Growing raspberries at 8600'???

Hi,

Can someone give me information about what kind of berries I can grow in the Rocky Mountains? I'm at about 8600' above Denver CO. I had success with raspberries down in the city, but wonder how they will do here. Any direction would be apereciated!

If you use season extenders, you can probably grow quite a few varieties. Just be prepared for smaller size plants (and tastier fruit) due to the altitude.
I don't know about 8500', but we grew raspberries at 6500' in the Sierras.
They would come back after the snow melt and we'd battle the wildlife for the berries.
If you build a frame around the planting, you can create a microclimate with frost blankets and/or plastic/glass to get them started earlier. Wall O Waters can help too.

Thanks,

I think I'll give it a try. Will build raised beds with chicken wire around them. I guess I don't mind losing a little to the wildlife:-)

I'm in Golden CO at 6300 ft and was wondering the same thing. I wasvery lucky and had wild berries when I lived on the East Coast, so I'm not quite sure what's involved in starting a dedicated bed for canes. Also, is there a minimum number of plants that one would need? If anyone has any info, I'd appreciate it. Good luck, fourks!

I'm at a lesser elevations here in the Helena valley, but there are a number of people doing well with rasberrys. I have decided to put in at least one row (60ft) this spring, so I thought I would check DG for more information. Doesn't seem to be that many postings on the subject.

Several people have offered cuttings for my starters, however both have suggested planting in the fall rather than spring. My down loaded information from the net never mentioned fall plantings. Hope there is more feed back on this thread on planting rasberrys in the higher elevations.

Raspberries grow wild here in New Mexico at high altitudes. I have a friend who lives at 8400 who has wild raspberries growing all over her property. She makes lots of raspberry jam and pies.
I grow raspberries here at my home at 7300 ft. And there is a U Pick called Salman Raspberry Ranch near Mora, New Mexico which is at 7,100. Everyone used to grow Heritage here, but are now switching to Autumn Bliss which is a full week earlier and even better Autumn Britten. I have some black raspberries as well, but they don't have a name -- I just got a start from a friend. Every creature in town including, kids, dogs, and deer like to feast on my raspberries so I don't get very many, but they grow nicely.
I can't remember the other recommended varieties, but our State University did some trials for raspberries that grow here in Northern New Mexico, most of which is at high altitude. I recommend that you consult your County Agent. The agents around here, at least, keep up with research on what grows well locally. Anyhow, I think you will have good luck with raspberries at your altitude.

I just looked up the two other varieties of Raspberries that my county agent says are even earlier than Autumn Britten -- Polona and Caroline. All three are available in the newly arrived Jung Catalog or probably at the Jung website. By the way, with bearing early, these raspberries just get a crop in before the first frost.

pajaritomt...I received the Jung catalog last year, but have yet to receive one this year. I will definitely check these varieties out asap. I do have one quick question about your comment about berries 'before first frost'...I presume you are talking ever-bearing and a second crop before the first fall frost...Am I correct on this?

Black berries are second on my list...possibly this fall or next spring. I just wish we had a real County Agent. Over a year ago I had a problem with a moth larvae, which looked similar to a minature slug on my cherry tree leaves. Took some samples to the local county office. Agent was not availabe, nor would he return several phone calls. They had me fill out a two page form, and nearly two months later I get this really stupid response from this invisible agent. By then I had solved the problem. Thanks in a big part to DG'ers.

m

I mean everbearing raspberries and the first frost in the fall. I don't think you will get more than one crop a year on everbearing raspberries at high altitude. Alas. Of course, I am somewhat inexperienced in this, myself. I know that we get them, but I haven't noticed 2 crops.
Jung is online so even if you don't have a catalog you can order. Also, if you go to their website you can probably get them to send you a catalog. I don't know what is best, but if you plant them in the spring, you probably won't get much fruit this year, but they can be growing roots and strength for next year. I am not sure whether Jung's will have them in the fall or not. Lots of nurseries don't have much in the fall even though that is one of the best times to plant. You could email them and find out.

This message was edited Jan 24, 2008 9:54 PM

Here is the raspberry page at Jung:

http://www.jungseed.com/sp.asp?c=513

Raintree has Autumn Britten and Caroline on their website as well.

I have had good luck with both nurseries.

Are there any advantages or disadvantages to growing more than one variety of rasberry?

I am sure there are, but I am not really up on them. The recommend raspberry for here used to be Heritage, now the three I named earlier are recommended. If you read the catalog it appears that they are ready to harvest earlier than the others, which is important in short season gardening. Also, I believe, at least Autumn Britten doesn't sucker as much as Heritage.

I did find that I had a Jung 2008 catalog, and looking on the back cover page I saw a "Latham Summer Bearing Rasberry". It has been more than a year since I down loaded information on growing rasberries from the net. As I recall there was a recommendation for planting different varieties to get spring and fall production. Now it looks like summer as well. I have three 60 foot rows which will be dedicated to berry planting over the next two years. I guess I will start with three different rasberry varieties in the first row this spring, and go from there to decide what to do with the next two rows. I will review the file information and possibly post some more questions fourks thread. Would really like to see some more input on this subject.

I really don't know why they recommend everbearing raspberries here, but I have never seen any of the summer bearing recommended here. I will look forward to seeing the results of your experiment.

Quess what pajaritomt, I just pulled the half inch thick file on rasberries last night and reviewed the contents. Now I remember why I have been procrastinating on this. Still a year and a half away from seeing any type of berry production, but your advise on the fall bearing Autum Britten is well taken. Jung's price of $64.95 for 24 plants should be sufficient for one 60-foot row.

Unfortunately I was unable to fully complete my bed preparations last fall. I have a some well composted horse manure left from last year and a 60 cu ft bin I'm working on this winter. The composted manure and a large bail of peat moss tilled in early spring should complete the job of bed preparation for planting a little later in the spring.

Have considered driving up into the mountains to collect a truck bed load of pine needles for mulching. Since soil is currently too alkaline for proper rasberry management this make a suitable mulch.

I agree that everbearing as well as the black rasberries are not good selections for high altitude, cool season production. However, I have two more 60ft x 4 ft rows to prepare next year and have no idea what to plant. Not apposed to trying new things...anyone have suggestions?

Hey guys, thanks for all the information! One of my earliest memories is fight-en off the bees for a share of those sweet berries. I did not start my beds last fall, so will be winging it. I was afraid my soil to be to alkaline, but have plenty of pine needles/manure around. I think I will try the Autum Britten. Now how to keep it from the elk, deer, bears, and birds, !!!

mraider3- How do you plan your beds? manure/pineneedle/peat ratio? 60 ft is a lot of berries! What kind of spacing do they need?

My dad decided I needed another hobby, and gave me a beehive for Christmas. So I'm thinking I'll set the patch near the hive,. should make for good company:-)

Now if the ground would only thaw!

mraider, have you considered alpine strawberries? Seeds are available for this type. The berries are smaller because of the altitude, but they have a lot more flavour.
If you get the true alpine strawberries, they will come back year after year when the snow melts. Currants are another berry with high altitiude varieties.

mraider3,
>>I agree that everbearing as well as the black rasberries are not good selections for high altitude, cool season production. However, I have two more 60ft x 4 ft rows to prepare next year and have no idea what to plant. Not apposed to trying new things...anyone have suggestions?

pajaritomt...I just caught something...the Jung catalog lists Autumn Britten as everbearing recommend for zone 3-8, upper midwest. An article I down loaded from the net, "Growing Rasberries in Wisconsin", lists Autumn Britten as fall bearing!

garden_mermaid...strawberry patch was moved last year to opposite end of the garden. Wife didn't like the previous location. We had planed on ordering another variety this year, however no decision has been reached. Alpine strawberries sounds interesting...can you have a source? Red currents were my thought for replacing the strawberries on the east side of the house since they tollerate partial shade.

fourks...this is a terrible thing for a chemist to admit, but I have not made any C:N or other ratio determinations for my horse manure compost bin. DH recommendations to add leaves, grass clippings which were limitedly availabe hade however made a great improvement in my outdoor composting. The peat moss idea came from a book recently read about layer or lasagna gardening. Post soil testing will determine if I need more than the one large bail. I only have so much composted manure to devote to this project. Most of the composted manure will go to planting my 60 x 90 garden. What I will probably use is some residual composted horse manure from last spring and some 'fresh' from the neighbors winter pile, which I will top the row with as quickly as I can get to it. So fourks, I'm not much help here. I would recommend that you do a simple garden soils analysis for any beds which will be permently in place for a number of years, such as rasberries. I have a favorite lab in Dodge City, KS that does all my soils analysis for business as well as my garden. At twenty buck a pop, I don't mess with doing it myself. If you list the crop to be planted, the lab will tell you exactly what additional fertilizer requirements you will need. I expect they will recommend additional phosphorous and potassium. It's that simple! There are hundreds of these labs about the country so you shouldn't have a problem finding one.

Bed preparation fourks is a rather lengthy discussion in the information I down loaded from the net, and there are quite a few ag university articles available. My beds are 4-ft wide, hand dug and screened to remove rock and gravel, which is considerable in a glacial valley. The remaining soil which I refer to as 'rock dust' requires copious amounts of manure or compost to make it viable. I'm just careful not to apply green manure in the spring before planting. So far I have had no problems with over applying horse manure even though my fall garden soils analysis have come back too high on nitrogen. By spring tilling I'm ready to plant and even add more composted manure when planting tomatoes, cukes, squash and probably rasberries.

I might also mention that several of the articles mentioned a five or more foot strip between the four foot rows planted in grass. I'm leaving the native grass which I only need to mow three or four times a year.

I am set up to use a soaker hose for watering with a timer, and the pine needles are strictly a top dressing, if I use them, as a mulch. Once the bed is in place I will obviously need to rely on top dressing and hand cultivation for future nutrient requirements. So that's basically my plan for now fourks. Please understand though, this is new to me as well.

Trellising ideas are varried and that's simply a matter of choice. My childhood memories of berry pickings from patches in the woods around grandfather's cabin. I however was banned from picking partys by my aunts because I ate more than I picked. The blueberry and rasberry stains on my face where a sheer give-a-way when I snuck out on my own. bad morgan

You might want to try the Quattro di Stagione Italian Alpine strawberry.
Here is some info from an UK site:
http://www.seedfest.co.uk/seeds/strawberry/strawberry.html

Here is a source of seed to purchase in the US:
https://growitalian.com/Qstore/Qstore.cgi?CMD=011&PROD=000148

I'm trying to grow them here, but I think our weather may be too warm for them.
This year I may shade them a little in the summer. Alpine strawberries are smaller, but they make up for that with a big taste. Alpine strawberries usually do not produce runners.

mraider

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I think I'll finally get my soil tested per your suggestion. I have put this of only because I've always had pretty good luck with my gardens. The only exception is when I used green manure in the spring. But that was years ago, and a rookie mistake. I will do more research, and maybe try a few different varieties. I figure with a short season even everybearing will be a fall producer. If I run across any good info I'll past it along.