How to Grow, Prune and Transplant Raspberries

How to Prune and Transplant Raspberries

Raspberries are by far my favorite perennial. They are great for snacks with the kids to making wine they are a great addition to any garden. Raspberries send out new canes every year and require two different varieties for cross pollination. Generally after the individual cane produce fruit they either die or dont produce anymore. Of caution they do sucker and that is why we are moving one of them today. Mowing around them helps keep them from spreading.

A general rule of thumb is per 1 square meter or 3.3 square feet to have 10 canes for them to produce well. I generally start my fall pruning when the leafs have begun to change color and drop. The leave change signals the plant is taking back some of the nutrients into the root system.

To pick out the canes that need to be removed you can do it one of two ways. the first Looking for the signs of this years fruit. The second and i find the easiest is to do is to look at the bark. The older bark will be darker in colour with larger thorns and cracking.

When working with the raspberries i recommend using leather gloves to protect yourself. When pruning make sure to clip right to the ground and remove. The canes are independent of each other and stubs are harder to remove later.

When your done pruning you can transplant if you need to. Dig the transplant hole first making sure it is larger then the plant. when selecting the location for transplant I chose to have clear access around for a lawnmower and far enough away from the other plants to ensure shading does not happen.

dig around the plant giving it 30 cm or 12 inches from the canes. try to move them all as one unit in order to avoid disturbing the root system.

When placing the plant in the hole make sure the surface of the plant and soil around match. Press it down lightly into the hole to ensure there is good contact between the root ball and the soil.

Fill in the cracks with soil and mulch the base. Raspberries do not generally require a whole lot of winter protection however the mulch will help retain moisture and will break down over time providing nutrients.

The final step is give it a good water slow deep watering. keep this up until freeze up and snow cover. Although raspberries are very drought resistant after disturbing the root system they will need a little extra attention. Next year water the raspberries like you would any annual and you should be good.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of gardening with my parents and brothers. This channel is about low cost organic urban gardening in zone 3. I am by no means an expert gardener however I love to share my experiments and journey garden year round. Please feel free to join the conversation and if you think you might like this channel subscribe. Have a great day!

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