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Despite the fact that remontant raspberries appeared in Our Country quite a long time ago, more than 30 years ago, disputes and discussions around it do not subside. Each gardener is trying to find his own approach to growing this crop, and this is no accident. Indeed, with an abundance of modern varieties, their characteristics can vary greatly. In addition, the climatic conditions of Our Country are full of such diversity that each region can be characterized by its own characteristics of growing raspberries, and this will be right. Professionals who have already studied all the features of this raspberry up and down, and even then can not always come to a consensus about its cultivation.
For beginners, one of the most pressing questions is: “How to cut remontant raspberries?” This question is indeed one of the most important and decisive, related to the care of a remontant beauty. After all, its fruiting depends on pruning, and nothing can be left to chance here. Therefore, it is necessary to consider all possible options and subtleties associated with this process.
Although remontant is usually understood as continuous fruiting, in the case of raspberries, everything happens not quite like that.
Of course, flowers and ovaries appear relatively late, in most varieties closer to September, although among the recently bred varieties of remontant raspberries there are those that begin to bear fruit from the beginning of August. Not all ovaries have time to ripen, since in many regions of Our Country September is the month of the first frosts. And although the bushes of remontant raspberries are characterized by sufficient cold resistance, the full harvest from these varieties can only be obtained in the south.
If nothing is done with raspberry shoots in the fall after frosts, then they will leave before winter. But in the spring, with the onset of real heat, they will again grow, and in the summer a crop of berries will begin to form on them, like on ordinary raspberries. But at the same time, in the spring, new annual shoots will begin to emerge from the dormant underground buds, which by the autumn will also be able to give some of the crop, as they did last year.
Everything would be fine, but in practice it was noticed that in most regions of Our Country such a scheme for growing remontant raspberries does not work. Since the first harvest on two-year-old, overwintered shoots is characterized by a low quality of berries. In addition, it takes strength from the bush, and the second, later harvest is even more delayed, which makes absolutely no sense for the northern regions.
Therefore, agronomists developed another, so-called one-year technology for growing remontant raspberries:
- In autumn, after fruiting, absolutely all the shoots of this raspberry are cut off at the root. There is no need to leave stumps of any height. All shoots with fallen leaves, immature berries are raked and carried away from the site. This pruning can be done even after the topsoil has frozen and the first snow has fallen. After all, all this time, nutrients will be supplied to the roots from the aerial part, and this will allow the raspberries to start well next season.
- In the spring, new annual shoots appear from under the ground, which gain enough strength over the summer to give a good powerful harvest of berries in early autumn.
- In autumn, after frosts, the above-described pruning is again carried out at remontant raspberries.
- As a result, instead of two crops, only one is obtained, but it is of very good quality even in a season when ordinary raspberries have long been gone.
This method has several other advantages that are important for beginner gardeners:
- With the complete pruning of all shoots for the winter, the problem of winter hardiness and shelter of raspberry bushes is eliminated.
- Together with the pruned shoots, all possible carriers of infections and pests are removed from the site. Therefore, remontant raspberries do not need protective treatments with insecticides.
Features of pruning when receiving two crops
Our Country is a huge country, so in some part of its territory it may well be feasible to grow remontant raspberries, when two crops per season are obtained from it. In the southern regions, it is probably not worth neglecting the second crop, since in most cases it can have time to fully ripen. Do I need to prune remontant raspberries in this case and how to do it?
For two harvests, raspberries are not cut at all in autumn. With the onset of spring, it is necessary to cut out all dry, substandard and thin shoots, leaving only 4-6 powerful branches. Somewhere in May – early June, when new annual shoots grow to a height of one meter, they need to be shortened by about half.
Depending on the variety and its characteristics, it is possible to additionally cut out several young shoots at this time if they thicken the bush. Although usually remontant raspberry varieties are characterized by low shoot-forming ability.
Two-year-old shoots immediately after the end of fruiting in July should be immediately cut at ground level so that they do not take away food from new shoots.
You can watch another option for pruning remontant raspberries for two crops in the video:
Pruning features: autumn or spring
As you can see, to the question: “How to properly cut remontant raspberries?” no, and there can be no definitive answer. Everything strongly depends on the climatic conditions of the region where raspberries are grown. And even if you have chosen to grow remontant raspberries with a single, but good harvest in early autumn, then everything is not as simple as we would like.
What are these conditions?
Obviously, for regions with mild winters, there is little point in autumn pruning, since even after the plants have borne fruit, they will be able to develop under favorable conditions for a long time, accumulating nutrients for the future. Moreover, if you cut raspberries in the fall, and frosts do not come in the next month and a half, then the underground buds on the rhizome may germinate prematurely. And with the onset of frost, they will freeze, and the next year’s harvest will be significantly reduced. Spring pruning can prevent all these problems.
Oddly enough, the transfer of remontant raspberry pruning to spring is preferable for areas with harsh and little snowy winters. At the same time, non-removed raspberry shoots will be able to contribute to better snow retention. Moreover, according to the observations of experienced gardeners, the more north the region, the greater the productivity of raspberries is observed during pruning in early spring.
There is also an option to wait until the buds begin to open and only then carry out a complete pruning of the shoots. This makes sense, because at this point the bushes will be able to replenish their supply of growth substances, which are formed only in the opening leaves. Therefore, after pruning raspberries at this particular time, the plant is able to quickly wake up and grow, which is especially important for the northern regions.
All work is carried out in exactly the same way as with autumn pruning, only in the spring.
Varietal features of raspberries
It seems that the answer to the question of how to cut raspberries has been received, but it turns out that remontant raspberries can bring many more surprises.
The fact is that there are so-called semi-repair raspberry varieties.
They can be attributed more to the usual varieties of raspberries with some signs of remontance. They differ in that they can give a second crop, but only at the very tops of the shoots. While real remontant varieties form ovaries along most of the shoots. If they are cut in the fall below ground level, then you will lose both the summer harvest and the autumn harvest will be pushed back to a later date. These varieties need to be cared for in a completely different way.
In autumn, it is necessary to cut off only that upper part of the shoot that was loaded with berries. In the spring, as usual, the bush is normalized – that is, all the extra shoots that can thicken the raspberry bush are cut off. In the summer, on the shoots left over from the winter, these raspberry varieties will give a good harvest. Immediately after the end of fruiting, two-year-old shoots are pruned. These varieties do not require any more pruning.
Of course, pruning remontant raspberries is not the easiest thing to do, but by familiarizing yourself with all the nuances of this process, you can keep your plantings in perfect condition and enjoy tasty and juicy berries.
