Raspberry Problem
busybee2015
Posts: 9
Hi All,
Been in our current garden 3yrs now and there is a large area with raspberry canes. Left them alone for 3yrs as sorting other parts of the garden. So far every year they have grown bigger and produced masses of flowers which start to form fruits (in summer) but then all the immature fruits drop off.
Not a single fruit in 3yrs but the canes look very healthy. Leaves green etc.
Looking on the www I'm wondering about a virus or whether the canes are too old and "past it".
I have just chopped the lot back to the ground. Took 2hrs!
My questions are:
1.)If there is a virus should I dig up the canes and never plant raspberries in this location again?
2.) Should I wait and see what happens this year now I have chopped?
3.) Should I did up the canes and plant new ones?
Many thanks for your expertise
Posts
Do you water them enough? Raspberries are quite thirsty. Are the flowers covered in insects, especially bees, for pollination? Mine are buzzing when the flowers are out. Then they need feeding, I use rose fertiliser, and watering.
Hi Busybee!
I wonder whether your raspberry canes are just suffering from neglect? Fruit often falls off a plant if it's under stress, in particular if it hasn't enough water. Since the canes look healthy, it could be worth trying to resurrect them, for a season at least - or part of the area at least, to save money & time in case it doesn't work! You could try feeding a section of the healthy canes with blood, fish & bone, mulching them with garden compost (making sure the soil is moist first), and watering them during dry spells. You won't get any fruit this season unless they're an autumn-fruiting variety; summer fruiters produce flowers & fruit on canes they grow the previous season, whereas the autumn ones flower & fruit late summer to autumn on that year's canes.
Or you could cut your losses & start again... the advice is always to replant in a different place, because diseases build up in the soil.
Good luck!
Lizzie, you posted while I was writing. I'm glad we agree...
Thanks Lizzie and Liriodendron,
Neglect is definitely a possibility as my garden is far too big to manage. I will wait and see what happens and cover with bf&b and well rotted horse poo. I will try and water in the summer when dry and cross fingers. Hopefully they are autumn fruiters as have just planted 9 canes of summer fruiting in another part of the garden. Luckily we have masses of bees in the garden as we are surrounded by fields and fruit trees.
My garden learning curve is steep!