How to care for raspberries in the fall to properly prepare for winter

A good harvest depends not only on full-fledged care of raspberries during the growing season, but also after its end (fruiting and harvesting).

In order for all berry bushes to winter well, they must be properly prepared for winter in the fall. This applies to all plants growing on the site, including raspberries.

Features of caring for raspberries in the fall and preparing them for winter

On how well the preparation of raspberries for winter was made, not only the volume of fragrant berries in the next year depends, but also the plant's immunity to diseases.Preparing raspberries for cold weather in the fall consists of pruning stems, removing leaves, fertilizing, garter, mulching, and shelter for the winter.

Pruning raspberries in autumn

Shortly before the onset of persistent cold weather, in the fall, raspberries must be properly cut: weak annual shoots are removed from the bush, stems older than 2 years, which are easy to distinguish by their dark brown color. If the shrub has grown a lot, and there is not enough space between the rows for normal growth, the young are cut off light brown lateral offshoots. Thinning raspberries has not only an aesthetic function, but also increases its resistance to frost.

Most experienced gardeners not only prune shoots and young raspberry offspring in the fall, but also remove the leaves after pruning. The thing is that after the onset of rainy cold weather, the leaf plates begin to rot and tightly cover the flower buds, as a result of which the latter are affected.

Note! It is necessary to remove the leaves after pruning raspberries in the fall from the bottom up, otherwise there is a risk of damaging the flower buds.

You can quickly and safely remove leaves on a bush with the help of tight gloves that will serve as a barrier from sharp thorns. In order to clean the shoot qualitatively, it is moderately clasped and carried with the hand up. At the end of the manipulation, healthy one-year-old shoots without leaves should remain on the bush.

By the way! You can read a more complete article on autumn pruning raspberries.

Why trim

Many gardeners, especially beginners, ask themselves in the fall: do you need to cut raspberries for the winter? This is necessary because regular pruning of raspberries in the fall is an integral part of care aimed at getting a generous harvest of fragrant berries for the next year.

In addition, you need to prune raspberries in the fall in order to:

1. Raspberries fit the sizespecified in the description of the variety: raspberries have the ability to shrink in the absence of pruning in the fall.
2. Bushes ok moved the winter season.
3. The plants had high immunity.
4. Give landings an aesthetic look and at the same time make room for manipulations near each bush.
5. Prevent wintering pests and their spread to nearby plants.
6. Bushes well lit.

Important! It is recommended to cut raspberries not only in the fall for the winter, but alsoin the spring, and in the summer.

Timing of pruning raspberries

The optimal time for pruning raspberry bushes is August-September. Many gardeners are of the opinion that the manipulation is best done just before the onset of winter, but this statement is erroneous.

Such late pruning has a detrimental effect on plants: during the postponement of manipulation, pests and diseases actively multiply on the branches, which significantly worsen the condition of the bushes and reduce the likelihood of overwintering.

Note! It is best to prune raspberries for the winter immediately after picking the last berries.

How to prune bushes correctly: instructions and pruning methods

To unleash the full potential that autumn pruning carries, first of all, it must be correctly implemented.

Correct pruning of raspberries in autumn is done as follows:

• Dried, diseased and very damaged annual shoots are removed.
• Cut off the old 2-year-old shoots.
• A heavily thickened raspberry tree must be thinned: by 1 sq. m should remain 8-10 stems.
• To kill pests, the cut branches are piled up and burned.
• The land near the bushes is carefully dug in and fertilized;
• The shoots are treated with iron vitriol.

At the end of the raspberry pruning in the fall, healthy shoots should remain, the number of which approximately coincides with the number of cut branches.

Important! Pruning raspberries in the fall should be done with a sharp garden shears: due to the use of blunt knives or scissors, the cut points take a very long time to heal.

If there is a need for reproduction, the shoots near the bushes are dug up and transplanted. In the case when the expansion of the raspberry tree is not planned, it is pulled out or cut off.

By the way! About, how to properly transplant (propagate) raspberries in the fall and in the spring to a new place you can read in this material.

Features of pruning remontant raspberries for the winter

Raspberries of remontant varieties bear fruit on one-year and two-year shoots. The scheme for pruning raspberries of remontant varieties in the fall depends on how much harvest is planned for the next season.

For the purpose of one-time collection of berries, remontant raspberry bushes are cut for the winter in the same way as raspberries of ordinary varieties: the shoots are completely cut off, leaving only very short shoots near the soil itself.

If you want to get 2 crops (but less plentiful), then you should leave annual shoots.

Video: how to prune remontant raspberries in the fall

Double cropping

The double pruning of raspberries according to Sobolev, according to which ordinary raspberry bushes are cut according to a certain pattern in May-June for 2 consecutive years, has a good effect on the yield:

• 1st trim: in stems with a height of 70-90 cm, the top is cut off by 10-15 cm. After manipulation, the plant begins to actively form lateral stems.

Note! The first pruning should not be postponed for a long time, since the young side shoots will not have time to grow before winter and will freeze out. It is optimal to spend it around the beginning of summer, that is, in June.

• 2nd trim: as soon as the first leaves appear on the bush, the top is once again shortened by 5-15 cm: even more new stems will form on the bush.

As a result of carrying out double pruning according to the Sobolev method, significantly more ovaries grow on raspberry bushes than after ordinary pruning.

Note! Even more detailed information is presented in a separate article on pruning raspberries for the winter.

How to feed raspberries in the fall after pruning

During the berry season, raspberries are fed several times with fertilizers rich in nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.

Important! As a rule, berry bushes are still fed in the spring, so we advise you to read the material about spring feeding of raspberries.

With the onset of autumn (but not after fruiting), experts recommend feeding raspberry bushes potash and phosphorus fertilizersas they increase the immunity and frost resistance of the bushes.

Preparing raspberries for winter

Whether raspberries overwinter well depends not only on the weather conditions and climatic conditions of your place of residence, but also on the quality of care in the fall and preparation for winter.

The necessary manipulations to prepare raspberries for winter are carried out in the following order:

1. To protect the kidneys from the so-called scalding, leaves are removed: the stem is loosely wrapped around and carried by hand from bottom to top.
2. Landings cleaned of debris, stacked in heaps away from the bushes and burned.
3. The peeled branches are bent low and fixed (in other words, tie up): such a manipulation will protect the stems from severe cold. If in the region where the berries are grown there are winters with little snow with severe frosts, the raspberries are covered with snow on their own.
4. Straw 10-20 cm thick is poured over the plants, in other words, mulch: this mulch will not only perform the function of additional insulation, but will also protect the planting from the attack of rodents.

Correctly and timely preparation of raspberries in the fall for winter will save thin stems from freezing.

Mulching

Before covering the raspberries for the winter, the soil is loosened a little and the last top dressing is applied. Too dry soil is recommended to water sparingly.

By the way! Mulching is especially important in regions with severe and little snowy winters, since there is a high risk of freezing out the death of a raspberry tree in such conditions.

How to mulch raspberries for the winter?

Rotted sawdust (in no case fresh!), Foliage and plant residues (for example, tops from velvet and other annual flowers), peat, rotted manure (ideal for remontant raspberries, however, it is also suitable for ordinary ones). The optimal thickness of the mulching material is 10 cm: thanks to this layer of cover, the plants will be well protected from frost, and will not undermine during warming.

Shelter for the winter

Before laying the mulching material, the root collar is slightly sprinkled with earth, and so that the melt water does not have where to collect, the soil near the bush is leveled. Cut and peeled leaves are strongly bent to the ground and secured with staples. To prevent raspberries from freezing, the height of the bent bushes should be no more than 40-50 cm.

Important! Even a slight peeking of the stems from under the snow should not be allowed, since the buds on them will not tolerate even moderate frosts: the temperature on the surface of the snow cover is the lowest.

The soil on the site and the bent branches are covered with dry straw or foliage. Instead of organic mulch, the stems can be wrapped in polyethylene, spunbond.

The importance of sheltering raspberries for the winter directly depends on the weather in the growing region. It is impossible to strongly insulate the shrub in the southern regions, since it can dry out.

Snow retention

Snow is a complete insulation for all plants in the garden. To protect raspberries from severe frosts, they are covered with a layer of snow of 50-100 cm. In order to keep snow close to the raspberry, shields of wood or dry stalks of sunflower, corn are installed along one line in a checkerboard pattern.

Melted waters are very useful for raspberries; before the onset of warm spring days, the snow near the bushes is carefully tamped and sprinkled with sawdust.

Features of preparing remontant raspberries for winter

Repaired raspberries also need special preparation for winter. To do this, you need to fertilize it well before winter, since the plant will need a lot of strength for normal development in the next season. As a rule, fertilizers with a high content of potassium and phosphorus are applied under the remontant bushes of viburnum.

Unlike ordinary raspberries, you need to cut remontant raspberries in the fall at the root (in the case of a planned one-time harvest of berries in the next season, if you want to harvest 2 times (but less plentiful, then you do not need to remove annual shoots).

After pruning in the fall, remontant raspberry bushes practically do not need insulation, since the upper part of the bush is absent, and the roots are not afraid of moderate frosts. In regions with harsh weather conditions, mulch is laid on top of the bush.

Thus, the cultivation of remontant raspberries has the following advantages in the fall preparation for winter:

1. Total pruning of raspberry bushes helps to completely get rid of all pests and diseases that have accumulated on the stems during the season.
2. Short "hemp" (or rather, practically absent) is much easier to insulate (they only need to be mulched).
3. Due to the lack of last year's stems, only autumn berries are tied. And since the plant did not expend its energy on the formation of the spring harvest, then in the fall the raspberry pleases not only with its quantity, but also with its quality (this applies only to the Central strip (Moscow region)where full pruning is recommended, in the South, repair raspberries can easily re-bear fruit until late fall).

Video: pruning and caring for remontant raspberries in the fall

What are the subtleties of preparing raspberries for winter in Siberia and the Urals

Raspberries are not endowed with special frost resistance, therefore, they need more thorough preparation for winter in the northern regions - Siberia and the Urals. To prevent the stems from freezing, they must be bent and covered. As a result of bending, the branches will be covered with snow in winter, which will protect them from frost and cold winds.

If you want to get a bountiful harvest next year, then raspberries require careful preparation for winter and care in the fall. Correctly and timely done preparatory work will save the berry from freezing, the development of diseases and wintering of pests.

Video: care, pruning in the fall and preparing raspberries for winter