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Autumn is the time for the hassle associated with preparing perennials for wintering. These include raspberries. To get a good harvest of raspberries next season, you need to perform timely pruning and sheltering of shrubs.
Preparing raspberries in the fall for next winter consists of several stages:
- Pruning.
- Cleaning of waste such as stems after pruning, fallen leaves and grass in the aisles.
- Top dressing.
- Bending down and shelter from the cold.
This article will discuss each stage separately. From it you will learn how to properly organize the care of raspberries in the fall, which will serve as its preparation for the winter.
Feeding raspberries
To be honest, plant nutrition should be started not from autumn, but from the end of summer. This promotes the maturation of the wood, which will help the raspberry bushes withstand the winter cold. For this, nitrogen fertilizers are excluded, and potash and phosphorus replace them. For abundant raspberry yields, it is necessary to provide the soil with a sufficient amount of nutrients that will prepare the root system of shrubs for winter. The last top dressing is carried out in early October.
How can I fertilize the soil to prepare raspberries for winter? Organic fertilizers such as peat, bird droppings, compost and manure, or green manure and mineral fertilizers may be suitable for this.
- Manure applied before digging the soil. 1 m2 you need 4-6 kg of this fertilizer. Unrotted manure can serve not only as a fertilizer, but also as a covering material. By spring, it will finally rot and nourish the soil with the necessary substances that will accelerate the growth and development of raspberries.
- Compost – this is rotted foliage, peat, weeds, bird droppings and corn cobs. It is introduced into the soil in the same way as manure.
- Bird droppings – this is the best fertilizer for raspberries. It is bred in water and distributed over all raspberry bushes.
- Peat you can fertilize raspberries not only in autumn, but also in spring and even in summer. With its help, the structure of the soil improves, thereby increasing the yield of raspberries.
- Introduction mineral fertilizers held once every 1-2 years. It is possible to alternate the application of organic matter with the mineralization of the soil – one year manure or other organic fertilizer, and the second year – the application of mineral top dressing. Autumn care for raspberries involves adding potassium salt (3 g per bush) or superphosphates (40 g per bush) to the soil. So, at a distance of about 60 cm from the bush, grooves should be made with a depth of about 30 cm, into which minerals are introduced. In order for minerals to be better absorbed by raspberries, the soil must be watered in a timely manner. This is especially important to do in a dry autumn.
- Ciderates – These are plants sown between rows of raspberries in June. It can be blue lupine, vetch or mustard. In late autumn, the soil is dug up, as a result of which green manure shoots fall into the ground. Having rotted in winter, green manure will saturate raspberry bushes with all the necessary nutrients in spring.
How to cut shoots
In order for raspberries to overwinter, it is necessary to perform its timely pruning. The life cycle of some raspberry varieties lasts 2 years. What does it mean? In the first year of life, the raspberry stem grows and grows stronger, and the next year it begins to bear fruit. After harvesting, such a raspberry stalk will still live until winter, thus taking away useful substances from young shoots. In the spring it will not bear fruit.
Therefore, in order for young stems to receive enough nutrients, old ones must be completely cut off. From young raspberry shoots, the tops should also be cut off by about 15-16 cm. This is an important condition, since the shoot is in the growth stage and in order to survive the winter, it needs to be woody. Pruning raspberries contributes to the frost resistance of the young.
Remontant varieties of raspberries are distinguished by the fact that their annual stems bear fruit. In view of this, all raspberry shoots should be cut in the fall. Thus, you will protect your shrubs from diseases and pests. In this scenario, pruning is carried out once, only in the fall. In the spring, it is not necessary to repeat it. In place of the old shoots, new ones will grow, which will bear fruit.
To avoid rotting and damage to the kidneys, you need to remove all the leaves from the raspberries. This is done carefully. Before removing the leaves from the branches, it is recommended to put on mittens so that the movements are softer. In this case, the kidneys will not be damaged. Movement should be directed from top to bottom.
Double pruning raspberries
With double pruning of raspberries, the yield of raspberry bushes increases. So, pruning is carried out twice a year – in autumn and spring. The tops of the stems, which have reached a height of 1 m, are cut off by 20–25 cm.
Thus, the growth of lateral stems is stimulated, which also branch out, forming a lush bush with flower buds. If you decide to grow raspberries in this way, then there should be a large interval between the bushes – from 60 cm.
How to clean raspberries from waste
After pruning has been carried out, it’s time to start removing waste from the raspberries. All branches, leaves, and grass should be burned or moved to a compost pit. This event is mandatory, otherwise bacteria and pests will overwinter in the raspberry waste left in the raspberry bush and multiply in the spring.
Mulching the soil and bending down the stems
To maintain the optimal moisture level for raspberries, you need to mulch the soil all year round from time to time, removing the old mulch and covering it with a new one to replace it. Preparing raspberries for winter also includes mulching, as covering will protect the root system from frost. Sawdust, peat, bark, etc. can serve as mulch.
Raspberries do not like alkaline and acidic soil reactions. Therefore, if you use sawdust for mulching, then they should not be from coniferous trees.
The mulch should be about 5 or 10 cm high. A smaller layer will not provide sufficient thermal insulation, and a larger one will lead to soil dampening, and can even provoke the spread of fungal and purulent infections. Before mulching, the soil must be thoroughly watered so that the root system does not go into hibernation dry.
After the foliage falls from the stems, bending should be carried out. To do this, you need to dig several posts along the bushes, between which the wire is stretched, no higher than 20 cm from the ground. It is to this wire that the stems are bent and tied. Thus, the whips will hide under the snow until severe frosts. Nylon ribbons or threads are best suited for tying.
What to do if there is little snow in a harsh climate
If raspberries are planted on the windy part of your site, where snow is blown out in winter, then you need to take care of snow retention in advance. For this purpose, special barriers must be installed on the side from which the winds blow. These can be dug sheets of plywood or polycarbonate. The latter material, of course, has a number of advantages over plywood, as it is resistant to decay and is not afraid of frost.
Such fences can be fixed on trellises running along the raspberry tree. However, it is very important to consider the direction of the wind. You can check the wind rose of your area, which can be found on the website of the hydrometeorological service of your area.
However, if there is little snow in your area, and the frosts are strong, then the raspberries should be additionally covered. A non-woven material, such as spunbond or lutrasil, can serve as a heat insulator. Before covering, bending should be done. Covering material must be fixed so that it is not blown away by the wind. In a particularly harsh climate, simple arc-shaped structures are additionally constructed, which are covered with polycarbonate to protect the raspberries from death due to cold.
When to cover and open bushes
Branches need to be bent in a timely manner. If you do this ahead of time, then the bushes can rot, and if you do it too late, the stems will become more fragile and may break in the process. So, the optimal time for bending down is before the first snowfall, but after the leaves have fallen from the stems. The same can be said about the shelter of the raspberry tree for the winter, either with a covering non-woven material, or with special polycarbonate structures.
It is also necessary to remove the covering material on time. If this is done ahead of time, the stems will get burned due to large day and night temperature fluctuations. If you covered the bushes, then their opening must be performed in several stages. First, the polycarbonate structure is removed, then the non-woven material, and after that the branches are untied, and the mulch layer is removed. Otherwise, the immunity of raspberries will decrease. All manipulations for caring for raspberries should be carried out no later than mid-April.
If you follow the above instructions, then the raspberry harvest will please you. In addition, we suggest you watch a video on how to prepare raspberries for winter:
