RaspberriesFor Backyard Growers

Nicolas Tardiff

College ofAgriculture and Natural Resources

Warning !!!

• The Internet is full of resources.

• Always double-check the information.

• Make sure the information is for your intended use. Most of the information about raspberries is for commercial growers.

• Be careful about myths and legends.

Table of Contents

• Raspberries 101

• Growing raspberries

• Running into problems

A thing or two useful to know.

Scientific classification

Kingdom: PlantaeDivision: MagnoliophytaClass: MagnoliopsidaOrder: RosalesFamily: RosaceaeGenus: Rubus

Mid- Atlantic native species • Rubus occidentalis - Black raspberry

– Includes hybrid purple color

• Rubus strigosus - American red raspberry– Includes hybrid yellow color

• Rubus odoratus – Flowering raspberry• Rubus laudatus – Plains blackberry• Rubus pensilvanicus - Pennsylvania blackberry • Rubus parviflorus - Thimbleberry • Rubus hispidus - Swamp dewberry• Rubus flagellaris – Northern dewberry

Noteworthy species • Rubus idaeus - European red raspberry • Rubus laciniatus - Evergreen blackberry

– Also known as cut-leaf blackberry – European native

• Rubus ursinus - California blackberry • R. ursinus × idaeus – Boysenberry

– Raspberry-blackberry. California native

• Rubus loganobaccus - Loganberry – Raspberry-blackberry. California native

• Rubus spectabilis – Salmonberries– Native from west coast US - can be yellow, red or purple

• Rubus chamaemorus – Cloudberry– Also known as baked apple. Yellow fruit.– Very cold climate in the eastern part of North America

• Rubus phoenicolasius - Wineberry – On the invasive species list in Maryland.

Characteristics Rubus occidentalis & Rubus strigosus

• Hardiness zones 3 to 9 • Plant costs less than $15/ea and live for ~10 years• Like sun and wet light drained soil• Hand-pick or harvest mechanically• Nectar source for honeybees • Can be locally invasive• Can be very vigorous• Can be very productive• Not a berry but made up of droplets• Excellent source of antioxidants

Red and Yellow Black and Purple

•Grow in hedgerows

•Propagation by the roots

•Early to summer bearing•Fall bearing (everbearing)

•Mid-June to frost

•Winter Greenhouse

•Orange color available

•Grow in hills

•Propagation by the head

•Early to summer bearing

•Mid-June to mid-July

Bramble Home Production RecommendationUniversity of Maryland Extension

• June Bearing (June 15 – July 15)

– Black Varieties: Bristol, Haut, Jewel, Allen– Purple Varieties : Royalty, Brandywine – Red Varieties: Latham, Hilton, Titan, Lauren*,Taylor, Reveille,

Newburgh

• Fall Bearing: (July, August – Frost )

– Red Varieties: Autumn Bliss, Caroline*, Heritage, Josephine*

– Yellow Varieties: Fall Gold, Anne*

* Released from University of Maryland

Propagation

Black raspberry plant in container

2011

What to do with fresh raspberries

Half less to very low sugar jam

www.pomonapectin.com or at your favorite Health Food Stores

=+Summer 2009 Summer 2009

- The American Pie Council® National Pie Day : January 23rd

- Pi (π) Day: March 14th (3/14 – get it?)

01/23/2010

How do you tell the difference between a black raspberry berry and a

blackberry berry?

At harvest, the receptacle remains on the raspberry plant.

At harvest, the receptacle remains in the blackberry fruit.

Black raspberries Blackberries

Growing Raspberries

Year to year name change for the same cane:

• Primocane: 1st year cane• Floricane: 2nd year cane

For June-bearing brambles: primocanes emerge as shoots from the crown and grow into vegetative cans. They overwinter and become floricanes, producing flowers and fruits in year 2. Canes die and are pruned out.

Late summer/fall bearing brambles produce their fruit on primocanes. Canes are usually cut to a 2-inch stub when fruiting is over.

• Test your soil. Ph of 5.5 to 6.5 is optimal

• Need a soil with 50% organic matter

• Can be planted on raised bed to help with drainage

• Don’t need fertilizer just add organic matter (1”) in springtime.

• Use mulch and/or compost around plant to keep weed-free and soil moist.

• Inspect the plants for disease and injury periodically

• Need 1” of water a week. Water the roots, not the leaves

• Harvest time, can be very intensive.– June bearing: the period can be 2 to 8 weeks– Late summer/fall bearing: the period can be 8 to 12 weeks.

How to plant raspberries

Sunny and windy site

Weeds need to be controlled

8-10 ft between rows

3 feet wide

18 inches wide

Black raspberry*: dig a hole of 18” wide and 18” deep

Red raspberry: dig a trench of 18” wide and 18” deep

3 feet wide

Mid-June 2009

•You can buy a 2-3 year old plant or a bare root at your garden store.

•You will achieve quicker results with a plant.

•It will take 2 years for a plant to 3 years for a bare root to reach full production

•Both can be planted in ealy spring or end of summer

•Remove blossoms during the first years when planted in springtime to improve root development.

•Do not cover with more than 2” of soil or compost.

Beginning of May 2009

Pruning and Trainingdepends on what you’re growing

Summer (June-bearing) Red

• Removing canes after fruiting ( summer ). Cuts should be made close to the ground. Remove completely and throw away for prevent disease. If floricanes retain their leaves and the cane diseases are minimal, it’s recommended to leave the spent fruiting canes until dormant pruning ( winter ).

• Thinning shoots and canes (early spring ) Remove weak canes. Keep large canes that are spaced about four to six inches apart as evenly as possible over the width of the row. Confine row width to 12 to 18 inches. Generally, four to six large-diameter canes per linear foot of row is optimal.

• Heading back shoots and canes ( early spring) Tall canes (more than five feet) should be cut back. Head tall, vigorous canes four to eight inches about the trellis wire but not more than ¼ of the height. When winter injury occurs, all canes need to be cut below the point of winter injury.

Heading Back Shoots and Canes

Red late summer/fall bearing(a.k.a. ever-bearing)

• Ever-bearing raspberries are usually grown for just the fall crop. – Fruiting canes are removed and destroyed by mowing during wintertime after being killed

by the frost.– Mowing: Cut to the height of 2 or 4 inches. Max 6”. One month after been killed.– The next season a new flush of primocanes appears and bears fruit in the fall. – Thinning is not usually necessary but weak and diseased canes should be removed. Keep

the row narrow too.

• If 2 crops are desired, then fall-bearing raspberries work like red raspberries.– After fall harvest, prune and destroy the upper portion of the cane producing the fall crop. – The next crop will be a summer harvest.– Expect a small crop ( 10-25% of the fall one )

• A fall-only harvest can produce 89% more raspberries than a 2 crops system and is less prone to disease. It’s more simple, too.

• If the primocanes are allowed to grow unchecked, they get long and are very difficult to manage without support of some kind. The fruits production will be reduced.

• Summer Heading (Tipping) Pinch off (head) the tips of new canes when the canes have reached a certain height. This induces growth of side branches and results in plants that are stocky and self-supporting and have a large amount of bearing wood. Tipping is done by removing the top 2 to 3 inches of new shoots as they develop.

– Black raspberry shoots should be tipped when canes reach about 20 to 34 inches.– Brandywine purple raspberries are usually tipped at about 36 inches. – Royalty purple raspberries do not require heading.

• Head the tips of new growth to avoid cutting the tips later in the summer to prevent disease and problems. You have until August to pinch the tips of the primocane.

• Removal of Canes After Fruiting ( summer ) by cutting close to the ground.

Black

• Thinning Canes ( late winter when dormant ) Remove canes less than half an inch in diameter at the base in the spring. Four to six strong canes per hill is recommended. Cut close to the ground.

• Heading Back Laterals ( Late winter ) Head back laterals in the early spring but before the buds swell and grow. Keep 8 to 10 buds – about 8 to 10 inches long

• Heading Back Canes to their floricane height ( late winter ) if you didn't do it during last summer.

Black

20”-34”

Training and Trellising

Abiotic plant problems

Disease, Pest and Insect Control

Abiotic plant problems• Water

– Too much and/or poor drainage in heavy soil.» Drowning» Opens door for virus

• Not enough water» Stresses plants» Plants can survive a serious dry period by losing their leaves but forget fruit for next year.

• Not enough sun and/or poor air circulation» Plant grows poorly.; more susceptible to diseases

• Container too small» Plant grows poorly. Ex: Hole in clay soil or in container for a black raspberry plant needs to be at

least 18” wide and 18” deep. Minimum is 12” for a well-drainedg soil.

• Too much fertilizer» Causes a lot a problems. 1” to 1.5” of compost or organic matter a year is all they need.

• Soil pH» pH should be between 5.5 and 6.5.

Birds

Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum)

First things first

Start to feed the birds early in the growing season.

Plant fruits that ripen earlier than your raspberries to divert birds’ interest (e.g., red mulberry).

Summer 2009

Install protection

Net over one plant

Raspberry cane borer

Prune out the infested cane below injury

The borer

Japanese beetle

Like to feed not only on the leaves but on the overripe raspberries you didn't pick on the branch or on the ground.

Diseases– Viral– Bacterial– Fungal

Raspberry Leaf Curl

Commonly spread from plant to plant by the feeding of a small

sluggish aphid

Viral diseases

Raspberry Mosaic Disease Complex

Widespread disease

•Vary according to the virus strain and the type of raspberry infected.

•No raspberries are immune - black and purple raspberries are damaged more severely than red varieties

•The viruses are not soil borne nor seed transmitted.

Prevention:

•Maintain strict aphid control at all times, especially in late spring and early summer when aphid populations are likely to be high.

•Best time to detect virus symptoms is during cool, cloudy weather in the mid-to-late spring, early summer, and again in the early-to-mid fall. A day or two before removal, thoroughly spray affected plants with an insecticide.

•Plant in a windy area

•Maintain the fruit planting until the yield of fruit becomes unprofitable, then destroy it.

Bacterial Diseases

Crown & Cane Gall

Fire Blight

•Strain on raspberry will not infect apple trees and vice versa; it’s not the same strain.

•All raspberries are affected.

•Can overwinter in infected canes.

•Good sanitation is the key.

•Remove and destroy infected canes as soon as you see them.

•Infection is through cane or root crown injuries.

•Not all canes will show the problem and some, next to infected cane, will remain green.

•Remove and destroy them infected plant.

Fungus diseases

Orange rust•Affects both species

•Orange rust does not normally kill plants, but the plant is infected for life

Late rust•Causes serious damage to susceptible red raspberry varieties

•Leaves are covered with fine, light-yellow, powdery masses of spores in mid-summer

•The spore masses can appear on leaf petioles, shoots, calyces (fruit caps) and even on the fruits

Botrytis fruit rot (gray mold)

Rotting of mature or near-mature fruits of raspberries

Cane blight•More common on black raspberries

•Black raspberry primocanes turn brown or black; floricanes will die before harvest

•Infection occurs at almost any time during the growing season. Look for purple and brown color on a primocane.

•Overwinters; dead canes continue to remain a source of infection for several years. Remove and destroy all old fruit canes immediately after harvest

•Top canes in a dry weather condition only, without forecast of rain

•Use fungicide as preventive method if disease was present the year before or is detected on the field and lime-sulfur in early spring.

Spur blight The V-shaped lesions are characteristic

•This disease is more common and serious on red and purple raspberries.

•Chocolate brown, dark blue, or purplish V-shaped spots appear just below the leaf or bud, usually on the lower portion of the stem

•Bark in the cankered area dries up, and the canes may crack and split lengthwise.

•Overwinters; remove and destroy all old fruit canes immediately after harvest

Anthracnose•Most common and widespread disease of brambles

•On red raspberries, it can be common but is usually not a serious problem as on black and purple raspberries

•Remove badly diseased canes.

Verticillium wilt•One of the most serious diseases of raspberries - more severe in black and purple.

•Cool-weather disease and is most severe in poorly drained soils and following cold, wet springs.

•Black raspberry and blackberry canes may exhibit a blue or purple streak from the soil line extending varying heights.

•The fungus grows into the water-conducting tissue (xylem) cutting the nutrients for the plant front the bottom to the head. Overwinters in soil.

•Never plant a raspberry plant where potatoes, peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes were planted during the last 3 years.

Good cultural practices

• Maintain narrow row width or thin canes to open the plant canopy.– Rows should not be more than two feet wide and should contain about 3-4 canes per

square foot for summer red or 3-5 canes by hill for black. Fall red raspberries, in general don’t need thinning.

– This promotes air circulation and sunlight exposure for faster drying of canes, foliage, and fruits.

• Avoid excessive fertilization

• Good sanitation is critical. Removing fruited cane after harvest is good practice. Fruited canes should definitely be removed before new growth starts in the spring

• Inspect frequently and remove diseased plants. Early spring is also a good time to inspect for virus diseases

• Minimize unnecessary physical damage to the plant. Use sharp pruning tools and avoid pruning during periods when plants are wet or immediately before wet weather is forecast.

• On ever-bearing varieties, mow (cut) fruited canes after been killed by frost.

Good cultural practices (cont.)

• Never plant black/purple raspberries less than 200 feet from a red raspberry plant.

• Never plant raspberries where potatoes, eggplants, peppers and tomatoes plants were planted during the last 3 years

• Plant away from wild brambles, rose and perennial weeds around.

• Plant in fertile, well-drained soil. No wet feet or lake at the feet of the plant.

• Use good IPM pest management methods

• Buy clean disease-free plants from a reputable source

Inspect the plant for disease and injury periodically

An insect or a fungus attacked the vascular system of the cane.

An earlier detection can save the cane and your production.

If you have a dead floricane at the end of June of beginning of July, the problem could be from last year.

Summer 2009

Resources

• Grow It! Eat It!http://www.extension.umd.edu/growit

– We have all types of practical food gardening tips and information. Check out our popular blog!

• Home and Garden Information Centerhttp://www.extension.umd.edu/hgic

– Here you will find factsheets, photos, and videos. You can also subscribe to the free monthly e-newsletter.

– We answer gardening questions 24/7…just click “Ask Maryland’s Garden Experts”

• Maryland Master Gardener Programhttp://www.extension.umd.edu/mg

– Consider becoming a trained MG volunteer!

This program was brought to you by the

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Frederick County

University of Maryland Extension