A detailed explanation of red raspberry planting techniques and management key points

“If you are not afraid of thorns, you can also pick raspberries, like small balls formed of tiny coral beads, both sour and sweet, far better in color and taste than mulberries.” Everyone surely still remembers Mr. Lu Xun's "From the Hundred-Plant Garden to the Three-Flavor Study." This plant called raspberry is the red raspberry. So how can you cultivate red raspberries like tiny coral beads?

Red raspberry planting techniques

1. Orchard establishment: In East China, raspberries can be planted in spring or autumn, generally in mid-to-late November or mid-to-late March. Choose a plot that is sheltered from wind and faces the sun, with loose soil, high organic matter content, and moist soil that is not prone to waterlogging to establish the orchard. Before establishing the orchard, deep plow and level the land, and apply 2000-4000 kg/mu of farmyard manure. Use the strip planting method, with row spacing of 2 m and plant spacing of 0.4-0.8 m. The planting hole specifications are 30×30×30 cm. When planting seedlings, be careful to protect the basal buds from damage.

2. Fertilizer and water: Apply sufficient base fertilizer before transplanting, with 3-5 kg of farmyard manure per plant. During the growing period, combine loosening the soil and weeding, and apply topdressing 2-3 times each year, mainly nitrogen fertilizer, with an appropriate amount of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. Apply seedling fertilizer in March, flower fertilizer in April, and overwintering fertilizer in November. Apply 1500-2000 kg of human waste per mu. Pay attention to watering during summer and autumn droughts.

3. Trellising: Raspberry branches are soft and often droop to the ground, or lodge in wind, affecting yield and quality. When new branches produce lateral branches in April-May, remove the terminal buds to promote lateral branch growth, and at the same time pinch the lateral branches to encourage secondary lateral branches. More branches mean more leaves, increasing the fruiting canes for the next year and increasing yield. During the fruiting period, set up a support beside each plant to prevent lodging.

4. Pruning: In spring, promptly cut off the withered tips of the two-year-old canes to encourage the remaining branches to produce strong fruiting canes. Thin out overly dense and diseased or pest-infested branches at the base, leaving 7-8 two-year-old canes per plant, maintaining a reasonable density to facilitate ventilation and light penetration and ensure high and stable yield. After harvesting, cut off the two-year-old canes and thin out suckers and overly dense basal canes to control the total number of canes in the orchard.

5. Harvesting: The harvest time for raspberries is from mid-May to early June. At this time, the fruit has fully developed and is green, not yet turning red and ripe. Harvest in batches. After picking, remove stems, leaves, receptacles, and other impurities, then put them into boiling water and blanch for 2-3 minutes before removing, then spread them out to sun-dry or dry them. The finished product is best when the grains are intact, firm, yellow-green in color, sour in taste, and free of stems, leaves, and debris.

Pest and disease control and weeding for red raspberries

In spring, the young buds at the tips of the plants and at the top of the inflorescences suffer mild damage from the tip shoot leaf roller moth. When the damage is somewhat heavier, spraying 2000-fold 5% bifenthrin EC or pyrethroid pesticides can all achieve control effects.

Herbicides: alachlor, a broad-spectrum herbicide, suitable for spraying on the soil surface before weeds sprout, using 500 g of 43% EC per mu diluted with water at 100-150 times. Glyphosate, suitable for deep-rooted perennial grass weeds, using 1500-2500 g of 10% liquid per mu, mixed with 40-50 kg of water, sprayed on weed leaves. Simazine, suitable for annual grass weeds and broadleaf weeds, using 15-20 g of 50% wettable powder per mu mixed with 50 kg of water for spraying, with an effective period of 2-3 months. For sandy soil, the dosage is 4.5-7.5 g. At present, there are stricter requirements for exported frozen fruit, so pesticides should not be used or should be used sparingly. For pests and diseases, based on local actual conditions, use efficient, pollution-free pesticides that meet green food standards, and handle them flexibly and promptly.

It is advisable to plant some rue around the orchard. The smell of rue can effectively repel fruit flies, scarab beetles, and other pests. Rue is also known by other names such as qilixiang, xiangcao, yunxiangcao, Zhuge grass, xiangmao jingu cao, small citronella grass, fine-leaf thatch, wild rue, lime grass, stinking grass, and so on.

Raspberry varieties

1. Tuopan, 1-2 m tall, with prickles on the branches, simple leaves, 3-5 palmate lobes, nearly hairless on the leaf surface, with short hairs and small thorns on the underside. The panicles are dense and drooping. The fruit is dark red and glossy. It is distributed in Northeast, Northwest, and North China.

2. Maomei, also known as strawberry raspberry. Compound leaves, leaflets hairy, leaf tip blunt, elliptical. Pedicel 5-10 cm long, fruit spherical, diameter 1-1.5 cm, red, hairless or sparsely pubescent, sweet-sour and juicy, edible, fruiting period July-August. Distributed in Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Shandong, Shaanxi, and other provinces in China.

3. Red raspberry, also known as raspberry, compound leaves, 3 leaflets, leaf underside white, berry nearly spherical, diameter 1-1.4 cm, red, purplish red, or orange-yellow, densely covered with short down, edible, fruiting period August-September. The varieties cultivated in Northeast China all belong to this type.

4. Black raspberry, compound leaves, leaflets 5 or 3, ovate, doubly serrate, branches purplish red, covered with white wax. Fruit black. The blackberry cultivated in Northeast China belongs to this type.

5. Xuan gou zi, also known as maple-leaf raspberry. Stems sparsely bearing straight prickles, branch tips soft, plant clump spreading, simple leaves, 3-5 deeply lobed, with sharp serrations at the edges. Fruit red. Wild in Guangxi, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, and other provinces.

The growing environment of raspberries

Raspberry roots are distributed relatively shallowly and are not tolerant of drought, especially insufficient water during the flowering and fruit-ripening periods, which directly affects berry yield and quality. However, they are also not tolerant of waterlogging, and waterlogging causes root rot. Therefore, choose loose, fertile soil with high organic matter content that is moist but not waterlogged to establish the orchard.

Raspberries are highly adaptable, but cultivated varieties originated in Europe and are adapted to cool and warm climates. In Northeast China, soil must be mounded over them to protect against cold for overwintering.

Raspberries like light, and only with sufficient sunlight can they grow well and have high yields.

Raspberries tolerate poor soil and are sensitive to high temperatures. In high-temperature weather, shading measures are needed, and in cold regions, soil must be mounded over them to protect against cold in winter.

The red raspberry is only one member of the large raspberry family. Besides the red raspberry, there are also maomei, black raspberry, maple-leaf raspberry, and so on, and each type of raspberry can further be divided into many subcategories according to origin, fruit size, and so on. Even so, most raspberries have similar environmental requirements. Therefore, when planting red raspberries, you can also refer more to the relevant planting techniques for other raspberries.