What determines the mode of watering raspberry bushes?

Any agrotechnical measures are carried out taking into account the life cycle of the plant. Watering raspberries - a crop with a shallow root system - is necessary depending on the variety, nature of the soil, terrain and climatic conditions.

Seasonality

The technique of watering raspberries is easy to master, given which part of the plant needs watering during the season.

• After planting raspberry cuttings, watering is necessary so that the weak root system, absorbing nutrients from the soil, quickly gives new shoots.
• In the spring, watering is needed for forcing young shoots, building up green mass and forming an ovary.
• During fruiting, raspberries are watered so that the berries are poured large and have excellent taste.
• After harvesting, moistening the soil in the raspberry plant is necessary in order to avoid depletion of the shrub.
• In autumn, water raspberries in moderation so as not to stimulate the growth of new shoots: they will not have time to get stronger before the cold weather and will die in winter.

Watering remontant raspberries

Repaired raspberries yield two harvests per season if grown in a two-year culture. In an annual crop, it gives one, but a later harvest.

• In the first case, when young shoots are left in the winter, in the next season they will begin to bear fruit in mid-July. In the spring, such bushes need to be watered at the end of May - for the growth of new shoots and ovaries on old branches. In the summer, watering is necessary at the beginning of the ripening of the first harvest. At the time of mass ripening of berries, watering must be controlled so as not to cause gray rot on the berries by waterlogging. At the beginning of August, the berries of the second harvest begin to pour on new shoots - which means that the plant needs abundant watering.
• In the second case, when the ground part of the bush is completely cut out for the winter, the next year the berries on the new shoots will begin to set a month later, respectively, the intensity of summer watering should be transferred to mid and late August.

Early maturing varieties - Hercules, Eurasia or the Bryansk miracle - need intensive watering from late May to mid-July.

Mid-season varieties - Atlas or Orange Miracle - water abundantly in late spring, and then from late July.

Late ripening varieties - Kirzhach or Morning dew - need uniform watering throughout the season, autumn watering needs to be regulated depending on the weather and climatic zone.

Raspberries are watered infrequently, but plentifully, especially in the hot summer months, since in the heat the plant compensates for the lack of air humidity by increased evaporation of moisture through the leaves.

The average volume of water for irrigating a raspberry tree is two buckets per square meter of soil.

Advice

How to determine by the appearance of a shrub that raspberries need to be watered?

If at the end of May, young shoots and lateral branches on last year's branches have grown to 30 - 35 cm in length, they are powerful, fleshy and thick, it means that the bush receives a sufficient amount of moisture, and if the shoots are thin and short, they bend easily, then watering is necessary ...

Watering in northern latitudes

The short summer in the northern regions makes it possible to grow only common raspberry varieties with early and mid-ripening periods. Snowy winters give a lot of melt water in spring, so spring watering of raspberries can be moderate, and in early spring, on the contrary, you need to dig shallow drainage grooves between the rows so that the surface roots do not get wet, and the bush does not get infected with a fungal infection. In the summer, raspberries need to be watered every two weeks so that the moisture soaks the soil 30-40 cm deep.

Autumn watering is only needed in case of warm autumn and a bountiful harvest to support the plant.

Watering in the middle lane

Spring watering can be started from late May or early July.

In summer, an adult raspberry tree is watered abundantly once every two weeks. Young cuttings planted in spring are watered two to three times a week.

Advice

Watering can be combined with top dressing, since fertilizers are applied only to moistened soil.

After watering, the soil is necessarily loosened and mulched to provide good aeration to the roots. Considering that hot weather in the middle lane most often ends by the end of August, the last watering should be carried out no later than the beginning of September.

It is important to know that the shallow root system of raspberries does not tolerate icy tap water. For watering, it is better to collect rainwater or fill containers with tap water, but wait until the sun warms up.

Watering raspberries in the southern regions

Considering the winters with little snow, hot summer dry winds and long, sometimes hot autumn, raspberry cultivation in the south takes place from early May to late October. Watering should be regular and abundant throughout the season. In hot steppe regions, it is advisable to use drip or trench irrigation. Gardeners also practice burying bottomless plastic bottles between rows - water is poured into these containers from a hose. This method of irrigation ensures constant soil moisture, while its top layer remains loose and dry.

Advice

It is necessary to water the raspberry by sprinkling in the evening or morning hours, when there is no direct sunlight. The water droplets on the leaves will serve as optical lenses, and through them the plant in the sun can get significant burns.

Simple, but timely agrotechnical measures, dedication and a sincere approach to business allow gardeners to get good harvests of tasty and healthy berries.