Five Reasons to Grow Your Own Raspberries
Few things beat the experience of picking fresh, tasty raspberries at peak ripeness from your backyard. Have you ever considered adding raspberry bushes to your landscape? Here’s why you should start this season:
- Easy to Grow—Even for Beginners. Once established, raspberry plants require little maintenance. They are perennials, meaning their roots and crowns live for multiple years. Raspberry plants, when properly cared for, can fruit for 7–9 years.
- Impressive Harvest. A bundle of raspberry plants will yield ample fruit for you to enjoy, share, and preserve! A healthy, properly maintained raspberry plant can expect to produce roughly 2–3 pounds of fruit.
- A Bite of Nutrition. Raspberries may be small, but they pack a lot of nutrition into each bite. Raspberries are an excellent source of dietary fiber, manganese, potassium, Omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin C. Research shows fruits begin to lose nutrients as soon as they are picked. Consuming your fruit directly after harvest (and a proper washing!) is the best way to ensure your getting your fruit's best nutrient content.
- Big Flavor, Bigger Savings! Did you know that the USDA reports the average retail cost per pound of fresh raspberries is $7.73? Five raspberry plants from Nourse Farms can produce around 12.5 lbs. of fruit in a season—which would cost about $96 at the grocery store. Five raspberry plants from Nourse Farms cost $27–32, which means you could save up to $69! (This is an estimate; yield depends on many factors including variety selection, growing conditions, and fertilizer regime.)
- Love Making Flower Bouquets? Elevate Them with Raspberry Foliage! The stem of a raspberry plant can be cut and added to the bouquet you are building. The raspberry's ribbed, textured leaves will add a whimsical, green touch to any beautiful bouquet. We especially love them paired with dahlias and snapdragons.
Customer Morgan from Creekside Flower Farm incorporates raspberry foliage into her magnificent flower bouquets!
Terms to Know
Primocane
Primocane (fall-bearing) raspberry plants bear some fruit in the first fall of the planting year and either summers or falls after that depending on how they are managed. Most fall-bearers will produce the best crop if canes are cut down each year and only allowed to fruit in the fall.
Floricane
Floricane (summer-bearing) raspberry plants bear fruit one year after planting. Those second-year canes are pruned out after the summer harvest.
Soil pH
Soil pH is how we measure how acidic or alkaline your soil is. The scale is 0 to 14, with seven being neutral. Soil pH impacts the availability of nutrients in the soil. Depending on the plants’ needs, if the soil pH is too high or too low, the plant may fail to produce fruit or to grow at all.
Crown
The crown is at ground level, where roots below the ground and canes above ground meet.
Cane
Stem that grows up from the crown and the base of old canes.
Leaves
Raspberry leaves are compound and have three to five leaflets.
Pruning
Pruning is the act of removing canes. Raspberry plants are vigorous; pruning discourages overgrowth and allows for adequate airflow, aiding disease prevention. Pruning improves fruit quality and maximizes productivity. Pruning is essential to the raspberry growing process.
Primocane and Floricane raspberries require different pruning methods. Click here to read more about pruning in our How to Grow Raspberries guide.
Prepare for Planting
When selecting a place to plant your raspberry plants, avoid a site where previous plants have included strawberries, brambles (raspberries and blackberries), potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, or peppers. These crops may harbor soil pathogens, negatively impacting your plants’ health and performance.
You’ll also want the location you pick to plant your raspberry plants to be sunny and weed-free. Raspberry plants like eight or more hours of direct sunlight daily.
When deciding how much room you’ll need for your plants, give them about 18–24 inches of space between each other and 8–12 feet between rows. This will allow plenty of room for growth with optimal light exposure and airflow.
You’ll want to check your soil pH and can do so using a tool called a digital soil pH meter. You’ll want the soil pH to land in the range of 6.5–6.8. If your pH is higher than 6.8, you can add elemental sulfur to lower the pH level. If your pH is lower than 6.0, you can add ground limestone.
Growing Guidance
When you receive your raspberry plants from Nourse Farms, you’ll want to get them into the ground right away. (Remember, when you place your order, you get to select your shipping week. Make sure to pick a time when the soil will have warmed to 50ºF. If you’re not sure when that might be, check out our Recommended Planting Season chart on our website.)
Soak bare root plants for up to one hour before planting. Agri-gel™ can be added to water – see catalog insert for order information.
Planting at the correct depth is important. Use a hoe to make a two-inch deep trench the length of the bed. Lay the roots horizontally along the trench, two inches deep. You may need to position some canes deeper than two inches so that all roots on the cane are covered, still laying the length of the roots parallel to the soil surface at the two-inch depth. Cover them immediately. The fine root system should not be allowed to dry out during the planting process, which can happen very quickly on a warm day. CAUTION: If set too deeply, they will not easily send up new canes from the root as they must.
Mulch lightly with weed seed-free straw during establishment to control weeds and retain moisture in the soil. Leaves, grass clippings, and wood bark are not recommended, as they may become matted or too heavy, impeding the growth of new canes.
Trellising raspberries is one of the most important cultural practices. It doesn’t have to be expensive and time-consuming. A simple T-bar post with twine will do.
Helpful Hints
Deterring Wildlife
The only ones who are more excited about you growing your own raspberries are your friendly neighborhood critters, including birds, deer, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, and more. There’s nothing more frustrating than knowing you can pick ripe berries tomorrow, only to find out that the animals got to them before you did. Nourse Farms has had our fair share of unwelcome guests feasting on the fruits of our labor. Our team has become quite skilled at keeping pests away.
We also recommend adding plants to your garden that naturally deter pests. Strongly scented varieties like marigolds, catmint, chives, sage, and lamb’s ear can help keep rodents at bay. Daffodils are a great choice, as deer and squirrels tend to avoid them. Yarrow is a good selection for deterring deer and has a lengthy flowering time from June through September. Allium not only repels rabbits and deer but also attracts beneficial pollinators, making it a valuable addition to any garden.
Choosing the Variety That's Right for You
If you're looking to "wow" the crowd with baked treats, we recommend growing Boyne, Killarney, Latham, and Heritage.
If you want a lot of berries, we recommend growing Encore, Imara®, Joan J, Polka, Caroline, and Heritage.
If you're looking for the best of both seasons and want to double-crop your plants, we recommend growing Prelude, Nova, Joan J, and Himbo-Top®.
If you need a plant tough enough to withstand harsh winters, we recommend growing Boyne, Latham, Encore, and Polana.
If you're a beginner looking for a fool-proof variety, we recommend growing Killarney, Latham, Polka, and Heritage.
If disease resistance is a top priority, we recommend growing Himbo-Top® and Caroline.
If you’re not sure what you want, give us a call at 1-877-NFBERRY (632-3779) or email us at info@noursefarms.com! Our team is here to help you find the right berries for your garden.
