The weather hasn’t been the best recently, the cold nights are definitely glooming over us all. It’s important to maintain positivity with day to day life, especially in the Winter months, as it is known that the colder seasons can cause a negative effect on people’s moods. We’re not trying to fast forward to Summer too quick, but it is nice to have plans in place ready for when the sun is back. We have teamed up with fruit specialists, Pomona Fruits, to find out their ultimate growing guide for raspberry canes, so you can be ready to grow lots of exciting new fruits when Summer comes back around.

Planting Raspberry Canes

If you are looking to plant raspberry canes, it is essential that you use soil that has not previously had raspberries grown in it. This is because leftover viruses from the previous crop will inhibit the growth of subsequent plantings. To ensure optimal growth, raspberries need good soil that is neutral and has good drainage, as well as plenty of sunlight.

Additionally, if you are an avid farmer who has recently constructed an orangery UK (or wherever you live), it would be a great place to plant raspberry canes alongside your oranges as the orangery can provide a conducive environment for healthy growth of raspberry canes. After planting the canes, you can look forward to harvesting the delicious fruit of your labour.

Pruning Different Varieties

There are 3 different types of raspberry canes and with each one then pruning varies.

Long canes should be immediately trained up once they have been planted and put up against the supporting wires. It is important to remember that you cannot prune them at all when planting or the heavy crop expected in the first year will be lost.

To encourage new growth and establishment, make sure you cut all stems back on summer fruiting varieties to 30cm above ground at the time of planting.

The same as the Summer variety, Autumn varieties need to have their canes cut back to 30cm above ground at the time of planting. However, you then prune them in Winter by cutting back all canes to ground level, which then clears the way for the new cane to grow and fruit in the following year.

Feeding Your Raspberry Canes

When the weather is dry you need to water the raspberry canes thoroughly once a week, especially during their first Spring and Summer. Maintaining a proper watering routine is crucial to the growth of your plants. However, be wary of overwatering or underwatering, as these can cause wilting or root rot. To prevent this from happening, you can make use of clay watering pots, which can be buried within your plant bed. As a result, the roots of your plants will naturally extend towards the water source and attach to the exteriors of the pot, thereby drawing the amount of water they need.

That said, if you have decided to grow your canes in a pot, then they will need to be fed regularly during Spring and early Summer with a balanced liquid feed – you will also need to make sure they have fresh compost to root into each year!

We hope you have learned a lot from the above and make lots of plans for planting new fruits when Summer comes around!