How to care for raspberries for a rich harvest?

Raspberry is one of the most popular berry crops on Russian sites. It bears sweet fruit, is hardy, unpretentious, easily recovers and grows. But to get a rich harvest, you need to properly care for raspberries. In spring, summer and autumn, the procedures will be slightly different.

Sufficient watering

In general, raspberries are not too demanding on moisture. It grows well and bears fruit even with rare and light rains. However, these tenacious bushes will not be able to withstand the intense heat in the amount of complete drought. Therefore, you should not completely forget about watering.

Most often, they begin to moisten the soil under the curtain in the month of June and continue until the end of fruiting, i.e. the entire summer period (and for late varieties - also in September). It is at this time that raspberries need the most moisture. After winter, the earth is still wet enough for the plant to produce leaves, but it may not be enough for flowers and fruits.

Advice
Experienced gardeners recommend abundant watering during ovary setting and after each raspberry harvest. During these periods, the shrub needs more moisture to juice the berries. So the fruits will be large.

How to water properly:

Preferably in the evening or in the morning.

It is recommended to gently direct the water along specially provided grooves or organize drip irrigation. But this is optional.

In between moisture (including rain), the ground under the bushes should dry out. Otherwise, the berries will turn out, although large, but watery and almost tasteless. And even worse, the risk of rot and other diseases increases.

In autumn, the temperature is no longer so high, and the nights are completely cool, which makes it possible to abandon the watering of mid-season and early varieties (if there is no drought). It is not very necessary and even interferes - the plants are not hardened, it will be more difficult for them to survive the winter.

Correct feeding

Raspberry feeding is done several times per season:

1. The first feeding is done in April, when the buds have just begun to swell. It is necessary to provide the plant with a large amount of nitrogen - it is needed to grow more leaves. The more green mass, the more nutrients raspberries can store in fruits and roots. If you are a supporter of organic farming, then compost or rotted manure is best. Urea and any nitrogen fertilizers are also suitable. After feeding, the plant is watered and mulched.
2. The next batch of fertilizers is applied already in the month of June, shortly before the start of raspberry flowering. Now the crop needs a lot of potash fertilizers - thanks to them, the bushes bloom more abundantly. Before feeding, it will be correct to remove the weeds so that they do not pull nutrients from the soil that are not intended for them. It is best to use here an infused and fermented manure solution - slurry. You can also add a small amount of urea.
3. The third and last session of feeding raspberries in the country is performed in September. Autumn fertilizer should be rich in phosphorus. This trace element has a positive effect on root development. They will be able to store more nutrients, and thanks to this they will easily survive the winter, in spring they will grow actively and quickly, and in July they will delight the gardener with a good harvest. Bone meal is suitable from organic fertilizers. It is better to make a kind of cocktail from minerals - for 10 liters of water, take: 30 g of superphosphate + 20 g of potassium salt + 15 g of ammonium nitrate.

Timely pruning

One of the key procedures for growing raspberries is pruning, which includes:

• sanitary pruning,
• bush formation,
• thinning.

Sanitary

The first pruning is carried out already in the month of April (in the northern regions - at the beginning of May), when it becomes clear which stems have survived the winter safely, and which have dried up and died out due to old age, weakness, or simply an unfortunate location. They should be cut right at the root. You should not worry about an overly thinned raspberry plant - this is an amazingly tenacious plant, and in May new shoots will go from the roots, which will stretch out over the summer and will give a good harvest next year.

Important
When working, you need to use a sharp pruner, which will carefully cut off hard, lignified stems, and not break or wet them. In addition, the instrument must be clean, ideally sterile, to reduce the risk of infection.

Thinning

You should remove not only old and diseased stems, but also just extra ones. After thinning, a maximum of 8-10 shoots should grow from one root. Otherwise, the roots will lack nutrients. At least 40 cm should remain between the centers of neighboring bushes. The thickened curtain is poorly ventilated and illuminated, damp air and coolness stagnate at the roots - an ideal environment for rot, while the berries receive less nutrition and become smaller.

Pruning is usually not done in summer. The only exception is infection of a bush or individual leaves with fungal diseases. In this case, pruning must be done as accurately and promptly as possible in order to prevent the disease from growing and at the same time not allowing spores to get on neighboring plants. It is advisable to burn the stems and leaves immediately. Bushes should be treated with appropriate preparations.

Sanitary pruning and thinning is repeated in autumn. This is the perfect time to dig out root suckers or cuttings and plant them for wintering. In the spring, new bushes will delight you with young strong shoots.

How and why to tie up raspberries

In the advice of seasoned gardeners, you will certainly hear about the garter. Why is it needed? To improve ventilation about light, and even more - to facilitate the care of the raspberry tree and harvesting. In addition, the flowers are all outside, and it is easier for pollinating insects to fly up to them - and this increases the number of ovaries.

Garter is a spring procedure exclusively. Basic methods:

1. Stake garter. A column or pipe is driven into the center of the bush, the stems are picked up to it with separate strings or a common one.
2. Tapestry (one- and two-lane, straight, V-shaped, Scandinavian). Along the curtain, on one or both sides, there are posts or pipes at a distance of about 30-40 cm from the bush and 2.5 m from each other (if the curtain is a small support in the form of columns with crossbars, they are often placed at the ends). From support to support (in the case of an end position - from the crossbar to the crossbar between the ends of the bed), a wire is tightly pulled, to which the stems are caught.

You can learn more about the methods of garters in the article "Do-it-yourself raspberry tapestry: step-by-step instructions for beginners and pros".

Other minor works

Also, when talking about how to care for raspberries, one cannot but mention loosening. This crop grows best in light, soft, oxygen-rich soil. Therefore, regular loosening (unless your garden is located on sandy soils) will ensure a good harvest.

The first time the work is done in the spring, shortly after the application of nitrogen fertilization. It is not necessary to loosen too deeply - by 8-10 centimeters, so as not to damage the roots located at a shallow depth. In the following months, loosening is desirable at least once every 4-5 weeks, especially during the ripening of berries.

Do not forget about the growth of raspberries. After all, the roots diverge from each bush in different directions.If you do not plan to expand the raspberry tree, then dig a sheet of tin, boards or slate to a shallow depth (about 20-25 centimeters) to limit the area. Young sprouts that have appeared in the raspberry must be removed if they thicken the curtain too much. It makes sense to leave the shoots if old stems that no longer bear berries are cut out instead.

Finally, a week before the onset of frost, the rooted shoots are planted in the ground, as well as the preparation of adult raspberries for winter. The shoots must be carefully removed from the supports, tied and bent to the ground so as to avoid breaking the stems under the weight of snow and gusts of wind. Sometimes gardeners additionally cover the bush with agrofibre.

Raspberry care is not at all difficult, and the bush easily forgives the gardener's mistakes. Experienced gardeners advise not to neglect pruning and garter - having worked once in the spring, you will get an incredibly easy-care and productive clump.