Caring for raspberries after harvesting

During the fruiting period, raspberry bushes have given up all their beneficial properties to the berries and become depleted, so now they need to be revived and properly maintained. Let's look at how to care for raspberries after harvesting at the end of summer.

Pruning raspberries

This is the first and most important step. The shoots that bore fruit this year have served their purpose and should be removed. They should be cut off at the very base, leaving a maximum of a couple of centimeters of stump. Any longer is unacceptable, as various bugs and pests spend the winter there, only to attack the young leaves with renewed vigor in the spring. Leave no more than six shoots on a single bush; this is sufficient. Diseased shoots should also be cut off behind the older shoots and burned. This will ensure the bushes receive maximum light and sap. Incidentally, good old branches cut in the fall can be burned separately; this will provide excellent nutrition for the growing young plants.

See also, How to care for strawberries after fruiting.

Top dressing

Now that you've cleaned and rejuvenated the raspberry patch, it's time to feed the remaining plants. They're just now beginning to prepare their fruit buds for spring, and they need good nutrition. Chicken manure, diluted 1 part to 20 parts water, with some ash added, is an excellent option for spring, as is mullein. In the fall, it's better to sprinkle potassium and phosphorus under the bushes; this will be much better. Then, in the spring, add a nitrogen-rich fertilizer, and your bushes will be incredibly grateful for this wonderful nutrition. It's also good to add compost every other year. However, apply all fertilizers only after loosening the soil and thoroughly watering—about a bucket of water per bush.

Experienced gardeners can recognize by their appearance what kind of fertilizer a raspberry plant currently requires:

• The berries take a long time to ripen, the foliage is lush - there is an excess of nitrogen, it needs to be suppressed with other fertilizers;
• The leaves are small and turning yellow, the shoots are growing slowly – lack of nitrogen;
• The leaves are brown, small and deformed - potassium is needed;
• Thin branches and crimson leaves - not enough phosphorus;
• The buds die before they have time to appear - boron needs to be added urgently.

Prevention

You've pruned, loosened the soil, watered, and fertilized the bushes. Now it's time to take preventative measures against all sorts of diseases. To do this, you can simply spray everything with 1% Bordeaux mixture, and consider your raspberries perfectly fine next year. But that's not the whole care package. Raspberries also need to be tied up to prevent them from freezing and breaking under layers of snow. You can tie them to a support or a trellis, and they'll survive the winter just fine.

Caring for everbearing raspberries

The first year of care is no different from caring for regular raspberries, but the second year has its own peculiarities. During the first two weeks of growth, root suckers should be completely removed. The bush is formed into 4-5 shoots, with strips of 5-15 shoots per meter, the largest of which should be spaced no more than 15 cm apart. Every five years, to rejuvenate everbearing raspberries, prune out old rhizomes with a shovel, which encourages the formation of new roots.

You also need to consider how many harvests you want. If you're aiming for one large one by fall, prune all the shoots; if you're aiming for two medium-sized ones, prune them like regular raspberries.
See also: Raspberry Miracle tomato reviews and photos.