Contents
A rare suburban area does without raspberries. An unpretentious, tasty, healthy berry has long won the hearts of summer residents and densely occupied places along country fences. Fragrant jam in winter reminds of summer and helps with colds, and tea from dried raspberry leaves improves immunity, alleviates kidney ailments, and saturates the body with vitamin C. However, you should overlook the raspberry, and it will turn into wild, impenetrable thickets, and the fruiting period classic raspberries are short-lived, only a couple of weeks in July.
Features of remontant raspberry varieties
Progress does not stand still, the work of breeders has given us a great variety of raspberry varieties: here are both yellow and black, and even those varieties that bear fruit longer than traditional raspberries. This raspberry is called remontant, “repeated”, the plant is able to produce crops repeatedly during the growing season. Ordinary raspberries bear fruit on the shoots of last year, and the remontant one manages to please with berries on the shoots of the current year. Planting remontant raspberries in the fall will provide an opportunity to get the first harvest next summer.
Remontant raspberries have a lot of advantages over regular raspberries:
- Increased resistance to pests. It is caused by a shifted period of flowering and fruiting;
- Resistance to diseases is due to winter cutting of bushes “under zero”. Full pruning is included in the mandatory care of remontant raspberries in the fall:
- Minimal or complete absence of root offspring aggressively capturing the surrounding area simplifies the care of the bushes;
- Return of the crop in the first year after planting;
- The durability of the berries: they do not crumble from the bush and do not deteriorate, the crop does not need to be harvested daily, it is quite possible to go out with a tuesk once a week;
- No need to shelter bushes for the winter, due to pruning raspberries after fruiting;
- Late flowering minimizes spring frost damage;
- The ovaries are resistant to low autumn temperatures.
There were also some drawbacks, but compared to the advantages of remontant raspberries, they are insignificant:
- The lack of shoots makes it difficult to propagate remontant raspberries using the usual methods;
- The lack of a pronounced aroma in the berry with a preserved raspberry taste;
- Increased demand for lighting.
Remontant raspberries have their own characteristics of vegetation, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the video, which clearly shows how to care for remontant raspberries:
How to plant remontant raspberries, in autumn or spring? You can plant seedlings in the spring, in which case by the end of summer you will see a few berries on the bushes, but autumn planting is still preferable, in the first summer after planting, you will already get the first harvest.
Site Selection
To successfully grow remontant raspberries, you should know that the slightest shading leads to a sharp reduction in yield, so you should choose a well-lit area, protected from drafts. The ideal option would be the south side, closed from the north by a fence, buildings, or a hedge. These varieties of raspberries do not like stagnant groundwater, so choose a dry place, or add soil. The soil must be fertile and loose.
Rules of crop rotation
Although remontant raspberries are less susceptible to diseases and pests, crop rotation laws must be known and observed so as not to deplete the soil. The best precursor to raspberries is black fallow. Siderates are a good option for predecessors: vetch-oat mixture, lupine, white mustard.
It is impossible to plant remontant raspberries after any varieties of raspberries, because the soil is depleted, and during the life of the raspberry root system, substances are released that depress young plantings. Transplanting remontant raspberries to their original place is possible after 5-7 years of soil rest, during which time it will restore its properties.
Soil preparation
Remontant raspberries actively grow and bear fruit, therefore, they need preliminary enrichment and soil preparation. There are two ways: long and short.
Long-term soil preparation
The site planned for planting raspberries is being prepared for two years. In the first autumn, dig the soil, adding to it for every m2 45 g of potassium sulfate, humus 13-15 kg and 65 g of superphosphate in granules. With the onset of spring, plant vegetables (taking into account the rules of crop rotation), carry out the required top dressing for selected vegetable crops. Next season, sow clover or legumes on the territory of the future raspberry bush, plant the green mass in the soil in August, and in the fall, in mid-September or early October, depending on climatic conditions, start planting remontant raspberries.
Reduced ground preparation
With an abbreviated method, about a month before the planned planting of raspberries, you need to dig a hole about half a meter deep, put 25 g of potassium sulfate, 15 g of superphosphate and 10-12 kg of humus into it, fill the previously excavated soil into the hole. With a trench planting method, dig a trench, for each meter of its length, add one tablespoon of potassium sulfate and superphosphate, one liter can of wood ash, and 5-6 kg of rotted manure. After a month, dig, loosen and start planting seedlings.
Top dressing during the vegetative period
With proper autumn soil preparation before planting remontant raspberries, next season raspberries do not need fertilizers. In the future, remontant raspberry bushes should be fertilized twice a year. Mineral fertilizers are applied during the active growth of shoots, in June-early July, in August they carry out complex top dressing.
Remontant raspberries react sharply to a lack of nitrogen, and respond well to organic feeding. Liquid top dressing from mullein in a ratio of 1:10 or fermented bird droppings 1:20 in the amount of 4-5 liters per m2, introduced at the beginning of summer, will provide remontant raspberries with the necessary supply of nutrients.
Planting material layout
There are several ways to plant remontant raspberries. Each gardener decides which one to choose, but remember that too dense thickets will negatively affect the crop and make it difficult to care for the bushes.
Tape method
Raspberries are planted in rows, the distance between which is one and a half to two meters, and the distance between seedlings is 70-90 cm. If the variety you have chosen gives a small number of replacement shoots, then the distance between plantings can be slightly reduced.
Square-bush method
It implies the placement of planting material in a square, with a distance of a meter and a half between plants. This method is suitable for owners of large plots where a large area can be allocated for raspberries.
curtain method
Seedlings are arranged in small groups of 2-3 plants, planted at a distance of 60-70 cm.
triangular pattern
It involves planting raspberries in an isosceles triangle, with a side of 40-50 cm. It should be noted that the last two methods are used in landscape design, in this case, you should choose varieties with different colors of berries to create a bright color palette of colors. With any planting method, keep an eye on the number of replacement shoots. They should be no more than 6-8 for each bush. Leave the most promising, and ruthlessly cut out the rest, otherwise the plant will spend energy not on fruiting, but on growing shoots. Remove root shoots that will not be used for propagation.
Methods of reproduction
If you first decided to plant remontant raspberries, then purchase seedlings from a reliable seller to breed this crop. There are some differences on how to plant remontant raspberries with an open and closed root system. Seedlings with ZKS are transplanted to a pre-prepared place by transshipment of an earthen clod, and OKS seedlings should be inspected, damaged roots removed, dipped in a clay mash with the addition of a root formation stimulator, straightened in a planting pit. The root neck should be at ground level, do not allow excessive deepening, but also make sure that the roots are not in the air.
Using your own planting material
Some varieties of remontant raspberries produce a small number of root suckers, use them for propagation in the traditional way, as in the propagation of ordinary raspberries. Root offspring are most numerous in 4-5-year-old bushes of remontant varieties. When the height of the shoots reaches 7-10 cm, wait for cloudy weather, dig out and transplant the shoots into a “school”, water, mulch and create shading. After rooting after a couple of weeks, shading can be removed. In the fall, grown stronger and grown seedlings of remontant raspberries can be transplanted to a permanent place.
For remontant varieties that give a small number of offspring, you can use methods such as:
Reproduction by root cuttings
In autumn, carefully loosening the bush, dig out a root at least 2 cm in diameter. Cut it into pieces of 10-12 cm, place in a groove, water, bury, mulch. In the next season, this place should be watered, fertilized, carefully loosened and removed weeds. At the end of the season, raspberry seedlings can be planted in a prepared place.
Raspberry propagation by cuttings
This method uses green cuttings. They are harvested in the spring from young annual shoots of remontant raspberries 3-4 cm high. A shoot with a leafy rosette is suitable for grafting. Cut the cutting at a depth of 5-6 cm and take it out with roots and an earthy clod. Treat the cut with crushed coal and immediately plant it in a greenhouse at the same depth. Water, avoid overheating. After rooting, harden by opening the greenhouse, and then transplant to a permanent place.
Breed division multiplication
It is mainly used when transplanting remontant raspberries after they have been growing in one place for more than 10 years, or if the wrong place is chosen for the raspberry. Dig up a bush, divide it into parts, process the cuts with crushed charcoal, plant the resulting parts in a new place, having prepared it in advance.
Conclusion
Remontant raspberry transplantation is carried out at the same time, according to the same rules as the planting of young plants. Do not forget to feed and water the remontant raspberry bushes. The use of mulching material will eliminate the need for loosening and removing weeds.