Raspberry

Our hardy Raspberry plants are nursery matured, well rooted, bare root plants. Black raspberries are sent as tissue culture plugs. By planting both summer and fall bearing types, you can enjoy fresh raspberries nearly all summer.

Planting tip: Be sure to soak the roots of your plants for 8-24 hours prior to planting. Space plants about 2' apart in rows 6-8' apart. Plant roots only as deep as they were grown in the nursery, or just covered. After canes are set, cut "handles" or stems back to about 2-3" above the soil. Keep the soil moist with 1" of water per week (2-3 gallons every other day). Do not rely on rain events to provide enough water to establish new bare root plants.

Pruning Summer Bearing Raspberries: After plants are established, cut out all 2 year old canes immediately after harvest and also thin out all of the weaker canes. In spring, before new growth starts, thin out remaining canes, leaving only 3-4 of the largest canes per 1 foot of row. Tips may be cut back, but not too much or you will reduce your crop.

Pruning Fall Bearing (Everbearing) Raspberrries: The preferred and most popular method is to cut back canes at ground level in the fall after a killing frost. This will eliminate a summer crop, but will produce an earlier and larger fall crop. If a more continuous supply of berries is preferred, cut canes to 2.5' while dormant. Remove these canes the next summer after fruiting.