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New to raspberries - dead or alive?
in Fruit & veg
Hi,
Bare with me... I'm new to this! I bought some bare root Tulameen canes in March and planted them up in large pots according to pack instructions and after looking at the RHS website. I didn't cut them back as they were only about 10 inches high. One of them has a single shoot (sorry if that's the wrong term) about three quarters of the way up the cane with a few leaves and buds. Another one looks like it will get some new growth about a third of the way up, sprouting from a place that looks like it was pruned previously. Other than that, absolutely nothing. I've given them all a scratch and all but one is green under the bark. The one that was brown and brittle I cut all the way back to the soil and was going to pull it up but when I felt around for the roots I found about an inch of stumpy growth from the bottom of the cane under the soil so I've left it in. Can anyone tell me what's going on with them? Everything I've seen about growing raspberries implies that I should be awash with shoots and leaves by now.
Thank you so much.
Bare with me... I'm new to this! I bought some bare root Tulameen canes in March and planted them up in large pots according to pack instructions and after looking at the RHS website. I didn't cut them back as they were only about 10 inches high. One of them has a single shoot (sorry if that's the wrong term) about three quarters of the way up the cane with a few leaves and buds. Another one looks like it will get some new growth about a third of the way up, sprouting from a place that looks like it was pruned previously. Other than that, absolutely nothing. I've given them all a scratch and all but one is green under the bark. The one that was brown and brittle I cut all the way back to the soil and was going to pull it up but when I felt around for the roots I found about an inch of stumpy growth from the bottom of the cane under the soil so I've left it in. Can anyone tell me what's going on with them? Everything I've seen about growing raspberries implies that I should be awash with shoots and leaves by now.
Thank you so much.
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With summer fruiting rasps, the fruit develops on canes that have developed the year before so you really don’t want to cut those back as you will lose all your fruit - these are the canes you are now seeing beginning to sprout.
The dead brown one has fruited and gone last year and should have been chopped right down to the soil, but not pulled out as you will disturb the fragile roots of the plant and the new growth underground.
I am sure Monty can explain it better than me, have a look at the ‘how to grow’ and ‘how to prune’ summer fruiting raspberries here:
https://www.gardenersworld.com/search/?q=Summer+fruiting+raspberries+
Also I'm tending to find newer modern varieties don't even need much pruning compared to older varieties that need pruning to form proper fruits.
Anyway back to the plants, the bigger the plant you get and from a good company the better the plants will do even producing a crop the first year.
Then if you want to save a couple quid you get plants half the size that will produce fruit a few years later.
Then if you want to save a couple more quid you go for the bare root option and hope your plant survives.
If it is from the poundshop or in that price range then the symptoms you are describing are perfectly normal, the one with a bit of growth this year will act the way you are expecting it to by next year, the dried up one sounds dead but you might as well give it a chance, then check back on them in a years time.
Ojebyn is a really tasty variety that I have not pruned in 5 years but it is a bit of a tricky variety imo, doesn't grow very tall either.
Jonkher von Tets doesn't need pruning.
I don't prune my raspberries. You know how they say cut down all shoots end of the year? I only do that if the canes get too tall, otherwise they fruit again the next year.
Maybe I am missing out, who knows I have obviously pruned less rather than more.. I'm happy for now. Like said I found out the hard way that some of mine do need pruning, one bush refused to fruit entirely, then I pruned it and what a difference.