Raspberry plants: overhyped?

I've always been told that if left to their own devices, raspberries will spread until they've completly taken over your garden. This has not been my experience. In my garden, the raspberries seem to do alright, but are far from "taking over". The grasses and dandelions (etc.) are growing more vigorously than them, and just had to weed so the shoots wouldn't get choked out. They also aren't spreading rhizomatically as much as I thought they would

Are my expectations unrealistic, or is there some secret to jumpstarting raspberry canes to grow faster/stronger/more?

It depends on the variety, and the soil and climate. Where I am wild raspberries spread ferociously, but the domestic ones are less aggressive. But this year my domestic raspberries are sending out lots and lots of shoots around the edges. Left alone the patch will easily be twice as big next year as last year. In past years they have only spread a little, so I don't know why this year they are so enthusiastic.

I find they take care of themselves and spread slowly, unless I help them along.
Mulching favors them over most other plants, so just mulnching them will help spread the love

It is my understanding that depending on the variety, raspberries propagate one of two ways. One is to send underground runners that pop up a few feet away from the mother plant. The other is by growing very long canes that touch down and root again making a new plant.
All I really know is that a friend has the former kind and gives away plants every year to keep them under control. I got four of them in small pots a couple of weeks ago and something came out of the woods and ate them. I didn't think anything would eat the canes, but live and learn.

I suspect like Joshua that this is one of those 'it depends' questions. I have a number of different cultivated raspberries which slowly or quickly spread to where they are happy. I also have some creeping groundcover raspberries which are battling the ground elder for world domination. It depends on the time of year which appear to be winning, at the moment the ground elder have the edge.
I had some lovely black raspberry canes which were supposed to be clumping primocanes which never fruited and quickly disappeared. This year I am trying Japanese wineberry for the first time. I expect it will be a bit cool for them here, but they look happy so far.
Generally raspberries like a cool damp spot but not waterlogged, but different varieties will have different preferences. Not having to fight the canes back to regain your garden is possibly a good thing too, depending on your aspirations.

Ha! I agree with the above mentioned things, it depends and i can add even more confusion. I only have one variety of raspberries which behaved very nicely for 5-6 years i have made several patches with them in that time. Some in shadier spots, some in full sun. So that depending on the season , hot or cold, i will always have them.
But since a couple of years they're trying to become one big patch, taking over the garden.
Were i live is known being good for them.
I just cut them down and mulch them and in wintertime i move them to another garden to block out nettles and comfrey being annoying in some places. Or i give them to people. A plant costs 6 $ or euro or something. Always nice to bring 20 of those to a friend.

Hugo Morvan wrote:Ha! I agree with the above mentioned things, it depends and i can add even more confusion. I only have one variety of raspberries which behaved very nicely for 5-6 years i have made several patches with them in that time. Some in shadier spots, some in full sun. So that depending on the season , hot or cold, i will always have them.
But since a couple of years they're trying to become one big patch, taking over the garden.
Were i live is known being good for them.
I just cut them down and mulch them and in wintertime i move them to another garden to block out nettles and comfrey being annoying in some places. Or i give them to people. A plant costs 6 $ or euro or something. Always nice to bring 20 of those to a friend.

Hugo, many years ago I backpacked in France. We were young and poor and didn't always get enough food. One day we camped in a wooded area and found huge amounts of ripe red raspberries. One on my best memories of France. A few days later a French Air Force Colonel picked up 2 hitch hikers and took us to his home. His family fed us an amazing meal.

I agree with Thom and Joshua and others who say "it depends on the varietal."

30+ years ago, we bought (or were gifted) a vigorous red varietal that is hardy, aggressive, spiky and produces a ton of super flavourful fruit. Give it lots of water and a bit of crude compost and it will take over the world. That is, you do not plant them in your garden proper.

We have given plants to dozens of people. They love them -- always with the proviso that you must have a "top dog" attitude to keep them in check.

Allen Carlson wrote:I've always been told that if left to their own devices, raspberries will spread until they've completly taken over your garden. This has not been my experience.

What is the variety? How long have they been in your garden? What kind of light and soil do they get?

When we moved into this house, there was an abandoned raspberry patch. It was obviously intentional and hadn't been cared for in a few years. It was easy enough to cut aisles through and mow to the size we wanted. And it also spreads rhizomatically enough that when we've wanted to add an extra row at each end of the patch, we just let it go for two years and then cut a new aisle. So it spreads but not problematically.

We also have wild blackberry basically everywhere where forest gives way to yard and it's a much more aggressive spreader -- sometimes coming up six or eight feet from where the nearest canes exist. And it's woody enough that it chews up the mower bar -- I'm trying to control it with a sharp spade this year.

Thank you all for your responses. I think I'll just mulch around them and hope for the best

Raspberries are heavy feeders. I don't know what your soil type is, but I have used lots of wood ash/char from the stove and all manner of poorly composted leaves and grass clippings, worked into the adjacent soil where they actually feed. If they get enough water they may go bananas.

Allen Carlson wrote:Thank you all for your responses. I think I'll just mulch around them and hope for the best

Get some Espoma berry tone, lay that before you mulch.

Can't even grow them in my soil.  I need to bring in soil and do some sort of raised bed to grow them here.  Heavy clay with high pH and high sodium content for the native soil.  Takes lots of work to grow them here.

One person's problem child is another person's dream. I live in hot dry Ca. I have to really work hard to keep a blackberry alive, while my family in Washington state thinks of blackberries as the worst weed to be avoided like the plague.
Fall 2023 I planted 3 raspberries. 2 Red and 1 yellow all different varieties. The yellow died pretty quick. One red only made it one season. One raspberry is doing well. It's not huge, but gives us a nice amount of berries. It has sent up a few shoots. My son wacked them down not realizing what they were. Thankfully they grew back. The bummer is I don't know what kind of raspberry it is. I plan on buying more, and hope for the best.
One bit of caution. I had a difficult time getting mint to grow once upon a time. This made me think who ever said mint was invasive odvasly didn't live in my climate, and didn't know what they were talking about. Eventually I managed to get mint to grow in my raised garden bed. Long story short I ended up having to remove everything from that bed, and totally start over, because  no matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep the mint from choking out everything else. I learned maybe it's difficult to establish, but once it's established, mint is truly trying to take over the world.
Good luck with your raspberry journey