How to Grow Raspberries

Raspberry canes produce delicious, juicy fruit year after year as a worthwhile addition to any garden. Raspberry punnets can be fairly expensive when bought from supermarkets, so growing your own can not only save you money but also produce fruits with flavours unique to shop-bought varieties. 

These fruit plants are an appealing choice for any gardener. They are very easy to grow as hardy and vigorous plants. They are also simple to maintain and come in a variety of sizes, with options suited for a range of growing spaces.

In our comprehensive guide, we cover everything you need to know to grow healthy and vigorous raspberry canes for producing fruit that tastes fantastic when used in a range of desserts, or just as great by itself.

What’s the Difference Between Floricane and Primocane Raspberry Canes?

Floricane varieties fruit on canes produced in the previous growing season. It is recommended to cut spent (2-year-old) canes each year, leaving 1-year-old canes to develop fruits next season. These will produce large harvests between early to late summer on larger/taller plants.

Primocane varieties produce fruits on current season growth. They usually do not require support and are fruiting late in the season. Spent canes can be cut down each year. These will produce smaller harvests between late summer and early autumn, but are easier to prune and manage due to their smaller size.

Raspberries will remain in the same patch of soil for a number of years and need good soil preparation as well as a strong support system. A slightly acidic soil suits them best, and they will do better if planted on a raised bed or ridge if planted on heavy soil.

Specifically, raspberries require well-drained, rich, moisture-retentive soil to thrive, so incorporate plenty of well-rotted organic matter like farmyard manure into the soil at the bottom after digging out a trench for your planting rows. Be sure to remove all perennial weeds as you dig and, just before planting, rake in a dressing of a balanced fertiliser, such as Growmore or Vitax blood, fish and bone, to give the plants a boost this season.

Preparing Bare-Root Canes

After unpacking, inspect the roots and, if dry, stand the plants in a bucket of water for up to an hour (not longer) to moisten the root system thoroughly. Plant as soon as possible, but if the ground is not ready or too wet, temporarily ‘heel’ the plants into a shallow trench on a spare patch of ground, covering the roots with moist soil.

Alternatively, if the ground is not workable, wrap the roots in damp hessian or newspaper to protect them from drying and stand the plants in a cool shed or garage until conditions improve.

Preparing Potted Canes

Water potted canes if they look dry and plant as soon as possible. If ground is not ready or soil conditions are unsuitable, stand them temporarily in a sheltered place outdoors. Check them regularly to ensure they don’t dry out.

When to Plant Raspberry Canes

Raspberry canes are best planted between November and March when they’re dormant. However, do not plant them when the soil is frozen or waterlogged, as this will prevent their roots from establishing properly and affect successful growth.

How to Plant Raspberry Canes

Choose a sheltered, sunny area of the garden away from cold, drying winds. Although raspberries tolerate part shade, they fruit best in sun.

Plant your canes in rows 1.8m (6ft) apart, each running north to south to catch maximum sunlight. Floricaine varieties will need support from a system of posts and wires about 1.8m (6ft) in height, though most primocane varieties will grow fine without.

For floricane varieties, strain wires horizontally between the posts at 60cm (2ft) intervals, starting with the first wire at about 45cm (18in) from the ground and rising to the last wire at about 1.7m (5½ft) high. Then, dig out a trench where the rows are to be, following the ground preparation advice above.

Plant bare-root canes with the roots well spread out in each planting hole, setting the plants out 40cm (16in) apart. The uppermost roots should be no more than 5cm (2in) below the soil, since deeper planting will discourage plants from producing new canes this season. Set potted canes so that the tops of the rootballs will be about 2.5cm (1in) below the soil surface. After planting, tread the soil around the roots to firm the canes in.

Finish by cutting the stem growth back to approximately 25cm (10in) above soil level. Plants establish much better if they are not allowed to fruit in their first season. Since raspberries are often attacked by birds, particularly when grown on allotments, take this opportunity to provide supports for bird-proof garden netting. A permanent fruit cage, though initially expensive, is the easiest to manage.

Planting Raspberries in Containers

Some raspberry varieties are capable of growing within containers, making for an ideal option if limited on space. However, they will likely need to be planted in the ground after their third year.

Choose a container around 38cm (15in) in width and fill with multi-purpose garden compost. Plant your raspberry cane in the centre, at about the same height it was previously planted and tie the stems to a post, such as a bamboo cane, for support. From there, all other advice found in this guide will apply.

Watering

In dry weather, and particularly on light soils, give raspberry canes a generous watering about every two weeks. Take care to water directly onto the soil and avoid getting the foliage wet to prevent fungal diseases.

Weeding

When you weed round raspberry canes, be careful with your hoe or Darlac weed knife, since these are shallow-rooting plants that are easily damaged by an over-enthusiastic hand.

Mulching

Raspberries benefit from an annual mulch of organic matter, like well-rotted manure or good quality, weed-free garden compost, to suppress weeds and conserve soil moisture. Spread it thickly every spring on the surface of the ground while the soil is still moist from winter rain. However, be sure to leave a gap around the base of the stems to prevent rotting. Gradually, over the years, it will improve the soil’s structure, drainage qualities and ability to hold plant nutrients in the root zone.

Feeding

Each year in March, at the same time as you mulch, top-dress the plants with some balanced compound fertiliser and a high potash fertiliser to encourage flowering and fruiting.

You will know your raspberry plants are ready for harvesting when their fruit is easy to pull off the plant and is richly coloured. This will typically be between June and July for floricane varieties and from August until first frost for primocane varieties.

When to Prune Raspberries

Summer-Fruiting (Floricane) Varieties

Floricane raspberries carry fruit on wood produced in the previous season. Each year, immediately after you’ve picked the crop, cut the fruited canes back to the ground. Then select the healthiest and most vigorous of the young growth produced in the current season, cutting out the rest. Tie in the new canes so that they are spaced about 7.5-10cm (3-4in) apart on the wires. You should aim to have 6-8 fruiting canes each year per raspberry ‘stool’ or plant.

At the end of the winter, cut the new canes back to about 15cm (6in) above the top wire. If this is not done, the tops may later snap off under the weight of the fruit.

Autumn-Fruiting (Primocane) Varieties

Primocane raspberries are pruned in exactly the same way as floricane raspberries, cutting the old canes back to soil level each year. However, since these fruit on the current season’s wood, you should prune the canes in February. The strong growth made during spring and summer will carry fruit in the autumn of the same year, at the tip of each cane.

Raspberry canes generally grow well over the course of many years. However, they can experience some problems. Below are some of the issues you could encounter and methods of preventing or resolving them.

• Birds - As mentioned earlier, raspberry canes can be susceptible to attacks from birds. So, placing supports for bird-proof garden netting or using a fruit cage are both effective options. These are also useful deterrents for squirrel attacks.
  
  
• Insects - Raspberry canes can experience attacks from various insects, such as raspberry leaf and bud mites, raspberry beetles and aphids. Pest and disease control products are an effective solution if your canes have trouble with these.
  
  
• Diseases - Raspberry canes can be affected by certain diseases when grown in unfavourable conditions, such as dry soil or when clustered too closely to other plants. Taking care to avoid foliage getting wet when watering will help to prevent some diseases. Any plants affected by disease should be disposed of immediately through burning or binning.

After reading our guide on how to grow raspberries, you now know all you need to grow your own delicious berries from home. At D.T. Brown, we offer a diverse range of quality raspberry canes to get you started with plants that you can rely on to grow healthily and vigorously.

If you’d like to learn how to grow a range of other fruit plants and vegetable plants, you can find many more in-depth growing guides similar to this one in our garden blog.

To know more about our range offruit seeds, vegetable seeds, herb seeds, or anything else in our collection, get in touch with us today and we’ll happily answer any questions you may have.