Pruning raspberries correctly in the spring for a good harvest

Raspberries, like many other shrubs and fruit trees, require annual pruning. Only regular care of the berry bushes will allow you to get the most abundant and tasty harvests. But before starting work, you need to find out what are the main rules for spring pruning of raspberries, when and how to do it. It is also important to be able to distinguish regular raspberries from remontant ones.

Note! The main pruning of raspberries is performed, as a rule, after fruiting (in autumn), and in the spring they do only corrective, more precisely, sanitary pruning.

Of course, if you have not had the opportunity to prune raspberries in the fall, it is better to prune in the spring than not prune at all.

Still, it is recommended to cut raspberries annually after fruiting.

Why prune raspberries and is it necessary to do it in spring

The main purpose of pruning raspberries is to increase their yield (improve fruiting).

The tasks of trimming any raspberry (regular and remontant) are:

• cutting out unripe, frozen, broken, dry and damaged shoots (sanitary pruning);
• pinching the tops of the shoots for their better branching;
• thinning plantings so that the bushes are better ventilated and
  get more sunlight;

What, in general, is the point in only thickening and already fruiting shoots?

Another thing is, if you planted raspberries too close, then, so that the bushes do not shade each other, they should be thinned out by removing the weakest.

• giving the bushes a neat appearance (additional aesthetic function).

Advice! If over time raspberries are too big then it should be mandatory plant and transplant... How to do it right in spring, summer or autumn, read here.

When to prune raspberries in spring, in what month: optimal timing

It is very advisable to do spring pruning of raspberries before the start of sap flow, when the buds have not yet opened. In other words, raspberries should sleep. At the same time, the temperature should already be stable during the day.

Although many gardeners successfully prune raspberries in the spring, already during the growing season, i.e. after the buds open and small leaves appear.

This is even more convenient: you can immediately understand which shoots need to be sanitized and which do not need to be touched.

Thus, the approximate timing of pruning raspberries in spring in different regions is as follows:

• In the South, it is March-early April.
• In the Middle Lane (Moscow region), spring pruning is carried out in the second half of April - early May.
• In the Urals and Siberia - in early May. Somewhere at the same time, raspberries are cut in the North-West (in the Leningrad region).

How to prune raspberries in spring: rules and guidelines

Raspberries, like any plant, have their own characteristics of growth and fruiting and, accordingly, their own pruning rules.

Next, we will consider what to do if you did not prune raspberries at all last year, as well as how you can correct the shoots if you did autumn pruning.

If you haven't done the fall pruning

Many novice gardeners look with some apprehension at the spring pruning of raspberries, because not sure which shoot is in front of them - the old one (already bearing fruit) or the new one (which will bear fruit this year).

It's actually quite easy to tell the difference. On the contrary, it is very difficult to confuse.

• Old shoots that have fruited last year have many lateral forkswhile they dry and brittle (they break with a crunch, because there are no living tissues in them).
• New shoots that will only bear fruit this year, on the contrary, have no lateral ramifications. Moreover, their branches are alive and resilient, and on them many green buds.

When you trim off their frozen tops, you will immediately notice a healthy green tint on the cuts.

Thus, if you have not pruned the raspberries after fruiting (in autumn)then in spring you must completely cut out at the root all old sprouted shoots, leaving the minimum possible hemp.

A young escapesthat formed last year (over the summer) - leave, on them you will get harvest... However, they will also need trimming (more precisely, pinching), which will be discussed below.

Video: Spring Raspberry Pruning

Spring pruning: sanitary pruning and pinching (if you did fall pruning)

Pruning raspberries in spring is done as follows:

• First, you need to carefully examine the shoots and assess their condition after wintering.

If the buds did not swell or open on the tops of the shoots (the leaves did not appear), then this may mean the following: the shoots did not initially ripen or froze during the winter.

• Trim recommended naked (no swollen or opened kidneys) tops of shoots, on which (for the above reasons) could not wake up (swell) and open the kidneys, to live swollen or already green (opened) buds.

Sanitary pruning also includes the removal of dry, damaged and weak (thin) shoots.

• Now you need to spend shortening of all (even healthy) tops of annual shoots, so that stimulate their better branching and fruiting.

It is advisable to shorten it to 100-150 cm, or rather, according to the size of your trellis, so that it is convenient to tie the shoots.

Note! You should have pinched the tops of young shoots for the first time last year, so that these shoots would give lateral shoots in the fall (on which the future harvest will mainly form). And next spring, you need to shorten these particular lateral shoots in order to provoke their greater branching - to further increase the yield. In general, this is the meaning of the Sobolev double pruning, the essence of which is described in the next section.

• All you need leave 5-6 of the healthiest and strongest annual shoots on every raspberry bush or up to 10 per 1 meter, when landing in a row.

Remember! Raspberries need light and good ventilation inside the bushes for abundant fruiting.

Double cropping (according to Sobolev)

Attention! Double pruning is carried out just for regular raspberries, in the remontant, annual growths are not affected, since at the ends of their shoots a crop is also laid.

In addition to the traditional pruning method, the method is popular among gardeners double pruning raspberry, which is also sometimes called pruning according to Sobolev

So, if your raspberry bushes have a lot of tall, but unbranched annual stems, then you should get rid of them, since they will still not give a good harvest.

It is in this case that double pruning according to Sobolev is performed.

First time raspberry trimming according to Sobolev is carried out late May - early Junewhen zero shoots are high 70-100 centimeters, trimming (pinching) their crown by 10-15 centimeters.

Thanks to such pruning, additional shoots are formed from the leaf axils of the raspberry tree (dormant buds wake up), in other words, the stem will begin to branch, and this will lead to the growth of the bush not upwards, but in breadth. It is on these shoots that most of the berries will form in the new season.

Second cut raspberries, according to Sobolev, spend either in the autumn of the same year (after fruiting), or already early next spring (optimal). This time, you need to prune each tip on the lateral shoots formed (after the first pruning), again pruning (pinching) by 10-15 centimeters.

Thus, the new side shoots will also begin to branch even more and produce even more berries.

Video: double pruning raspberries to increase raspberry yields

Advice!If you plan to carry out double pruning to increase the yield, then planting raspberries from each other in this case should be at a farther distance, since the bushes will thicken thoroughly.

It is also important to note that this method of pruning raspberries provides for more careful care of raspberries: abundant watering and feeding in spring and autumn.

Pruning remontant raspberries and how they differ from the usual

Repaired raspberries differ from the usual ones in their great fertility - you can harvest 2 crops from a bush in 1 season (in summer and autumn).

However, it is worth knowing that the second (autumn) harvest of remontant raspberries is less tasty, while the first (summer) harvest is not inferior to the usual one.

Nevertheless, it makes sense to have both ordinary and remontant varieties on the site in order to eat tasty and healthy berries both in summer and in autumn.

Distinguish remontant raspberries from common raspberries in the spring possible by availability at the ends of the shoots of last year's dried berries and flowers (if you haven't done the fall pruning).

It is also believed that remontant varieties have thicker shoots, which also have a lighter shade (compared to normal ones).

Common raspberries do not yield young (zero) shoots, whereas renovation bears fruit as on young and last year's shoots.

Thus, if ordinary raspberries are usually pruned every fall (or immediately after fruiting), and only sanitary pruning is done in the spring, then remontant raspberries can be pruned both in autumn and spring.

Pruning remontant raspberries has its own nuances depending on when and how many crops you want to get:

• With an annual, you need to cut all shoots under the root... In this case, you will get enough plentiful but more recent and only harvest - in August-September.
• With long-term, you need to leave annual shoots every year... Then the raspberries will bear fruit 2 times - 1 time in June-July, 2 times in August-September). And this case feed it needs more abundantly.

Note! In the conditions of the Central strip (Moscow region), it is better to cut remontant raspberries completely (to get 1 good harvest in August-September). But in the South and in regions with a longer warm period, annual shoots can and even better be left in order to get 2 full harvests.

Video: how to trim remontant raspberries

What else to do and how to care for raspberries in spring

Also, spring raspberry care activities include:

• garter shoots;

By the way! About, how to tie up raspberries correctly in autumn and spring, you can read in this material.

• fertilize;

Advice! The site already has a detailed article aboutspring feeding raspberries.

• treatment for diseases and pests.

Important! About, what and how to spray raspberries in the spring, written in detail in this article.

• If the raspberries are too big then it should be mandatory plant and transplant.

How to do it right in spring, summer or autumn, read here.

Thus, following the basic rules and nuances of correct pruning and careful care after the event, the shrub will certainly delight you with a large amount of fragrant berries.

Well, now you know how to prune raspberries in the spring, if you didn't do it last fall (although you should have). There is nothing difficult in this gardening event.

Video: pruning raspberries in spring