How to grow raspberries

Prepare soil by working it well and mixing in generous amounts of composted manure. Plant raspberry canes 45cm (18") apart in rows not closer than 1m (3') apart. Water well and use Guardian Transplanter 5-15-5 Liquid Root Stimulator at the rate recommended on the package. Mulch with The Grower's Choice Landscape Forest Mulch to reduce weed problems and conserve moisture.

Red raspberries produce suckers freely and for this reason are commonly grown in hedge rows about 75cm (2 1/2') in width. Sprouts appearing in the middle of the row should be destroyed or the patch will become a thicket of weak canes. The new shoots of red raspberries should not be summer-pinched, because laterals forced by this treatment are subject to winter kill.

Before growth starts in early spring, canes are cut back to a height of about 1m (3'). The weakest canes should be removed. The two-year old fruiting canes should be removed as soon as the harvest is completed. They are of no further use and tend to spread disease to the new shoots. These canes should be cut off close to the ground. Everbearing raspberries such as Heritage are pruned to the ground each fall. They produce fruit on the new growth and will bear heavily in late summer, early fall.

Black raspberries, or Black caps as they are sometimes called, respond to a summer pinching of the new shoots. The tip ends of the shoots should be pinched off when they have reached a height of 45-60cm (18-24"), which is usually in early June. When the shoot is pinched back, it stops growing at the end and the buds on the side push out to form lateral branches. Plants treated in this way are lower and more self-supporting. In spring, black raspberries should be pruned to shorten the lateral branches that developed as a result of summer pinching. The laterals on black raspberries should be cut back to 12-15cm (5-6"). Cut out the weak, spindly canes entirely.

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