Autumn gardening with raspberries in September
With the arrival of autumn, the work in the garden does not end. September is the time to pay attention to raspberries to prepare the bushes for winter rest. For this, the sweet berry for the next season will thank you with a bountiful harvest.
Raspberry pruning
Autumn work in raspberries begins with pruning early varieties of berries, and late varieties of raspberries should be left for October. So that pruning is only beneficial to the plants and does not lead to a decrease in yield in the next season, the following recommendations are observed when it is carried out:
- completely remove last year's and thin young shoots that have borne fruit, as well as dry, thin and diseased plants, while, in order to prevent diseases, burn the latter;
- leave no more than 10 strong young shoots on one bush, if they are too high, shorten;
- in black raspberry varieties, also shorten the lateral stems to 50 cm;
- the shoots left for wintering must be completely cleaned of leaves;
- thin out the entire raspberry tree, leaving a distance of 60 cm between the bushes (it is better to dig out young growth around the bush).
Tillage
In autumn, the soil in raspberries especially requires attention.
The used mulch (especially straw) must be collected and preferably burned so that small pests such as mice do not grow in these layers.
Further section with raspberries dig up. The depth of cultivation in the rows should not exceed 10 cm, and between them - 20 cm, otherwise there is a risk of damaging the root system of the bushes. Read:raspberry remontant care and cultivation + video.
Autumn feeding of raspberries
Simultaneously with digging, raspberries are fertilized to choose from:
- Bird droppings. The most suitable fertilizer for raspberries is chicken droppings, which can be applied to the raspberry field immediately after harvest.
- Manure - when applied per 1 sq.m. the site is used up to 6 kg. If fresh manure is added as fertilizer, then when digging it will mix with the ground and will still serve well for warming the raspberry root system in winter.
- Prepared compost from leaves left after weeding and droppings.
- Peat. The advantage peat is its ability to improve the structure of the soil, which has a positive effect on the amount of the harvested crop.
- Sideratami. Sown at the beginning of summer in the aisle of raspberries, blue lupine or mustard are dug up in the fall and by the spring they will feed the soil well.
- Organic fertilizers - no more than once every two to three years.
- Mineral fertilizers. They are applied either simultaneously with organic fertilizers, or alternating after one year.
As for nitrogen fertilizers, when applied in autumn, instead of resting, raspberries will continue to grow, which will lead to the death of bushes in winter. Therefore, it is better to feed plants with this type of fertilizer in spring.
Snow and frost protection
To prevent raspberry bushes from suffering from snow and frost in winter, they should be bent. To do this, tie the remaining shoots in bunches, bend well to the ground (30-40 centimeters) and fix it with a wire folded in a brace.
The most common mistakes at this stage of work are when the stems are only tied into bunches and left standing or slightly bent to the ground.
In both cases, this will cause the bush uncovered with snow to freeze out.