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Old April 3, 2013   #1
tedln
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Default Raspberries!

I know nothing about growing raspberries, but I will plant a couple of varieties tomorrow. I'm not sure which varieties I have and I don't want to go out in the rain to see which I have. All I know is one variety is red and the other is black.

Can I expect to see a few berries the first season? I've grown so many different things over the years, it is my habit to plant in a 50/50 mix of sandy soil and organics. I will probably plant the raspberries the same way. Is that okay?

Since we get so hot and dry in mid summer, I usually make my planting hole eighteen inches in diameter and sixteen inches deep. The loose soil and organic mix helps to retain moisture between waterings.

Suggestions will be appreciated.

Ted
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Old April 3, 2013   #2
PaulF
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There are red raspberries, black ones and crosses between the two which have given us purple and gold raspberries. They are perennial. There are summer bearing (fruits one time per year), fall bearing (twice per year...spring and fall) and everbearing. Those that bear fruit once produce as much or more fruit as those that produce twice per year or the everbearing and the berries are larger. They can be thorny and thornless. The growth habit is either trailing (like a fountain) or erect (trellised).

Plant in full sun and can be planted in a wide range of soil types---sandy loam with high organic matter is optimal. Raspberries require good drainage and should be free of wild raspberries as possible for disease control. All wild raspberries are black and are native plants. Raspberries are also indigenous to Asia Minor.

The plants can be purchased in pots or as bare root. Bare root are much cheaper and do well most places. Summer bearing varieties fruit once per year and some popular varieties are: red- Killarney, Latham; black-Cumberland, Jewel; Purple-Brandywine, Royalty. Fall or Everbearing (2 crops/year) Red-Heritage, Autumn Bliss; yellow-Anne, Fallgold.

Raspberries like the soil on the acidic side of 7pH. Lightly fertilize with a balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10. Reds generally like a hedge row with plants 2-3ft apart and a minimum of 8 feet between rows. Blacks and Purples, 3-4 ft apart and 10 ft between rows. Reds produce root suckers, blacks and purples do not.

The planting holes should be large enough so that the bare roots can be spread out. Potted plant holes should be 1 1/2 times the size of the pot. Plant no deeper than the original planting depth or to the original collar on the plant. Firm the soil around the plant so it is in upright position (it will grow the direction it is planted). Water in well forcing out water pockets. They need 1.5 inches of water per week all season.

Pruning is complicated and is an entire topic all its own. Harvest is possible the second year, but it is better to wait until the third. Pinch off blooms the first year for sure and the second if you can wait. If not, enjoy. The first year's canes are called primocanes (vegetative) and the second year canes are the floricanes (fruiting canes).

The fruit is very fragile and should be picked into a flat shallow bowl and refrigerated immediately or they will begin to lose shape and turn to juice.

More than you ever wanted to know I am sure...sorry.
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Old April 3, 2013   #3
tedln
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Paul,

Not to much information. Thank you very much.

I've identified my varieties as Red Latham and Jewel. I'm a little concerned because the information I've found on the Red Latham indicates it may not do well in my hot summer climate. I'm thinking about planting it in an area which protects it from the hot afternoon sun. I couldn't find any preferred climate information on the Jewel variety so I hope it does better in the hot climate.

Ted
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Old October 28, 2013   #4
Buzzard II
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Default Thanks for the info!

Quote:
Originally Posted by PaulF View Post
There are red raspberries, black ones and crosses between the two which have given us purple and gold raspberries. They are perennial. There are summer bearing (fruits one time per year), fall bearing (twice per year...spring and fall) and everbearing. Those that bear fruit once produce as much or more fruit as those that produce twice per year or the everbearing and the berries are larger. They can be thorny and thornless. The growth habit is either trailing (like a fountain) or erect (trellised).

Plant in full sun and can be planted in a wide range of soil types---sandy loam with high organic matter is optimal. Raspberries require good drainage and should be free of wild raspberries as possible for disease control. All wild raspberries are black and are native plants. Raspberries are also indigenous to Asia Minor.

The plants can be purchased in pots or as bare root. Bare root are much cheaper and do well most places. Summer bearing varieties fruit once per year and some popular varieties are: red- Killarney, Latham; black-Cumberland, Jewel; Purple-Brandywine, Royalty. Fall or Everbearing (2 crops/year) Red-Heritage, Autumn Bliss; yellow-Anne, Fallgold.

Raspberries like the soil on the acidic side of 7pH. Lightly fertilize with a balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10. Reds generally like a hedge row with plants 2-3ft apart and a minimum of 8 feet between rows. Blacks and Purples, 3-4 ft apart and 10 ft between rows. Reds produce root suckers, blacks and purples do not.

The planting holes should be large enough so that the bare roots can be spread out. Potted plant holes should be 1 1/2 times the size of the pot. Plant no deeper than the original planting depth or to the original collar on the plant. Firm the soil around the plant so it is in upright position (it will grow the direction it is planted). Water in well forcing out water pockets. They need 1.5 inches of water per week all season.

Pruning is complicated and is an entire topic all its own. Harvest is possible the second year, but it is better to wait until the third. Pinch off blooms the first year for sure and the second if you can wait. If not, enjoy. The first year's canes are called primocanes (vegetative) and the second year canes are the floricanes (fruiting canes).

The fruit is very fragile and should be picked into a flat shallow bowl and refrigerated immediately or they will begin to lose shape and turn to juice.

More than you ever wanted to know I am sure...sorry.
Not too much info for me! Glad I read this! Thanks! Bob
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Old April 4, 2013   #5
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In your hot climate Ted you need to join our "Looking for BabaBerry club." It has a reputation for thriving in heat, something most rasberries do not do.
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Old April 4, 2013   #6
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I'm with you S.C. Linda! Everyone, join our club! Membership is free and easy--you just have to ask or email at least one nursery within 3 hours driving range, if they have the Bababerry in stock. If not, then why not? haven't they heard? When will they order some in??
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Old April 4, 2013   #7
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In your hot climate Ted you need to join our "Looking for BabaBerry club." It has a reputation for thriving in heat, something most rasberries do not do.
Okay Linda,

I'm ready to join. Now all I have to do is find some. I guess I should visit some local nurseries and see what berry selections they have. I would also like to find some Boysenberries and I may try some Blackberries.

Ted
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Old April 4, 2013   #8
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I can tell you a bit about the Lathams. They are a classic June bearing variety, and my favorite for flavor. June bearers send up a new cane one year which bears fruit the second year, then that cane dies. Especially in a long season, it might try to blossom and fruit the first year. That is what you want to prevent. The best way is to just lop the tops of the canes off about chest high. That not only cuts off most blossoms and buds, but makes the remaining cane stouter and more likely to remain upright next year when loaded with fruit. Most folks also put in T-shaped posts and run twine down either side of the row to help keep them up. I never have, though. Mulch heavily with a long lasting material like wood cups or planer shavings, if you can get them. The second year, after the canes have borne fruit, they will die. That is what you must prune out, as well as thin the new canes that have emerged. It's that late summer, early fall pruning chore that is a hard one for me to get done. I just don't seem to have enough time at that time of year. Even so, the recommended life span of a berry patch is short, I think about five years, and mine has been there for almost forty. Granted, I don't get a lot of berries every year any more, but some years are bumper crops, and we freeze enough to keep us going through the lean years.
Shawn
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Old April 4, 2013   #9
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IThe second year, after the canes have borne fruit, they will die. That is what you must prune out, as well as thin the new canes that have emerged. It's that late summer, early fall pruning chore that is a hard one for me to get done. I just don't seem to have enough time at that time of year. Even so, the recommended life span of a berry patch is short, I think about five years, and mine has been there for almost forty. Shawn
My berries start ripening in early July. I didn't know pruning is usually done in the early fall. I've always done my pruning about this time of year while the plants are dormant, just as the last of the snow is melting. It is much easier to pick out the old dead canes which have turned white after the winter, and see the weakest new canes to prune out.

My patch was a wild thicket at the edge of the woods that the previous owner cleaned up and cultivated. She said she started thinning and pruning them when they moved in in 1999, and they've been bearing beautifully for me ever since I moved in 10 years ago. I don't spray or mulch, but will throw a little 5-10-10 on after pruning. I've never seen a disease on them yet.
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Last edited by barkeater; April 4, 2013 at 10:14 AM. Reason: To add that mine are summer bearing
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Old April 4, 2013   #10
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[QUOTE=barkeater;338188]My berries start ripening in early July. I didn't know pruning is usually done in the early fall. I've always done my pruning about this time of year while the plants are dormant, just as the last of the snow is melting. It is much easier to pick out the old dead canes which have turned white after the winter, and see the weakest new canes to prune out.

Well, early fall is when the experts and commercial growers say to do it. Actually, if I do it at all (and some years I don't) I usually make it a spring chore. And yes, I agree, July is the more likely season for them to ripen.
I do have a small patch of fall bearing plants, and the recommendation for them is to mow them right down in late fall or early spring. I don't do that either, I'm afraid. This far north, it is chancy whether they will have time to produce or not. Even despite my neglect, I usually get a few berries just before hard freezes shut them down. But they do not have the juicy, sweet, rich raspberry flavor of the Lathams. The fall bearing ones I have also do not seem inclined to spread as readily as the Lathams. I started my Latham patch with about a dozen plants, and each year almost doubled it in size just by transplanting the ones that come up in the path and letting the ends expand at will, until it got to the size I wanted. But the fall bearers I have don't seem to send up much in the way of side shoots - they are not nearly as invasive, I guess, so the patch has remained small.
In recent years, without the mulch keeping things clean in the Latham patch, I have lots of course grass growing up in the patch, as well as an infestation of some kind of viney bindweed I hate, and cane borers are a perennial problem. There is also a blight that will hit if I get a wet summer which will cause the canes to die just after blossoming the next year. But in a dry summer - no problem! So I still get occasional berries with my benign neglect, and they are tasty!
Shawn
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Old April 4, 2013   #11
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http://www.durgan.org/URL/?BEQFJ 17 October 2012 Pruning Raspberries.
Raspberries are finished producing for the 2012 year. The vegetation is cut to ground level. New vigorous growth begins in he Spring of 2013 and the plants bear fruit starting in September until frost. The vegetation was put through the chipper/shreder and added to the compost pile.
Pruning raspberries
“Summer-fruiting raspberries fruit on one-year-old canes that are cut out after harvest and then replaced by the young canes.
Autumn-fruiting varieties are cut to the ground in late winter to make way for new canes that will grow from the base and fruit the same year.” This type is my preference.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ZEZQE 2 October 2012 Raspberry Picked 22 Ounces.
The little raspberry patch is still producing. Twenty two ounces picked today. This is probably the end of the season except for a few isolated berries before the frost arrives.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?YSDTG 30 September 2012 Raspberry Picked today.
Total from this patch is about 13 pounds. Two pounds 14 pounces or 46 ounces.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?QGYEV 23 September 2012 Raspberry. Raspberries picked on 26,31 August. 2,13,15, 20, 23 September.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?KUILB 23 September 2012 Raspberry
The small raspberry patch 3 feet by 8 feet has produced about 10 pounds of berries over the last month and more are available if the killing frost holds off.The berries are put through the Champion Juicer to remove the seeds to make a dessert or milk shake.The berries must be processed immediately since mold forms quickly.
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Old April 4, 2013   #12
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It took me about three years to determine what type of berry that I had. About ten canes with no name were given to me from another garden.

Finally I treated the patch like Fall bearing, which simplified pruning, since all the canes are mowed to the ground after fruiting in the very late Fall. At this time the patch is weeded, a layer of compost is added and wood chip mulch applied.

During the growing season, the bed is watered regularly. It is remarkable the quantity of berries obtained from a 3 by 8 foot patch. Birds don't attack, probably since they are well fed with other fruit, but the patch is small enough to cover easily if required.
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Old April 4, 2013   #13
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Okay, I checked four nurseries and no one has ever heard of a Bababerry. They all had very meager selections of everything but Blueberries. They had tons of Blueberry which I already have planted. They had some Blackberry, but the only variety was Brazos and the label said "small fruit". I bought one more Raspberry plant of the Dorman variety. It claims to grow well in the south in full sun as a heavy fruiter.

I guess I will plant what I have and see what they do this summer. If they struggle through the summer heat, I can always dig them up and try something else. If only one of three varieties does well, I will replace the other two with that variety.

Ted
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Old April 4, 2013   #14
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This is a great thread!! My wife just hit me up on growing some raspberries that could maybe be grow indoors. Thanks for the info!!
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Old April 4, 2013   #15
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This is a great thread!! My wife just hit me up on growing some raspberries that could maybe be grow indoors. Thanks for the info!!
HHHmmmmmmm, Walleye! They taste almost as good as garden fresh tomatoes.

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