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Many amateur gardeners do not betray the importance of pruning raspberries in the spring, believing that the amount of the crop is directly proportional to the size of the bush. However, it is impossible to get a large harvest with large berries from a neglected and overgrown raspberry. In addition, a bush that is regularly pruned will bear fruit much longer in one place.
Pruning raspberries in the spring is an important and necessary part of caring for raspberries and the key to good and regular fruiting. Raspberry shoots live, as a rule, only two years: in the first, they actively grow and branch, and in the second, they bear fruit and die. In addition, neglected bushes are prone to many diseases, pests, the berries become smaller in a short time, and the yield drops sharply. Most gardeners consider spring to be the best time for pruning.
Trimming time
In early spring, when the snow melts, but the earth has not yet had time to warm up and a positive air temperature is established, all shoots of the plant are normalized. Depending on the climatic conditions of a particular region, pruning dates can vary from early March to April or May. For example, in Ukraine, in particular in the southeast, pruning should not be done before mid-April, and in the southern regions it can be done in the first days of March.
As a rule, summer pruning is carried out together with spring pruning, since the fruiting stems dry out by mid-August. It is better to remove them immediately after harvest. In this case, the lighting conditions for the replacement shoots will improve, and most of the plant’s nutrients and forces will go to them. It also stimulates the growth of underground offspring. If too much young growth has formed, it is removed, leaving 6-10 offspring per bush.
Raspberry pruning in spring
What is double pruning?
Several decades ago, the patriarch of raspberry production Sobolev A.G. developed a simple but very effective way to double-prun raspberries. According to the Sobolev method, the first pruning is carried out in the last weeks of May – early June. It is impossible to prune raspberries in the spring after mid-June, as the side shoots will not have time to develop enough to endure the winter frosts. If this time was missed, for some reason, it is better to postpone it to the next year or spend it in the fall. When young shoots reach 75-100 cm in height, depending on the height of the variety, they pinch the top by 12-20 cm. After that, further upward growth practically stops, and side shoots begin to develop intensively. After a few days, the first shoots appear in the axils of the upper leaves, and by August 5-8 well-developed side shoots are formed, up to 45-55 cm in length. In this form, the bush is left to winter.
The following year, a second pruning is carried out. In the spring, when several leaves appear on the bushes, the tops of the overwintered lateral shoots are shortened by 6-17 cm. After that, the bush develops intensively, dormant buds wake up and new branches appear. And by the beginning of fruiting, more than 10-15 developed shoots are formed.
It is the second trimming that is decisive in this method. After such a manipulation in the spring, even simple raspberries become more productive and can acquire remontant properties.
With good care, especially in climbing raspberries, double pruning can be done within one season. In this case, the first time the shoot is pinched when it stretches 25-45 cm, and the second time – when the side shoots reach the same length. However, one should take into account and be prepared for the disadvantages of this method. For example, it provokes excessive thickening of plantings, and a good result will be only with proper planting, preliminary care and regular application of all necessary fertilizers.
Trimming technique
At the first spring normalization, all frozen branches, weak, underdeveloped, broken shoots are removed, cutting them off at the very base of the bush, which will reduce the risk of raspberry infection with various diseases. Several strong branches are left on the bush, depending on the method of planting – if raspberries are planted in a bush way, then no more than 4-6 per bush are left, if in a trench – 13-16 per 1 m of the row. Their number can vary per square meter from 1 to 13, at a distance of 18-20 cm from each other. Together with the normalization of the branches, the frozen tops of the plant are cut off, shortening them to the first healthy bud, but not excessively, by no more than 25-22 cm. Strong shortening of the plant stems, although it increases the size of the berries and their number on the branches, however, in general, reduces the yield .
The branches prepared in this way are tied to an established trellis or support, like grapes. To fully provide the fruitful main shoots with nutrition, it is necessary to cut down or dig out, using as planting material, all the young shoots outside the planting, which can greatly deplete the raspberries. To avoid damage to the root system, excess shoots should not be abruptly pulled out of the soil or dug out unnecessarily, you can limit yourself to simple pruning under the root with a pruner or at a depth with a shovel immediately after germination. To cut down the shoots correctly, a sharply sharpened shovel should be stuck into the ground in a circle several times at a distance of 18-25 cm from the main bush. After that, the earth is dug outside the circle. Thus, each bush in the raspberry bush is processed, while the distance between them should be at least 55-65 cm.
Annual stems of the plant left for fruiting are shortened by 15-40 cm. With this shortening, only the unripe top with underdeveloped buds is removed, only weakened fruitful shoots with small berries can develop from them. On vines that are pruned, the fruiting is more complete, and the ripening of the berries is simultaneous. If diseased, damaged shoots are found after spring normalization, their removal should not be postponed until autumn, since they are a threat to the disease for the entire raspberry tree.
If you regularly cut young raspberry shoots, then the whole procedure will not take much time, you can keep within 5-10 minutes. After each pruning, it is desirable to carry out a disinfecting spraying of the bushes with special preparations, and take out all the cut branches and shoots outside the raspberries and burn them.
Video “Spring raspberry pruning – the key to a good harvest”
This video tells you when it is better to prune, shows how annual shoots look, what maximum size they are cut to, reveals many nuances of spring raspberry pruning.
Raspberry pruning in spring
