Layering Raspberries

[ErnieCopp]

My project today is propagating more raspberry plants. I am moving mine away from the chainlink fence to a wire trellis, want more plants, and too late to root cuttings. So, i am filling 12" nursery pots half full of potting soil and bending canes down in the pot after cutting off the leaves where the bend will be. Then i fill the pot with soil and tamp it down. I expect to have a good strong plant for the trellis along with the ones i dig and transplant.

I did the same thing earlier with grapes, and i cut the mother vine a couple of weeks ago, and the scion is doing fine. I am leaving the mother vines on the other ones as i do not know yet whether cutting will help the root development of slow it down.

Always something to think about that we are not sure of.

I also tackled a big job yesterday, removing Blackberry vines. These are not the common brambles. My neighbor had these huge vines, canes as big as my thumb standing up perfectly straight, eight feet tall. The crawled under the fence so i encouraged them, and built a wire trellis four feet from the fence and also put them there. But they are so vicious to work with, thorns are like harpoons and both stab and hook when you touch them. I am removing the ones along the fence, and will kill the sprouts, and keep the ones on the wire trellis as they are easier to manage.

Ernie

 

[Northern Minnesota]

Ernie, How long have your original raspberries been in the ground? For most varieties of raspberries, they send up a lot of suckers from the original root system as it spreads underground. This is the most common way of propagating. Tip rooting will work with raspberries, but it is much more commonly used for blackberries or black raspberries. Are you sure that you have enough "chill hours" to successfully grow raspberries in your zone? What variety are you working with?

 

[ErnieCopp]

Nor Min, I do not expect them to produce as heavy as they did in Idaho, but Raspberries do well here in So Cal until that disease hits them. I last grew raspberries down here in 1954, but they do grow here. None near my place here, so hopefully the disease will hold off for a while.
I planted three plants a year ago this Spring, bought at the nursery, and two of them did not grow. The one that did make it provided me with several starts early this summer and all grew well. Some from tip layering into the ground and some dividing roots. Lots of growth, and i plan to move them out away from the fence and put them on a trellis wire, so i set up some five gallon containers and bent some tips in to those, so i will have some root balls to transplant. As you know, raspberries are produced on second year wood, so i am going to transplant the large ones in the ground by hammering a posthole digger in around them and moving them to the trellis like a tree spade. i will leave the canes about six feet long, so i should have a small crop next year. I had a few this year, with no sign of disease from the pitiful looking canes from that one surviving original plant.

I was doing some research on one vine here that showed yellow leaves early, and the upshot is, that is quite common on Google, but no one knows what is causing it, and it does not seem to be fatal. I will not transplant that one vine. So, i will keep my fingers crossed and hope the disease does not find me here.

Ernie

 

[Northern Minnesota]

I don't know if you have already made your trellis, but the one in my picture has worked really well for me. The post goes about 3 ft into the ground so that it won't shift under wire tension. The lower "T" holds the lower 2 wires @ 24" apart. The higher "T" holds those 2 wires @ 30" apart

These pictures were just taken today. The season is over and the leaves have been frozen several times and are just waiting to fall off. I'm going to try to start a new thread in a few days titled "My thoughts on growing raspberries"

 

[Northern Minnesota]

One more thought. I think it is a very bad idea to leave your transplanted canes at their full height. I know several friends that have tried this and the canes have died every time. The small, transplant shocked, root system, just can't keep a fully developed top alive. That's the reason ALL growers sell their stock cut back to 4" to at the most 12" high. Please don't make that mistake.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Nor Min,
We are very much on the same page, and yours looks real close to the one i had in Idaho, but i do not have that much room here, without encroaching on my watermelon patch. So, i am only going to put 16" cross pieces on 4X4 posts, and set wires one foot apart on the braces.
Then i will train the vines between both sets of wires, cutting off any i cannot keep tucked between the wires. I will put down the weed mat between the berry row and the fence, and probably, with the berries done with before the watermelons get ripe, i will let the menlon vines grow to the berry trellis.

If the Raspberries do will, i willl probably take the blackberries out and put the raspberries there, too. The blackberries are growiong and producing like wildfire, but the thorns are like porcupine quills and it seems like they jump and grab you, without being touched.

Ernie

 

[ErnieCopp]

Nor Min,
I would not bet against what you say on the transplant, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I would not try that if i was digging with a shovel, because all the hair roots are usually pulled loose, and the tops would suck too much moisture from the roots. But i successfully transplanted the BlackBerry vines and other plants using the PostHole digger as a Treespade, and had nearly 100% success.

For any one that wants to try the Posthole digger, you place the blades on two sides of the plant. Hammer in the blades, hold the plant down in the ground and lift out the PHD. Rotate it a quarter turn and cut the roots on the other two sides. Be sure the PHD blades are sharp. Then carefully lift out the plant with some pressure keeping the ball tight. I always do that when my helper is here as one man has to be down close to the plant and the other man lifts the PHD. I have dug thousands of trees up to 4" diameter with Tree Spades, so that is what gave me the idea.

If the canes die back, i will prune them, but if they survive, that is my only chance to have berries this coming season.
Ernie

 

[ErnieCopp]

Two more things on transplanting with the PHD. I use an 8 pound hammer to tap the top of the handles to drive it in, and be sure to hold the plant down with your hand when lifting the PHD.

Third tip. It probably would not work in sandy or rocky soil as the root ball would break.

Ernie

 

[Northern Minnesota]

Ahh, Your soil texture may be what makes it work for you. I have also found that when transplanting raspberries, the lateral roots are more important to transplant success than the vertical roots. I think that is because the lateral roots have more of the fine root hairs.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Nor Min,
Yes, absolutely, as regards the soil. I have about 6 different soil types on my half acre here, from mineral rich, gravelly decomposed granite to heavy black soil that has washed down the canyon. And the raspberries happen to be in the low corner. If i just get enough for a few bowls of cereal from those transplants this year, i will be pleased.

Ernie