Untangling Raspberry Pruning
By Kay DiVerde
Raspberries provide a refreshing, delicious snack. If you're tempted to grow this delicacy in your yard, take the time to plan your patch and set a pruning schedule. A neglected raspberry patch can turn into a nasty mess of tangled thorns so thick you can hardly pick the fruit.
When planning your raspberry patch, keep in mind that raspberry rows should not get any wider than 18 to 24 inches. Any wider than that and it's hard to reach to pick the berries. Pull up the suckers that come up between the rows. And thin out the plants within the rows-keeping canes about 6 inches apart. If you want to support your canes, use posts and horizontal wires to establish a vertical support.
Raspberries bear fruit on biennial canes This means the roots live indefinitely and send up canes each year that generally bear fruit the second season and then die.
It is essential to give your raspberry bushes a constant supply of water while they are growing and especially when they are forming fruit. Use a mulch such as salt hay to keep the weeds from working their way into the berry plants' root systems. The mulch will also keep you from having to cultivate the soil. Cultivating may nick the plants' shallow roots. This may promote excess suckers. When it's dry weather, you can increase your yield by laying a soaker hose along the rows. In the early spring, you should top dress with at least a shovelful of compost or rotted manure for every foot of row, or apply a handful of fertilizer such as 10-10-10 to the same area.
Pick your berries only when they are ripe, and don't let them remain on the bush too long. During the harvest, pick at least twice a week and be careful not to squeeze the berries; just pull them off the stem gently.
The most important objective in pruning your raspberry plants is to avoid a bed turning into an impenetrable tangle of thorny canes. While pruning, be sure to wear a long-sleeved shirt and leather gloves. In the spring, prune out any winter-killed canes at ground level. You'll want to cut back the remaining canes at about chest height. After the harvest, cut back at soil level all the canes that have borne fruit. It should be easy to tell which canes have just fruited because you can see what remains of the little berry clusters after the berries have been picked. If you let the job go or weren't around during the fruiting season, you'll be able to distinguish the old canes because they are darker, with peeling bark. Obviously, you should remove any part of the plant that looks diseased as soon as you spot it.
If you already have a raspberry patch in your yard that has been left unattended, it's not too late. You'll want to dig out suckers and rooted growth. Cut away tangled and old canes. You may be able to salvage some young canes and retrain them to the support. If that's not possible, carefully uproot suckers or layers and use them as new plants.
With some planning, training and regular pruning you can enjoy a bountiful harvest of delicious raspberries in your own orchard. Good luck, and enjoy!
Kay DiVerde is a freelance writer, horticultural researcher and consultant for Orchard's Edge. DiVerde also writes for a variety of newsletters and publications in the Midwest.
