Many of us love raspberries for their valuable and useful qualities. Almost everyone has summer cottage There is a raspberry plant, but few people know how to prune it correctly. I have a lot of raspberries at my dacha - some bushes are old, some varieties I bought recently.
I came across questions: how and when to prune raspberries so that the plant grows well and produces a decent harvest. Found a lot interesting information, some lessons were taught by neighbors - old-timers. And you know - things have gone well!
If you don’t prune the bushes and leave everything as it is, then in a few years the yield will drop significantly, only a quarter of what is possible will be harvested. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to properly prepare raspberry bushes for winter. In autumn, pruning is carried out according to certain rules.
We should start with the fact that novice gardeners are confused about these rules and terms, because at the moment there are many remontant (that is, bearing fruit twice, repeatedly) varieties of raspberries bred by breeders, the care of which differs from the care and pruning of an ordinary two-year-old.
It is also worth focusing on weather conditions: terrain features, winter duration, soil conditions.
Each gardener chooses the most appropriate pruning schedule for himself, so as not to harm the bushes and maintain productivity.
In warm regions, fruiting continues until November, but in cold regions, naturally, not. Although there are already new varieties adapted to harsh climates. Their productivity has been increased through selection.
To make it more convenient to figure out when to prune, it is necessary to conditionally divide all the bushes into 2 groups:
- Two-year-old ordinary raspberry.
- Remontant.
Features of pruning two-year-old ordinary raspberries
This group includes the following varieties: Novost Kuzmina, Skazka, Padishah, Kirzhach, Meteor, Maroseyka, Mirage, Nagrada, Yubileynaya, Gusar, Stolichnaya.
It should be carried out in September, without waiting for cold weather, because in warm weather pests can appear in the raspberry field. This variety has a peculiarity - the shoots live for only 2 years. In the first year there is a stage of active branching, and in the second the bushes bear fruit and then die off.
But the roots of ordinary raspberries are perennial, which is why pruning is necessary in the fall in order to root system did not grow and did not occupy an increasingly larger area. After all, this does not increase the harvest.
Before starting the pruning process, you need to carefully examine the entire raspberry tree and determine which branches to get rid of. During the process, they use pruning shears, and it is advisable to make neat cuts. Here are the step-by-step instructions:
- First you need to remove broken, old, pest-damaged branches. It is advisable to immediately take them to one place and burn them, so as not to spread the process of infection by pests, which, by the way, tolerate cold well.
- Then remove the weakest and thinnest shoots, too, because they may not survive the winter.
- Two-year-old branches should be removed - they will not give the young enough sun and development. They are distinguished by their dark, spreading bark.
- It is necessary to thin out the remaining bushes. To do this, within a radius of 30 cm around the bush, you need to dig up the ground and clear it of excess shoots and weeds. Leave no more than 10 stems per bush or 12 per meter if this is an ordinary planting method.
- Trim the leaves, but do not tear them off to avoid damaging the buds and stems.
- Cut branches at a distance of 30 - 40 cm from the ground.
- There should be a distance of at least 60 - 70 cm between the bushes.
- If desired, you can fertilize at the end.
A large distance between the bushes has a very good effect on their growth - more air, ventilation, and sun contribute to better yields. And there will be more strength for growth and better taste of the berries.
Advantages of remontant raspberries over conventional varieties
The main varieties of this new, but increasingly gaining popularity, raspberries: Penguin, Izobilnaya Kazakova, Zeus, Augustovskoye Miracle, Indian Summer, Polka, Firebird, Bryansk Miracle, as well as varieties of yellow and black raspberries, for example, Ugolek, Yellow Giant, Slastena and others.
"One-year" technology
There is one peculiarity here: the berries ripen both on last year’s shoots and on new ones. Some produce crops in the summer, others in the fall. It is important to leave new ones to harvest in the fall, when there are no more berries. After all, the summer harvest delays the ripening of the autumn harvest, so it is wiser to refuse the first (summer) harvest.
With this option, remontant raspberry varieties are grown as annual bushes:
- At the beginning of summer, annual shoots grow intensively.
- Then twigs appear, which will later bear fruit.
- The next stage is flowering.
- Depending on the variety, you can harvest in the second half of August or early September.
- In late autumn, all shoots are cut off at the root, and the raspberries overwinter without any branches remaining on the surface of the ground.
There are several pruning methods, which allows you to choose the most convenient for each gardener. Unlike ordinary raspberries, here you can independently regulate the amount of harvest and the time of harvest using pruning.
With the “one-year” technology, a number of advantages appear that simplify the care of raspberries, on the one hand, and on the other hand, fruiting increases, and the raspberry tree is maintained in a neat condition.
- Since everything is cut down at the roots in the fall, the problem of wintering disappears - there is nothing to freeze.
- Maintenance is greatly simplified, which saves time and effort. There is no need to then clean the raspberry tree from damaged, dry and broken branches. There is also no need to bend the bushes down for the winter and add snow under them. By themselves, these varieties have fairly strong branches up to 2 meters in height, which do not need either gartering or bending.
- The problem with pests (raspberry beetle and raspberry-strawberry weevil), which can destroy 50% of the crop, is being solved.
The fact is that with this method the phase of pest reproduction and the phase of growth and fruiting of raspberries do not coincide. And when pruning all shoots in the fall, pests are also destroyed, which can survive the winter in ordinary raspberries if this process is not monitored.
The Dutch method of pruning remontant varieties
There is also a method that allows Dutch gardeners to get up to 30 kg of berries from one bush. The essence of this pruning is as follows:
- From the main 8 - 10 stems there are 4 - 5 shoots. The first step is to lightly pinch the middle to allow young shoots to grow.
- Shorten each of these 4 - 5 shoots by about 10 cm so that new bushes begin to form.
- Next year, cut off the middle and leave the new bushes so that the raspberries are not too dense.
As a result, instead of 10 bushes, we get about 100, and each one produces a good harvest. The good thing about this method is that you can quickly make a large raspberry patch without planting new bushes.
If one of the varieties remontant raspberries If you like it more than others, then this method is ideal for reproduction.
Sobolev pruning method
Also a popular type of pruning, similar to Dutch, with minor differences. Also called the double cutting method. Productivity increases significantly
- In June, when the height of the bush reaches more than one meter, pinch it for the first time.
- New shoots begin to grow in the axils of the leaves and buds. By the end of summer there will already be 4 - 6 shoots 50 - 70 cm high.
- Next year in the spring side shoots shorten by 10 - 15 cm.
To visually familiarize yourself and better understand the methods and reasons for pruning, I recommend the following video:
Ezhemalina - features of growing and pruning
This hybrid, bred by breeders, has become a real gift for lovers of raspberries and blackberries. It combines high yields of blackberries (up to 9 kg per bush) and good winter hardiness and smoothness of raspberry branches.
The berries are very rich various vitamins And useful substances and quite large in size - up to 4 cm long. They do not grow throughout the entire area, but “live” in one place for 10 to 15 years.
Secrets of cultivation
Despite the fact that the berry is unpretentious, there are several mandatory rules for its growth:
- It is necessary to mulch at the end of April or beginning of May. Cover the ground under the bushes with pieces of cardboard. It will serve as agrofibre. And pour rotten sawdust mixed with ash and dry mullein on top. Over the course of a year, this mixture will become a good fertilizer.
- Create a supporting trellis, similar to a grape one, so that the branches do not break under the weight of the berries.
- When to prune raspberries - in spring or autumn? Answer: in the fall, after fruiting, you need to carry out sanitary pruning. Leave only 4 - 5 shoots. And in the spring these shoots should be shortened by 20 - 30 cm.
This will increase the fertility and size of the berries. It is recommended to plant raspberries in October, and cover them with hay, sawdust, and humus for the winter.
So, having understood the trimming system different varieties raspberries, every novice gardener can easily restore perfect order to the plot, properly prune and prepare the plants for winter. And next summer we just have to wait for a great harvest!
Any novice gardener will sooner or later become interested in how to prune raspberries in the fall and why it is necessary. First you need to find out what it is. Raspberry is a shrub that consists of two parts: aboveground and underground. Every year it throws out new shoots using peri-root buds. Fruiting occurs in the second year after the start of growth using flower buds.
Do I need to prune raspberries in the fall?
How to prune raspberries correctly
In autumn, this process is carried out for better development of the branches of the bush, but pruning can also be used to increase its yield. This procedure is carried out in early spring. In its process, the tops of raspberry shoots are slightly shortened by about fifteen centimeters. This allows you to greatly slow down their development and direct the flow of enzymes and nutrients where the gardener needs it, namely: to the buds. This approach makes it possible to get a huge harvest by mid-summer.
How to prune raspberries in autumn
The process of pruning raspberries is very simple. It is necessary to completely remove all damaged, diseased or fruit-bearing shoots. In the future, they will only cause harm to the plant, and their destruction will have a beneficial effect on its development. They are cut as close to the ground as possible, without leaving even a small stump. In addition, there is a technique that allows you to further increase the number of berries on one bush. It's called "double pruning". To do this, one-year-old shoots are pinched when they reach a meter in length. This allows you to awaken the buds and get several side branches before the pruning procedure begins. After which they are allowed to overwinter and in early spring they are pruned along with all the others. This practice allows you to get the most abundant harvest.
Anyone interested in how to prune raspberries in the fall should understand that by reducing the number of branches, they harm the plant. All damaged shoots should be removed, but annual branches should be left intact.
How to get long-term fruiting
Anyone who wants to learn how to prune raspberries in the fall and get an extra harvest will be interested in the technique in which this shrub bears fruit within two months. To do this, during spring pruning, all two-year-old shoots are conditionally divided into three groups:
- the first is cut off by twelve to fifteen centimeters;
- the second is cut in half;
- on the third, about fifteen centimeters in length are left.
This approach allows you to get a long harvest period: starting from the tenth of July and ending with the first days of September.
If you want to harvest high yields of tasty fruits with varietal characteristics from the raspberries on your plot, you have to prune them annually. Neglected and unkempt raspberry fields produce less than a quarter of their total yield potential. To ensure that old fruit-bearing shoots of the crop do not interfere with the growth of new ones, it is necessary to remove them in a timely manner.
Some novice gardeners naively assume that a large number of shoots growing from the ground will produce more yield. In fact, this is not true. In order for the raspberry plant to bear fruit, you need to ruthlessly remove all unnecessary parts from it.
Autumn pruning of raspberries is a mandatory crop care operation, which allows you not only to keep the raspberry tree neat, but also to stimulate its high yield.
Cropped in autumn period the bushes are well illuminated by the sun, ventilated, have increased winter hardiness and, when creating such favorable conditions growing, practically do not get sick. Autumn cleaning of the raspberry tree is the key to its excellent fruiting in the next gardening season. In addition, it is much easier to pick ripe berries from well-groomed bushes than from overgrown and neglected ones.
The main advantages of autumn pruning of raspberries compared to spring are:
- cleaning all secluded places where pests, disease carriers, and fungal spores can hide and overwinter;
- convenience of the event period. The fact is that in the spring, raspberries can be pruned only before the sap begins to flow and the buds begin to open. This period occurs at the end of March - beginning of April, in many garden plots There is too much dirt after the snow melts.
The only advantage of pruning raspberries in spring is that after wintering all the damage is clearly visible - something broke during the cold period, something froze. Therefore, gardeners often clean bushes in stages: in the fall - basic pruning, and in the spring - only sanitary pruning.
The above considerations apply only to two-year-old raspberries, that is, their usual varieties that produce a harvest once per season. , so that the shoots begin to grow as quickly as possible with the arrival of spring.
Pruning of raspberries of ordinary varieties (non-repairing) should be done no later than 2...3 weeks before the onset of frost. In connection with this rule, you can consider more precise timing of pruning in different regions countries.
In the Moscow region, Central zone
In the conditions of the Moscow region, it is recommended to start pruning raspberries at the end of August - September after the crop bears fruit. You should not delay cleaning the bushes, since raspberries are considered one of the crops most often affected by pests and pathogens. It is in the fall that their last active activity occurs. For effective fight with them, pruning of plants is carried out as early as possible.
In the Urals, in Siberia
Taking into account climatic features In the Urals and Siberia, the cutting time for raspberry shoots falls in August. The more precise optimal time depends on the specific variety and the end of its fruiting period.
In the Leningrad region
Climate Leningrad region is famous for its unpredictability, therefore, when pruning raspberries in August-September, 30 to 35 shoots are left in the raspberry field. This amount will be sufficient to replenish frozen and broken specimens next season.
Two-year-old raspberry varieties require annual fall pruning to achieve their full yield potential in the next gardening season. Below is detailed instructions for pruning such raspberries.
Tool preparation
Before you start work, you need to prepare your inventory. To trim raspberries, you can use sharp pruning shears, garden shears or a lopper. The latter has long handles, so the thorns do not cause any inconvenience when peeling raspberries. In other cases, you will also need gloves. The main requirement for the chosen pruning tool is the sharpness of the tip - if you use blunt equipment, the wounds on the bushes will take a long time to heal, as a result of which the raspberries will not have time to prepare for wintering.
To prevent the transfer of viral diseases of raspberries, the tool must be disinfected every time you move from bush to bush. Alcohol, a 10% solution of ferrous sulfate, and a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate are suitable for treating the tip.
Cutting out old, dry and diseased parts of the bush
All shoots that bear fruit during the season must be removed. They can be distinguished from young shoots by the color of the bark - dark brown. All dry stems must also be cut or broken by hand. If traces of pests and diseases have been noticed on the shoots, they must be removed. Broken raspberry branches must also be removed at the root (by wind, equipment, under the weight of their own fruits), since their restoration takes too much force from the bush, intended for preparation for wintering.
It is important to cut out any green shoots that appear towards the end of summer. They do not have time to become woody before the onset of frost, they die and allow insect pests to survive the winter in the remains. To clean the bush from green shoots, it is recommended to use a bayonet shovel - this way you can remove the shoots along with the roots. With its help, excess shoots are dug at a depth of 25 cm and easily pulled out.
Standardization of the number of shoots
During the season, with careful care of the raspberry tree, one root of the crop can produce up to 20 shoots. Of course, you need to choose the strongest and strongest of them and leave from 6 to 10 pieces in the bush. The optimal distance between them is 23...30 cm. All other shoots should be removed; they will only thicken the bush, which will lead to various kinds of diseases and create favorable conditions for the appearance of pests.
Removing immature shoot tips
The tops of the remaining shoots that will bear fruit next year are shortened by 20...30 cm. Pruning this growth helps to accelerate the ripening of the entire shoot, which has a beneficial effect on surviving winter and future productivity.
Removing remaining foliage
After pruning the bushes, it is necessary to remove the remaining foliage on the shoots. To do this, using gloves, you can run your hands along the trunks and remove the leaves.
This is how pruning is carried out for varieties of two-year-old, non-repairing raspberries that bear fruit once during the season.
Correct autumn pruning of raspberries: video
Remontant crop varieties that produce crops twice a season are pruned in a completely different way: both the timing of cutting shoots and the technology itself differ.
- Most farmers recommend pruning remontant raspberries later - after the very first frost, during the period when the outflow of nutrients from the foliage to the root system ceases.
- Pruning technology involves removing the entire above-ground part of the bushes. This technique stimulates early flowering and fruiting of the crop on annual shoots. When cutting out the vegetative part in autumn, remontant varieties show high yields in the next season under short summer conditions Middle zone and other, even colder regions. In the southern regions, when pruning, small stumps up to 5 cm high are left.
If the bushes were planted this year, then they can only be shortened, leaving the length of the shoots from the ground level to no more than 20 cm.
Proper pruning of remontant varieties in the fall helps to increase their productivity - the number of berries increases, and their taste and marketability improve.
There are also intermediate raspberry varieties that produce a repeat harvest under favorable conditions. For such raspberries, you need to cut off only parts of the branches that had berries in the season. The remaining shoots will bear fruit next year. When you cut such varieties at the root in the fall, you can be left in the new garden season without a raspberry harvest.
The most important activity carried out after the formation of raspberry bushes is the collection of plant debris - it is necessary to collect all the cut stems and leaves and burn them. If this is not done, many pests and pathogens will overwinter in plant debris and continue their harmful activities on the raspberry field next season.
The next operation after cleaning the raspberries is organizing protection from frost. It has been proven that raspberries as a crop are very winter-hardy, but in snowless winters the flower buds are severely damaged. To ensure that the yield of the bushes does not fail in the next season, they are bent to the surface of the earth so that in winter all the shoots are covered with snow.
You can do this activity if the air temperature has not dropped below +5 0 C. Otherwise, the wood on the shoots will crack. The second option for protection from frost is grouping raspberry shoots and covering them with agrofibre.
The high yield of raspberries largely depends not only on the variety grown, but also on the degree of care for it. Pruning a bush does not take a gardener a lot of time, its technology is understandable even to any beginner in this business, but the need for this autumn event is obvious - well-groomed bushes bear fruit well, form large, sweet berries that are easy to pick.
Raspberry is an aggressive shrub, quickly occupies the entire area allotted to it and is constantly trying to expand its possessions. If you do not prune the bushes and remove excess shoots, the raspberry forest quickly turns into impenetrable thickets. Fortunately, pruning raspberries is not a difficult task, and it should be done at a very convenient time: after harvesting and a little in the fall.
Goals for pruning raspberries in the fall
It would seem, why even come to a raspberry farm with pruning shears? No one does this in the forest, but there are plenty of aromatic, healthy berries for both the forest inhabitants and the people who come with buckets and baskets. However, it is worth remembering how much area of forest thickets needs to be collected and how much time it takes to collect a bucket of raspberries. Yes, it grows on its own, but it grows small and based on square meter there isn't much of it. And at our summer cottage we want to get large and bigger berries, but we allocate a bed well if it’s a quarter of a hundred square meters, and usually even less. Therefore, you have to take care of raspberries: water, fertilize, loosen, prepare for winter and cut out everything unnecessary in time.
The berries in the forest will grow delicious, but without care they will be small, there will be few of them
On an ordinary perennial raspberry, each shoot lives for two seasons: emerging in the spring, it grows intensively, remaining flexible and green until the fall, preparing for the fact that next year it should produce a harvest of berries and then dry up and die. If you don’t touch it, it can stand in a dried state for another year, or even more, littering the plantation. Eventually, it will fall and turn into mulch material. It seems to be good, but the fact is that most often during this time various bad spider bugs manage to settle in the shoot - raspberry pests and our competitors for the harvest. And even different ailments. So it turns out that main reason We understand the need for pruning raspberries. Fruit-bearing shoots must be removed in time.
The second reason lies in the ability of the raspberry bush to produce numerous new shoots: more than the root system can feed. No, the extra shoots, of course, will not die of their own accord, but they will produce very few berries and require a lot of nutrients. Thus, the second reason to pick up the pruning shears is the excessive thickening of the raspberry bushes and the need for their basic thinning. To the really strong shoots eager to give high yield, there was enough food, water and sun for this, so that the bushes could be ventilated, so that no unnecessary viruses and bacteria would accumulate in the raspberry bush. How can we get through the thorny thickets ourselves with a bucket, picking berries? Therefore, it turns out that by pruning, we take care of not only the health of the raspberries, but also our own.
There will be a lot to work on in this raspberry garden
Many varieties of raspberries, if given plenty of food and drink, will grow into very tall bushes. Well, why do we need to pick berries from a stepladder? After all, a raspberry tree two meters tall and taller is simply inconvenient. In addition, very long shoots will not have enough strength to produce a crop on all of their branches, along the entire height of the stem. And there will be few of these branches if the stem tends upward. So the third reason is clear: shortening too long shoots and forming a bush in order to form side branches and obtain berries from them. Proper pruning we do not destroy the future harvest, but, on the contrary, make it richer.
Many people carry out autumn pruning only in October, in order to still have time to catch warm days. But it turns out that the main work in a regular (non-repair) raspberry field can be done much earlier! Fruiting shoots should be cut out immediately after harvesting. last berries; Obviously, excess, weak shoots should be removed all summer, as they appear (after all, it quickly becomes clear whether he wants to grow big and strong or will only suffer!). The tops of powerful shoots can be pruned as soon as they become taller than the head, and this also does not happen in the fall. Therefore, “autumn pruning” is a rather arbitrary name; only the finishing touches of this action can be left for the fall. These touches should be applied approximately three weeks before the first frost arrives.
Technique for autumn pruning raspberries
Proper pruning of raspberries in the fall dramatically reduces the labor intensity of caring for raspberries in the spring and summer of next year and significantly increases the quality and quantity of berries collected. If the bushes leave in winter containing no more than ten, and preferably 5-6, strong annual shoots no more than two meters tall, the raspberry plant will only be grateful to us for this. If you can walk freely between the bushes to spread humus, work lightly with a hoe, burying it in the ground and loosening it, and when the berries appear you can comfortably sit around the bush, then we have not worked with pruners in vain. In the spring, all that remains is to eliminate the consequences of the harsh winter by trimming the frozen tops and putting aside cutting tools until new unnecessary growth appears.
If we did everything correctly in the fall, in the spring only healthy branches will appear in the raspberry tree in the right place
So, let’s imagine that in the summer you didn’t cut anything out of the raspberry field, and now September has arrived (or maybe already October), and instead of a cultivated plantation you see a forest of assorted thorny stems. What to do?
- Find a good pruner. Most likely, you should have it somewhere. Raspberries do not require any expensive options; with cunning mechanisms, their stems are easy to cut. The main thing is that the sector is serviceable and sharp. And, of course, clean. If suddenly it’s lying in the barn covered in dirt and rust, wash it, clean it, sharpen it. If it squeaks, lubricate it where necessary.
For raspberries, the simplest but most comfortable pruner is suitable for your hand.
- Carefully examine the thickets and understand where to start. If it is difficult to get through them, you will have to work “layer by layer”, doing all the trimming work at once. If the situation is not so sad, and you can still squeeze between the bushes, it is better to start by removing last year’s stems, that is, those that bear fruit. They are easy to recognize even for a beginner: they are not green, but brown. Not elastic, but almost dry, woody. Last year's shoots should be cut as close to the ground as possible, trying not to leave stumps (pests can live in them!). Most likely, when cutting out old shoots, you will also encounter young ones that are clearly unusable (crooked, weak, etc.). If it’s handy, put them under the knife right away. Oh, and of course, put on gloves first. Or better yet, wear a canvas mitten on your left hand, and don’t wear anything on your right hand, with a pruner.
Fruiting shoots are easy to distinguish from young, green ones
- If you have successfully dealt with last year’s escapes, let’s move on to the next stage. Probably, while we were walking through the thickets, the bushes became quite isolated, spaced 70–80 centimeters from each other. If the situation is more complicated, and the forest remains, we will have to decide what we will now consider to be bushes. In each bush you should leave no more than a dozen of the strongest young shoots, but 5–6 will be enough. So, where the largest cluster of such stems is, we will make a bush. We remove everything between the bushes right down to the soil. Of course, the shoots that grow between the bushes can be transplanted to another place - this is one of the types planting material in a raspberry field. Having selected the best specimens, you can carefully dig them up along with the roots and start a new bed.
It’s not worth leaving a lot of such growth between the bushes, but transplanting it to a new place will be just right
- Now the bushes are isolated. Let's look even more closely. Stems with signs of diseases or pests should not be left in the winter. For a completely inexperienced gardener, there are two main guidelines in finding such stems and urgently sending them to the fire. These are swellings on the stem (sort of spherical growths that occur at any height, but more often closer to the ground). And this is the so-called paniculation: the stem branches into many small branches running in the form of a broom. Such shoots are not just sick, they indicate that the raspberries will most likely have to be treated. But that's another story. At the same time, we will cut out the diseased shoots and those that are clearly broken.
Such stems have no place in the raspberry tree: dangerous pests have settled in this swelling
- Having cut out diseased and broken shoots, we again count how many healthy ones remain in the bush. We remember that it is advisable to leave 5-6 pieces, up to a maximum of ten. What if there are already fewer of them? Well, what to do, we started a berry garden. We will improve next year. In the meantime, let’s see if all the healthy ones should be left behind. If good shoots intertwine and rub with each other, those that are worse must be removed. If the shoot is “two inches from the pot,” or rather, only 40 centimeters tall and 3 millimeters in diameter, it has nothing to do in the garden. It won't do any good. Cut it out.
- And almost the last thing: pruning long branches. How long depends, of course, on the variety and climatic conditions. For some, 1.5 meters may seem like a lot, but for others, they are taller. In general, it is impossible to give a clear answer, but 2 meters is definitely too much. In addition, the tops of the longest shoots will most likely freeze in winter anyway, and in the spring they will have to be cut out one way or another: they very rarely manage to fully ripen before winter, and if they do, they produce weak buds with scanty fruiting. Therefore, we cut the hair “as proportion and beauty dictate,” but at least shorten it by 15–20 cm. By the way, it would also be better to do this in August, and new branches would already appear on the stem.
Often at the end of summer the young tops even bloom. This means that they will not survive the winter, and they need to be trimmed as soon as possible.
- All that remains is to decide where to put what was cut out. If you are completely sure that there are no diseases or pests in your raspberry garden, you can cut it into pieces with pruning shears (10–20 cm, as your hand takes) and scatter them under the bushes. There will be excellent mulch and shelter for the roots from frost (even a bear makes a den in an old forest raspberry patch!). But most often there is no confidence in the complete health of the plants, and you have to send the cut to the fire. This is where you need to be careful. Raspberry stems and leaves burn beautifully and provide a lot of heat.
- If you live in regions with a harsh climate, then closer to the ground the remaining stems in each bush should be collected in a bunch, lightly tied and bent as low as possible, but not broken. Snow is the best shelter from frost. Well, in the northernmost regions they should also be covered with non-woven material (lutrasil, spunbond) for the winter.
The most common mistake when pruning raspberries is leaving stumps. As for the rest, it’s hard to make a mistake - we make it comfortable and beautiful
If you care for raspberries systematically, then you are already an experienced gardener, and our advice is of no use to you. Most likely, you appear in the raspberry garden with pruning shears at least once a month and keep it in perfect order, leaving about the same number of shoots on healthy bushes as there were last year.
While the rules for pruning ordinary raspberries are quite simple, the same cannot be said about remontant varieties: they are capable of producing berries not only on two-year-old shoots, but also on annual ones. Therefore, using the general approach, you can accidentally cut out new shoots, since it is clear that they already had berries, and leave yourself without a significant part of the harvest. Remontant raspberries are pruned later, even in November, because they please the owner with a harvest, albeit a small one, until frost. But often the pruning of remontant varieties is postponed until the spring in order to see the results of overwintering.
Experienced gardeners cut out two-year-old stems of remontant raspberries in the fall at the root, but leave most of this year's shoots, pruning them heavily. The remaining stumps, 25–30 cm tall, produce new branches in the spring and manage to produce two harvests. Although this, of course, depends on the climate of the region. Beginners are usually advised to cut all the stems “to zero” in the fall, without understanding: in the spring they will have time to grow new ones and produce a harvest. Or maybe two, weather permitting.
Video: pruning raspberries in autumn
Pruning raspberries is one of the most important stages in growing this the healthiest berries. Timely pruning guarantees not only a significant increase in yield, but also ease of care for the plantation. By performing it after harvesting, we help the plant gain strength for fruiting next year.
It would be a mistake to believe that more raspberries ripen in dense thickets than on neatly trimmed single bushes. It is enough to see an overgrown raspberry tree with your own eyes to understand that the berries ripen worse among the abundant greenery, and moreover, their taste and size leave much to be desired. Although raspberries are capable of growing quickly like a weed, they will not bear fruit well without proper care.
Seeing raspberry bushes on your site, strewn with large delicious berries, everyone would like to, but such a result will not be easy to achieve without knowing how to prune raspberries in autumn. Annual pruning of shoots in combination with proper care behind the bushes will provide you with an excellent harvest.
In the photo there is a raspberry bush
But pruning of shoots is carried out not only for the purpose of thinning out thickened bushes. Raspberries have a two-year development cycle, and already in the third year the fruits become noticeably smaller. Of course, it is a pity to cut out shoots that have overwintered well and pleased with an excellent harvest, but this is the most reasonable solution.
Video about pruning raspberries in autumn
If you intend to pick large, juicy berries from the bush next year, then cast aside all doubts and make it a rule to specifically set aside time for pruning at the end of the season.
How do you determine which shoots to cut? If the raspberries are of ordinary varieties (not remontant), then in the fall all fruit-bearing biennial stems should be removed, leaving strong annual shoots for high-quality fruiting next year.
It has its own characteristics, depending on the purpose for which it is grown: to obtain a double harvest or a single harvest. In the first case, the same pruning is carried out as with conventional varieties, and in the second, all shoots are completely cut out in order to collect berries from annual stems in the fall.
The photo shows raspberry pruning
Pruning raspberry bushes is carried out as follows:
- first, cut out at the root all broken stems, dried, disease-damaged and weak annual branches that are more like grass;
- remove the two-year-old shoots that have served their purpose in the same way;
- if the bushes have grown too large, thin them out, leaving about 8-10 of the strongest healthy stems per 1 square meter;
- all cut branches must be burned immediately, as they may contain dangerous pests;
- after pruning, raspberries should be dug up, destroying the weeds;
- The final stage will be fertilizing with fertilizers and treating the remaining stems with iron sulfate.
New branches of raspberries grow from the rhizome (underground part), so feel free to cut the shoots flush with the ground. No need to leave any stumps!
Photo of raspberry pruning
Important nuances or how to prune raspberries in the fall?
Should raspberries be pruned in the fall or should this work be done in the summer, as soon as fruiting is over? Most often, the main pruning is carried out in the autumn, before the onset of frost. However, some gardeners begin this procedure immediately after collecting the last berries (in August), so that the plant can direct all its energy to the young shoots that grow just at this time.
If it is not remontant varieties that grow on your site, but ordinary ones, you should not wait until late autumn. This will not provide any benefits, but it will give pests and diseases additional time to reproduce. Once all the raspberries have been collected, you can immediately start cutting out unnecessary branches.
Video about pruning raspberries
Try to leave as many new healthy shoots as you cut out old ones - this way you will be able to avoid thickening the raspberries. As you know, the wider the space between the bushes, the better they are ventilated and receive more sunlight. Accordingly, the berries turn out tastier. Root shoots that appear between the bushes can be dug up for the purpose of transplanting to another place. If there is no need to propagate raspberries, it is better to pull out the shoots as soon as you notice them.
If you still have questions, how to prune raspberries correctly in the fall - the video will help you better imagine this procedure. Watch the video attached to the article and try to put your raspberry garden in perfect order yourself - there is nothing difficult about it.