Heritage raspberries

I have Heritage raspberry plants that are starting their second year. Last year I cut them back at the end of the growing season in anticipation of getting one strong crop in late summer. Now, I have 2 big questions: I see many, many sprouts coming up all over the bed and don't know how to best control them into rows. I expected they would just come up where the original plants were! Should I expect to ultimately have a hedge type row? Will these sprouts come up every year? Then, I am not sure if I will need to trellis them somehow, even though the nursery said they wouldn't need it. Last year some of the branches were lying on the ground while others were more like a bush.

HELP!

Froggy,

I also grow Heritage. I too mowed mine but ended up with a problem with weeds competing with the plants and this hurt my productivity. Now, I do not mow mine at the end of the year, but enjoy the spring/summer as well as fall crops. It makes fighting the weeds a bit easier.

My experience is that raspberrys will send up shoots in new locations every year, while previous years plant locations may not. They seem to move a bit for me. Canes last 1 year in that canes that come up this summer will die out next summer. If permitted shoots that start this year will fruit in the fall and then again in the spring, then die out.

I do not trellis mine and do have some canes fall over. I dig up shoots that come up where I don't want them and move them or give them away as appropriate.

I love Heritage raspberries to grow. My old patch died out and I want to start a new patch. In the late summer until frost I had all the berries we wanted and froze many for winter use. Weeds were a problem so I tried to keep them in check but let up on keeping all weeds out. I watered when dry and mowed them off after frosts hit. New shoots come up in the spring and produced new berries that same season.

Cuckoo

Here is what I do, and it works for me. I cut off the canes in the fall, If I have extra leaves I put them on the bed. In the spring I wait until the canes are up about 4 - 5 inches and I can see where they are at. I cut out any canes that are closer than 7 - 8 inches to each other. After I have the spacing done, I go over the bed with leaves about 3 inches deep. Water well and I don't have any weeds. In the summer, I keep putting the canes inside my wires so they don't fall over. When the berries are ripe I have trouble keeping my kids out of the patch. They pick one for dad and five for them, and the bad part is, they eat them faster than I can count. I hope this gave you some ideas to help you in growing your berries. Phil

Caroline are even better than Heritage-- earlier, much tasteier. I've actually replaced C for H. Norse is the best source. see article on www.demosnews.com, in the "home" section, the article entitiled "Luscious Fruits for a Short Summer Season"

Link doesn't work...

I just love berries and all you can fix with them. I enjoy growing them and of course eating them. Mixing them makes great jellies and jams too.

Cuckoo

Thanks so much for these helpful suggestions! Looks like I have a little work to do in my patch -- as soon as it stops raining......

My county extension agent recommended Caroline as well. I googled the article title and found another link. Perhaps it will work, better:

http://www.demosnews.com/piece.php?30.17

Good article, Thanks. I've eaten many a Red Haven peach from South Carolina... one of my favorites!

The Carolines I got from Nourse are doing well. I planted them about a month ago. One of them has flower buds already. The big test will be to see if they can survive our hot, humid summers. I have them under shade cloth with lots of leafy mulch. They also get watered with EM1 (see the Soil and Composting Forum for more information on this).

katiebear

Another vote for Caroline - it is better than Heritage in every dimension. Also I agree with the importance mentioned above of thinning the canes. I use the metric I read somewhere of one cane for every 6" of row. So for example if you have a 10' row, thin to 20 canes total. Lastly another vote for Nourse - berry specialists producing the absolute best quality raspberries I have found.

Scott