A Detailed Guide to Raspberry Planting Methods: Learn to Grow the Wild Berries You Loved as a Child

Raspberry, also known as tray berry, wood berry, or malin, is a plant of the genus Rubus in the rose family. Native to the United States, it is a berry-type fruit tree, a perennial deciduous small shrub with a tree height of 1.5-2 m; the fruit grows on the tree, is oval-shaped, borne in clusters and strings, crystal-clear and glossy black, sweet, fragrant, and juicy, with a fresh, delicate taste. Once planted, the fruit tree can continue bearing fruit for 20-30 years, and the yield per mu can reach more than 1000 kg. The raspberry planting methods are as follows:

I. Site Selection

Raspberry is a shallow-rooted, light-loving plant, so choose level ground or gently sloping land with good drainage and no obstructions for planting, with the groundwater level preferably below 4 m; for mountain planting, choose low mountain areas and sunny slopes. The best soil is fertile sandy loam with a neutral or slightly acidic pH. Soil previously used to grow potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, or strawberries is not suitable for planting raspberries, because some pathogens may be present in such soil.

II. Planting

1. Planting method: For land that has not been deeply plowed and has relatively hard soil, a planting trench should be dug when planting. The trench should be 60-70 cm wide and 50-60 cm deep, running north-south. When digging the trench, pile the topsoil and subsoil separately; when backfilling, first fill the bottom of the trench with 10 cm of subsoil, then level the planting trench with weathered topsoil.

2. Planting density: For summer-fruiting raspberries, the plant spacing is 50 cm and the row spacing is 160-180 cm, with 750-900 plants per 1000 sq m. For autumn-fruiting raspberries, the plant spacing is 60-70 cm and the row spacing is 180-200 cm, with about 700 plants per 1000 sq m.

III. Management

1. Fertilizer management

Nitrogen fertilizer: After the young plants survive in the current year, open a trench 10-15 cm from the trunk and apply fertilizer, averaging 20 g of urea per plant. In the second year, apply 25-35 g of urea per tree within the root growth range of each tree. In the third year, when the plants enter the fruiting stage, apply according to soil fertility, growth, and fruiting conditions using the fertilizer rate for mature fruit trees.

Phosphorus fertilizer: Open a fertilizer trench in the area where roots are concentrated, 18-20 cm deep and 15-20 cm wide, 15-20 cm from both sides of the raspberry; apply half the fertilizer at the bottom of the trench and the other half in the middle, so that the roots have a larger contact surface with the fertilizer, giving better results.

Potassium fertilizer: The application period for potassium fertilizer and phosphorus fertilizer is from late September to early October in autumn, or immediately when the winter-protection soil is removed in the second spring.

Organic fertilizer: It is best to apply fully decomposed organic fertilizer.

2. Water management

Mature fruit trees are generally watered four times a year: first, spring soil-thawing water; second, flowering water before early summer; third, harvest water in June; and fourth, winter water before soil mounding for cold protection.

3. Pruning

Young-stage shaping and pruning:

① The first pruning is in the second year after planting. Generally, the middle and upper parts of the flowering stem are the main fruiting parts, so they should be kept well. Long ones are left long, weak ones are left short, and the amount cut is 1/4 of the flowering stem length.

② The second pruning is after budding, when the tender new shoots have grown 3-4 cm, thin them out while retaining a certain number of fruiting branches. The principle is to keep high ones and remove low ones, keep strong ones and remove weak ones, and keep sparse ones and remove dense ones. All buds or branches 50-60 cm above the ground are removed.

③ The third pruning is at the initial flowering stage. Generally, 9-12 primary canes are selected and retained per meter of planting row.

④ The fourth pruning is after the fruiting period, mainly to cut off the fruited canes and fruiting branches, leaving no stubs.

⑤ The last pruning is in autumn during the slow growth period of primary canes. In the Changchun area, this is in mid-to-late September, and the length left after cutting is 5/6 of the primary cane length.

Shaping and pruning in the full fruiting stage:

In the Changchun area, the shaping and pruning method should be adopted. That is, during the growing period, let the primary canes grow naturally without pruning, and before growth begins in early spring, prune the 2-year-old canes once. When pruning, choose strong 2-year-old canes as fruiting canes; the plant density of flowering canes is 20-30 plants/sq m, and they should be easy to tie up and harvest.