How to prune raspberries in the fall: tips for beginners

The correct and timely pruning of raspberries affects their fruiting in the next season. First of all, it is important to determine what kind of raspberries grow in the garden: ordinary or long-blooming. The next step is to prepare the tools - the cut should be made with a well-sharpened and disinfected pruning shears.

The cut should be even, otherwise there is a risk of reducing the plant's resistance to frost. Read the OBOZ.UA article on how to prune raspberries in the fall.

Pruning ordinary raspberries

Both annual and biennial stems need pruning. It's easy to tell the difference - two-year-old shoots are darker in appearance and drier to the touch, while annuals still have a greenish tint.

The first step is to remove the upper parts of annual shoots that have already finished bearing fruit. Next, move on to the biennials, and finally, separate the weak shoots, which have very little chance of successful wintering.

Long-blooming raspberries need to be mulched for the winter, for example, with dry straw.

Do not forget about watering so that the root system can be saturated with moisture. Please note that such varieties consume one and a half times more moisture and nutrients.

Pruning long-blooming raspberries

The ability to produce crops twice a year, of course, affects the condition of the plant. Gardeners may even switch to a single, larger harvest than ordinary raspberries, but the plant still has the strength and time to recover.

There is no consensus among gardeners as to whether all shoots should be removed completely. Some experts advise leaving some of last year's shoots to get an earlier harvest.

The question often arises - how many shoots will be enough in this case? As a general rule, 3-5 branches per bush are enough. The number of annual shoots also needs to be regulated - there should be no more than 5 of them. Thus, the berries will be large and juicy.

Fertilization

You need to start feeding in advance, preferably in the summer. You should be careful with nitrogen fertilizers at the end of the season, as they can negatively affect the ability to withstand frost.

From August to October, do not forget to feed raspberries with potash and phosphorus fertilizers - they will help the root system prepare for the cold and store nutrients that will be useful in the next growing season.

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