I don’t know about you, but I’ve been thinking of the color of raspberry jam. It makes me want to listen to Edith Piaf and wear a beret.
When it comes to preserving food, you can’t quite beat the beautiful stained-glass colors of homemade jam. And if you’re hoping to have plenty of raspberries to make jam this year, you’ve got work to do, my friend.
So, grab your gloves and let’s give those raspberry canes a little springtime love.
As we ease into the gardening season, keeping a watchful eye on the nighttime temps and that ever-approaching “final frost date,” it’s easy to overlook plants that still appear dormant.
Those raspberry canes won’t stay dormant with plenty of spring rain and warm weather on the way. So, we need to get a jump on a few early spring chores.
We’ll need to do a little fertilizing and mulching. Depending on the type of berry you’re growing and when you want a harvest, perhaps some pruning as well.
“Early” Spring
When it comes to gardening, timing is everything. It always bugs me when you get vague time frames to do things. I want a date I can put on a calendar. (Otherwise, I’ll likely forget.) When it comes to gardening and landscaping, early spring is defined as mid-February through early May.
Good? Great.
1. First, We Fertilize
First up on our early springtime chore list is fertilizing. Personally, I think raspberries and tomatoes have a contest each year to see who can use the most fertilizer, as they’re both known for being heavy feeders. Maybe they have a bet going or something. I don’t know. But if you want raspberries by the bucketful, you’ll need to feed them in early spring.
If you wait too long and fertilize them in summer or early fall, it will encourage the wrong kind of growth.
Fertilizing too late causes the plants to put out a big push of tender growth right before winter, which then becomes susceptible to cold damage.
Balance is Key
Raspberries need a balanced fertilizer. Focusing on too much of one nutrient over the other can leave you with deficiencies. Well, not you, but your canes.
Look for an organic 10-10-10 fertilizer for established raspberry canes. (Espoma’s ‘Garden Food’ is a solid option.)
The Iowa State University extension website suggests applying 4 to 5 pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer to a 100-foot row in a 2-foot-wide band. It’s pretty easy to extrapolate what you need for your plants based on that information.
Watering your raspberries with a liquid seaweed fertilizer once a week during the growing season is another great way to add trace elements to the soil and your plants – something which can be lacking from other fertilizers. Seaweed fertilizer is rich in iron, manganese, zinc, copper and boron.
You only need a teaspoon or two per gallon of water to give your plants a boost. I strongly recommend this Bloom City Clean Kelp Seaweed Fertilizer – it will last you all season long.
Alternatively, well-composted manure is also a great option. You’ll need between half a pound to a pound for every foot of your raspberry rows. For example, if you’ve got a 20-foot row of raspberry canes, you’ll want to apply 10-20 lbs of manure.
When More Fertilizer is Needed
If your canes are older, they will require more nutrients. (Of course, you can easily propagate new canes to replace the older ones. Mickey explains how here.) If you have sandy soil, you’ll need to add more fertilizer. Also, if you’re applying fertilizer on top of mulch rather than below it, you should add a bit more, at which point, it’s a good idea to cover it with another layer of mulch to prevent fertilizer runoff.
If you’re a longtime reader, you probably know what’s coming next.
Get your soil tested every 3-4 years to be sure you aren’t over or under-fertilizing your raspberry canes. Fertilizing blindly isn’t good for your plants or our waterways.
2. Mulch, Mulch, Mulch
Mulch truly is the gardener’s best friend. It cuts down on so much work and offers long-term soil benefits.
Mulching each year:
- Holds nutrients in place
- Locks in moisture
- Keeps the soil cool during periods of extreme heat
- Suppresses weeds
If you mulch with something like straw, which breaks down quickly, you can let it rot in place. It will slowly deteriorate, adding nutrients back to the soil. Topping it up each spring keeps this cycle going.
Naturally, you can do the same with rough-cut wood chip mulch, but it takes a bit longer, and you don’t need to add as much each spring.
There are plenty of mulch options to choose from, many of which you might already have on hand.
Spring is the best time to get in there and mulch your canes. Whether that’s adding mulch for the first time (Hop on that bandwagon, my friend!) or simply applying this year’s layer, it helps keep your garden looking tidy as well, which is always nice going into a new growing season.
3. Spring Pruning for Raspberry Canes
Whether or not you need to prune your raspberries in the spring depends on the type of raspberries you’re growing as well as the type of harvest you’re hoping to achieve.
But first, spring is also the best time of year to take a good look at your raspberries post-winter weather.
Before you do any other type of pruning, look at your canes and cut out any that are dead, damaged from the cold, or show signs of disease. This way, you’re starting with a clean (and healthy) slate. As always, use sterilized, sharp pruners to prevent the transfer of disease.
Red & Yellow Raspberries
Red raspberries and their golden-hued yellow cousins share nearly identical growth and pruning habits. Most tend to be either June-bearing or everbearing (primocanes).
June-bearing
For June-bearing (Summer-bearing) types, prune them in early spring if you missed winter cleanup or to remove cold-damaged canes. Thin them to about 4–6 healthy canes per linear foot of row. Again, remove any canes that are dead, brittle, diseased, or show no green tissue when scratched with your fingernail. Pinch back the tips of overly tall canes to 4–5 feet. This prevents storm damage and makes harvesting easier for those of us who are vertically challenged.
Everbearing (Primocane)
For Everbearing (Primocane) types, consider when you want to be picking berries. While you can get a summer and fall crop, you’ll have much better yields if you aim for a single fall crop.
Single fall crop: Cut all canes to the ground in early spring before they start growing. This pushes the reset button on the patch, priming it for a larger fall harvest. (All the raspberry jam!)
Summer and fall crop: If you enjoy eating fresh raspberries all summer long, then this is the way to go. Leave last year’s canes and prune only the dead or damaged tips. These older canes will fruit again in early summer, followed by a new fall crop on the current year’s growth.
Experiment by pruning half your canes for a fall crop and the other half for more continuous berry production. You may find you prefer one over the other.
Black and Purple Raspberries
Black raspberries grow more like prickly, arching shrubs than rows, which means they require a slightly different approach. Likewise, purple raspberries, a hybrid of red and black, are pruned in the same way.
In early spring, you’ll still need to remove dead or damaged canes at the base first. Then, prune lateral branches (these are the side shoots) to between 8 and 10 inches long. Finally, go through and thin out the canes to about 4-5 of the strongest per plant. This improves airflow, makes picking easier, and makes them less susceptible to disease.
4. General Spring Maintenance
Spring cleaning doesn’t only apply to the inside of your home. Take the time to do some general cleanup around your brambles, removing the flotsam and jetsam of winter storms. Pull up any weeds before they get out of hand. And finally, check your trellising or other support and repair or replace it as needed. You’ll be ready for all the berries you’ve got coming your way.
Is it a Saturday or Sunday afternoon worth of work? You bet. But like most things, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. And the reward for all your spring labors will be le vie en rose come this summer or fall. Now to find the perfect scone recipe for all that raspberry jam…
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