Raspberry Growing Tips Needed Zone 8a

Hello everyone. This is my first post to the Permies forum, so first I just want to say hello, and that I am every excited to be joining this community.

I Reside in South Carolina, zone 8a, and I have been gardening for about ten years.

I have recently begun adopting more principals of permaculture, so I have begun trying to grow more than just the conventional "truck crops."

Last year, I planted some Glencoe Thornless Raspberries on the east side of a metal building, in a raised bed.

The initial fruiting this year was lacking, as was to be expected; However, the plant has really exploded in growth since then.

I had read somewhere that it was difficult to get Raspberries to produce this far south. I heard that raspberries need a certain number of freezing hours, per winter, in order to fruit. I also heard that they needed protection from the heat of the summer.
In order to try and avoid some of these shortfalls, I took several steps; including using a raised bed and planting on the east of the building.

I was hoping the raised bed would expose more of the roots to the cold, while the east side was chosen to provide afternoon shade.

I also use a kaolin clay/DE mixture to provide sunburn protection.



Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice for raspberry growing, in general. When is it appropriate to prune? Should the plants be staked or caged? What are good fertilization schedules? Anything would be great appreciated!

For those of us in the Southern States the preferred (best fruiting and heat tolerance) species is; Mysore raspberry (Rubus niveus), unlike the other commonly planted species, this one needs no winter chill to flower and fruit.

Since you already have a species more suited to more northern climates, you will need to do some sun shading during the hottest parts of the summer months.
Good luck, my experience is that the more you leave these sorts of berries to their own devices, the better they reward you.

Pruning is just like for black berries, cut the canes back in the fall, leaving around 3 feet of old cane. That way they don't turn into a "bramble patch" Like Brer Rabbit loved to live in.

Redhawk

Bryant RedHawk wrote:For those of us in the Southern States the preferred (best fruiting and heat tolerance) species is; Mysore raspberry (Rubus niveus), unlike the other commonly planted species, this one needs no winter chill to flower and fruit.

Since you already have a species more suited to more northern climates, you will need to do some sun shading during the hottest parts of the summer months.
Good luck, my experience is that the more you leave these sorts of berries to their own devices, the better they reward you.

Pruning is just like for black berries, cut the canes back in the fall, leaving around 3 feet of old cane. That way they don't turn into a "bramble patch" Like Brer Rabbit loved to live in.

Redhawk

Thank you very much for this useful information. I will look into adding some Mysore Raspberries in the future, I wish I would have known of these earlier.

Your pruning answer was just what I was looking for, simple and practical!

Thanks!

Do your raspberries fruit in the spring or fall or both.   I am in zone 7b but much farther north so my day length differs.  Spring bearing canes fruit on the canes that grew the year before so when canes have stopped producing and there is vigorous growth of new canes the old can be removed.  Late season verities produce berries at the tips of new canes in late summer and fall. To prevent rain spoilage I put a high tunnel over them and they produce until frost usually late November. The portion of the cane that bore fruit will dy back but buds will develop on the lower portion at leaf nodes and bear fruit in the spring.  After covering the patch some of the spring canes would also start producing in the late fall due to a short chill period.
With your canes in the raised bead you will be able to control the runners.  Keep them heavily mulched with material that will break down and feed the roots. When canes come up next to the wall or front of the bed cut the connecting root and transplant them to a new bed.

I did not answer the cane support question. Using stakes as you did is good but requires more maintenance and materials than I like to use on Qberry farm. I would recommend a steel T post on each end of a bed your size and cross strings of used bailing twine a foot to 16 inches up the post. Weave the growing canes between the cross string, when the canes reach the top then turn them horizontal and braid them along the top string.  This has given me good control and if it gets too tangled when pruning out old vines I can cut the strings and start over.
For Boysenberries and Loganberries  I use 2 strings, one at eye height and the other at chest height. the long canes are braided in an oval around the 2 strings after the old canes have finished fruiting and are removed. Until then the new canes are bunched with a loose tie in between the crowns.

Hans Quistorff wrote:Do your raspberries fruit in the spring or fall or both.   I am in zone 7b but much farther north so my day length differs.  Spring bearing canes fruit on the canes that grew the year before so when canes have stopped producing and there is vigorous growth of new canes the old can be removed.  Late season verities produce berries at the tips of new canes in late summer and fall. To prevent rain spoilage I put a high tunnel over them and they produce until frost usually late November. The portion of the cane that bore fruit will dy back but buds will develop on the lower portion at leaf nodes and bear fruit in the spring.  After covering the patch some of the spring canes would also start producing in the late fall due to a short chill period.
With your canes in the raised bead you will be able to control the runners.  Keep them heavily mulched with material that will break down and feed the roots. When canes come up next to the wall or front of the bed cut the connecting root and transplant them to a new bed.

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this. I have berries on the vine now, and all the descriptions I have read suggest an early summer harvest, which makes sense.

I actually took your advice, and dug up all the undesirable new shoots to share with friends and family!  

Thanks again!

Hans Quistorff wrote:I did not answer the cane support question. Using stakes as you did is good but requires more maintenance and materials than I like to use on Qberry farm. I would recommend a steel T post on each end of a bed your size and cross strings of used bailing twine a foot to 16 inches up the post. Weave the growing canes between the cross string, when the canes reach the top then turn them horizontal and braid them along the top string.  This has given me good control and if it gets too tangled when pruning out old vines I can cut the strings and start over.
For Boysenberries and Loganberries  I use 2 strings, one at eye height and the other at chest height. the long canes are braided in an oval around the 2 strings after the old canes have finished fruiting and are removed. Until then the new canes are bunched with a loose tie in between the crowns.

Ok, this is the perfect lower maintenance solution. It gets tedious just tying up my small patch.  I think I will try this after I trim everything back in the fall.

Updated pictures. The vines seem to be setting fruit well.