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Sometimes it happens that varietal raspberries grow in the garden, and the harvest is meager. And the berries themselves are not so tasty, smaller than indicated in the characteristics of the variety. Beginning gardeners begin to think that they were deceived when selling planting material. In fact, the reason lies in the improper care of plants, in particular, when pruning raspberries.
Raspberry is a branchy plant, shoots live for two years. If you do not prune in the spring, then the plant will spend energy on feeding the green mass, and not on flowering. And yes, there are a few flowers. Experienced gardeners know how to cut raspberries in spring, but beginners have a lot of problems. Let’s look at the nuances of spring pruning in raspberries.
Culture features
Raspberries, in addition to ground shoots, have rhizomes and roots. It is on the rhizomes that buds are formed, giving replacement shoots. After a while, after the formation of their own roots, they cease to depend on the mother plant. This contributes to the natural reproduction of raspberries. The fruits are formed on the shoots of the second year.
If you do not prune raspberries in the spring, the bushes will thicken greatly, they will not only have enough food, but also light. Replacement shoots on raspberries will grow frail, strongly elongated. And the berries will begin to shrink every year.
What beginner gardeners need to know
Beginners who have started growing raspberries for the first time often think about whether it is necessary to cut raspberries, whether it will not be a waste of time and effort. We will try to convince them of the need for such procedures for growing raspberries and getting a rich harvest.
Spring pruning of raspberries is of great importance in terms of plant care:
- Helps in the fight against pests and diseases of raspberries, because they cut off damaged and infected shoots first.
- The remaining shoots are left with enough space for development. Plants are ventilated, raspberry leaves and berries practically do not get sick.
- When harvesting, there are no difficulties – all the berries are in full view.
Pruning raspberries in the spring is difficult for beginner gardeners, so we want to introduce them to the basic rules:
- Pruning on the plant begins at the end of March, when the buds are just swelling.
- Shoots that overwintered poorly, turned black or were damaged when bent down – are removed without pity. That is why experienced gardeners advise leaving more replacement shoots in winter.
- Unnecessary shoots are cut out on the plant at the very surface of the earth so that the stumps are not visible.
- For pruning, use a pruner, not a knife, so as not to crush the remaining part of the shoot.
- The height of the cut part of the shoot must be at least 50 cm.
- It is optimal to leave no more than 30 branches per square meter. In this case, each plant will receive a sufficient amount of heat, light, air.
The scheme for pruning raspberries in the spring for beginner gardeners is in the photo below.
How to prune bushes to increase yield
And now let’s move on to the question of how to properly cut raspberries in the spring, and why they perform it.
If the shoots are pruned to different lengths, then the berries will not ripen at the same time, therefore, the time for obtaining products increases. The shoot is always cut to a strong bud.
Such uneven pruning of a plant is divided into 3 groups:
- the first group – shortening is carried out by 10-15 cm;
- the second – to the middle;
- on the remaining shoots leave a stump of at least 20 cm.
Thus, it is possible to form a raspberry bush in which the bushes give the harvest in stages.
double pruning
Why do gardeners who grow raspberries for one year follow Sobolev’s experience so confidently? They were convinced in practice that such an operation with shoots increases the overall yield by several times, because the lateral fruit-bearing branches enter into the “work”.
Double pruning of raspberries begins in early June. On annual shoots, it is necessary to pinch the tip by 5 cm. A whole summer is enough to awaken the lateral buds, on which additional branches will form. The main thing is to cut off the tops on time, otherwise the shoots will not have time to gain strength until autumn, they endure winter worse.
The next year, while pruning raspberries, you need to shorten the side shoots by 10 centimeters. Proper pruning of raspberries allows you to increase productivity, plants get sick less due to good air circulation.
Of course, making it a rule to cut raspberries twice, you will have to devote more time to caring for the plant in the spring. But the labor costs are fully justified: during the growing season, many peduncles appear on raspberries. Therefore, this will positively affect the yield and increase the fruiting period. Delicious berries ripen on the plant until frost.
Subject to all the rules of pruning, the result is a real raspberry tree with many branches.
How to trim raspberries according to Sobolev video:
Features of care
After the entire raspberry has been cut off, the plants are fed and disinfected. Raspberries need to be fertilized with mineral and organic substances: potassium, calcium, phosphorus and nitrogen.
If you want to get a rich harvest of raspberries, consider the features of growing and caring for, pruning and feeding plants.
What can be fed:
- Compost or humus – a bucket per square meter, bird droppings – up to 6 kg per square.
- From mineral fertilizers – superphosphate, potassium salt and nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing fertilizers. Fertilizers are added, as a rule, in accordance with the norms indicated on the package.
- Wood ash. You can simply pour it under each bush or pour it with an ash solution. One glass per square. Some experienced gardeners carry out foliar feeding: they sprinkle the whole plant with ash from top to bottom. In addition to top dressing, ash protects plants from pests and diseases.
Raspberry bushes, the soil after pruning should be sprayed with a disinfectant solution, for example, Fungicide.
Care for raspberries in the spring involves timely watering, loosening, weeding. All work must be completed in a timely manner.
What is the bottom line
Caring for raspberries is not so difficult. Gardeners need to water, feed, fertilize plants. Do not forget about loosening the soil and weeding. These operations can be minimized by mulching or covering the soil with black non-woven fabric.
But this is not the most important thing, because without pruning raspberries in the spring, the plantings turn out to be thickened. Productivity drops sharply. In addition, plants are chosen by pests and diseases. What kind of raspberry crop can we talk about?
We hope that we managed to convince novice gardeners of the need to prune raspberries in the spring. The main task of such a procedure is to wake up the growth of young shoots, unload the root system from excessive load and get a rich harvest of raspberries.