potassium sulfate.
Advice
It is not necessary to apply fertilizers containing nitrogen to the planting pits or trenches, otherwise the plants will root poorly.
A little substrate is poured into the holes so that a small mound forms. If plants with an open root system are used, their lower part is dipped in a mullein solution or in a talker made from a nutrient mixture. Having placed a raspberry seedling on a mound, fertile soil is poured into the pit. It is impossible to deepen its root collar, otherwise the bud located near it can rot, and the development of the plant will greatly slow down. Correctly, if between it and the surface of the soil remains 1-2 cm.After its shrinkage, it will be at the level of the soil.
If the land in the country is too wet, and the site is prone to flooding or is characterized by a close occurrence of groundwater, the shrub is grown on raised and wide (0.7-1.0 m) beds. Do not fill the trench with earth to the top. It is better to leave a small hollow. So when irrigating a raspberry tree, less water is taken, and natural precipitation is used more rationally: snow accumulates in a trench from the very beginning of winter.
Watering the plant abundantly (10 liters of water for 3-4 raspberry bushes), the site is mulched. You can use for this:
- peat;
- humus;
- sawdust;
- straw;
- dry leaves.
Saplings with well-developed buds require pruning. They are shortened to 30 cm. Supports for raspberries are best installed at the time of planting. It is convenient to grow a shrub on a trellis. It's easy to make. Pillars, pipes or thick wooden beams are dug in along the edges of trenches with planted raspberries, pulling 2 rows of wire between them (at a height of 1 m and 1.5 m from the ground surface). When the bushes grow up, they are tied to a trellis.
Generative reproduction
It is not difficult to grow raspberries from seeds, although this method of breeding is rarely practiced. Its main drawback is not even a lot of labor costs, but the fact that the properties of the mother bush are not transferred to the seedlings. It is widely believed among summer residents that when planting raspberry seeds, it will take more than one year to wait for the harvest. But this is not the case. With proper pre-sowing seed preparation, the plant will bear its first fruits next year. They start it even in the process of collecting planting material.
From fully ripe (better - overripe) fruits, juice is removed by placing them in a bag of gauze and squeezing thoroughly. Then the pulp with seeds needs to be dried a little. To do this, use paper or cloth, spreading the berry mass on it. Then they put it in a well-ventilated place. The sun's rays should not fall on it. When the raspberry seeds are slightly dry, they are mixed with sand and sown in boxes. You can put them in a cold greenhouse. Before the emergence of shoots, 2 parameters are carefully monitored: protection of crops from sunlight and constant soil moisture.
Another method of preparing raspberry seeds is also practiced. Pour water into a slightly mashed berry mass, stirring well. High-quality seeds are heavy, they will settle to the bottom, and unripe lungs will immediately float to the surface. After draining the water, the procedure is repeated several times. After drying the washed seeds, they are placed in the refrigerator, where they are kept at a temperature of +1 to + 5 ° C until planting, or sown in the beds. Friendly germination of raspberry seeds can be expected in moist and loose soil mixed with sand and peat. They are closed up shallowly - only 2-5 mm. When planting in spring, the beds are covered with foil.
Professionals recommend stratification of raspberry seeds. This is a simple but lengthy process. After mixing the pre-soaked raspberry seeds with wet sand, they are wrapped in nylon cloth and placed in a container with moss. Then the container is placed in the refrigerator (on the bottom shelf) or in the basement, where the air temperature is + 2 ° C.It is necessary to regularly knead the contents of the packages so that the seeds and sand are mixed. They also maintain high humidity, periodically sprinkling the bags and moss.
Having kept the raspberry seeds in such conditions for 3-5 months, they are planted in the ground. They do it with the sand. Sowing is carried out immediately after removing the contents of the bags, without drying it. Stratification significantly increases the germination of raspberry seeds.
Fundamentals of agricultural technology
Correct agricultural technology provides for a number of activities. But you should not be afraid of their abundance. Planting and caring for raspberries is simple and doesn't take much time. Shrub loves watering... The lack of moisture negatively affects the taste of its berries and can even destroy the plants. But you shouldn't pour the raspberry tree either. Planting in the country is not often moistened (once a week), but abundantly.
Neighborhood weeds raspberry does not tolerate well. But constant weeding and loosening of the soil under the bushes can injure its roots, and the yield of the plant will decrease. Mulching will help in the struggle for the cleanliness of plantings. For it, use any organic matter (humus, dry leaves, sawdust, crushed bark), pouring it on the beds with raspberries in a thick (8-10 cm) layer. This mulch will significantly help the plant:
- protects against weeds;
- retain moisture in the soil;
- fertilize it (after decomposition).
Raspberries will yield a good harvest if they are regularly fed. Its bushes can do without fertilization only in the first year after planting in organic-rich soil. They feed the raspberry tree three times a season. In early spring, fertilizers are applied containing a lot of nitrogen - ammonium nitrate, infusion of mullein or bird droppings. The second feeding is carried out when the shrub begins to bear fruit. Any complex composition or nitroammophoska is suitable for her. The third time the raspberry is fertilized in September. This top dressing will help the plants survive the winter painlessly and form flower buds. Potassium salt, superphosphate and wood ash are used for it.
Bush shaping and garter
In order to grow raspberries to consistently bring high yields, its bushes need regular pruning. With her, fruitful shoots are shortened and get rid of thickening stems and excess root growth. Of the numerous young branches in the spring, 5-6 of the strongest are left on the bush (according to the number of fruitful shoots, which they will subsequently replace). The rest are removed at the base with a shovel or flat cutter.
When the shoots grow up and begin to ripen for the winter, another pruning is carried out. The raspberry branches are shortened by ¼, since their middle yields the greatest yield. Spring pruning overwintered shoots on the plant are carried out to a strong bud (about 10 cm). Dried branches are removed completely. In the fall, the bush is relieved of two-year-old shoots that have already yielded a crop by cutting them out at the root.
Highly decorative Japanese and other varieties of raspberries are winter-hardy. But in severe frosts, plant shoots can still suffer. To prevent this from happening, in late autumn, raspberry bushes bend down, tilting them to each other and tying them. A layer of snow accumulated on them will protect the buds from freezing.
Long shoots of raspberries can break under the weight of the fruit. To avoid this, as well as to facilitate the care of the plantings, their garter to the trellis will help. It is carried out in early spring, until the buds on raspberries wake up. If they are already swollen, they can be easily damaged during the garter process. It is more convenient to grow raspberries on a double-leaf trellis. It looks like it is stretched in 2 rows of wires parallel to each other, but located in the same plane. Fruitful shoots of the shrub are attached on different sides, and young shoots develop in the center.
Raspberries are a bright representative of those rare cultures, which are almost impossible to ruin. Therefore, many summer residents begin their acquaintance with berry bushes with her. She is undemanding, hardy, high-yielding.The raspberry tree will not require much attention to itself, but it cannot be left completely without leaving, otherwise the plantings will turn into impassable thorny thickets, and the crop grinds.
Certain varieties of culture are actively used in landscape design. Japanese raspberry bushes look spectacular from spring to summer, being covered first with flowers, and then with large ripening fruits. They are especially good in hedges. Nature has endowed raspberries with many beneficial properties. It is not surprising that you can find shrubs in almost every summer cottage.
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