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The main feature of remontant raspberries is their abundant harvest, which, with proper care, can be harvested twice a year. Care, the processing and preparation for winter of this variety of raspberries is very different from the summer variety familiar to many.
This article will look at how to prepare remontant raspberries for winter. You will learn how and when to fertilize raspberries, how to properly water and mulch the bushes in the fall, and whether you need to prune and cover raspberries for the winter.
Soil preparation in autumn
Preparing remontant raspberries for winter begins with the ground. It should be saturated with nutrients, protected from the cold, and sufficiently hydrated. In this case, a large raspberry harvest should be expected in the next season.
Fertilizing the earth
In summer, manure is used as a fertilizer for the soil, but it must be stopped to be applied to the soil in mid-June. In the last week of July, mulching of raspberry bushes is carried out. In order for the stem to strengthen better in the last days of August, it is necessary to apply phosphorus and potash fertilizers to the ground. Typically for feeding remontant raspberries use:
- Monopotassium phosphate and potassium magnesium, which increase the frost resistance of the raspberry tree. At the same time, it is important to pay attention to the quality of fertilizers, otherwise there is no point in introducing them.
- The main phosphorus fertilizer is superphosphate.
- So that the roots of raspberries do not suffer from diseases and pests in the autumn months, iron sulfate is also introduced into the soil.
Last time feed planting of remontant raspberries in the last week of October. In this case, you need to scatter a little organic matter on the ground. Thus, over the next 4–5 months, fertilizers will decompose, due to which in the spring remontant raspberries will receive the whole range of nutrients.
Watering and mulching
Repaired raspberries need watering before wintering. So, the last watering should be done about two weeks before the first frost. This event is especially important if it is a dry autumn.
Some gardeners water remontant raspberries after the first ice crust appears. They add 2-3 buckets of water to each bush. This is done so that the roots do not dry out over the winter.
After the last watering of the raspberries, the soil should be mulched. Peat, spruce forest, fallen leaves or sawdust can be used as mulch. In this case, it is important to create a non-acidic and non-alkaline environment. The mulch should be covered with layers equal to about 5 - 6 cm. If you fill in the roots of the remontant raspberry bushes more, then the stems can vanish, as a result of which an ideal breeding ground for bacteria and infections is formed.
Raspberry pruning
When is the best time to prune There is a lot of controversy about the remontant raspberry. Some gardeners are sure, that this should be done immediately before frost, explaining that at this time the movement of juice along the stems of raspberries stops, and the plant will more easily endure pruning. Others saythat unnecessary shoots should be removed immediately after the end of the fruiting period. So, the rhizome of remontant raspberries will receive more strength for development.
There is also a third opinion... Most gardeners and summer residents agree that pruning raspberries is best done in early September, no later than early October. This opinion is based on the fact that during this period there is still a lot of juice in the raspberry stems, but its circulation has significantly decreased after the summer.
Methods for pruning raspberry stems
A stem check should be done first to determine which shoots should be pruned. Among them are fragile, old, sick, weak and damaged, as well as those that have not been fruitful for the last 2 years. They need to be completely removed.
To prevent raspberries from spreading throughout your garden, you need to trim the roots. A bayonet shovel is stuck around each bush at a distance of 30 cm, which will chop off the ends of the root system. If you need to update the raspberry plant, remove the perennial stem from the center of the bush, which will encourage the rapid development of new shoots.
Some gardeners use the double pruning method. So, you can improve the quality of the harvest, since all the nutrients will be directed to the berries. To do this, in addition to removing old raspberry stems, you need to pinch young shoots. Thus, a subsidiary, younger group of kidneys is formed. However, it is important to avoid thickening the raspberry tree. To do this, leave 30 cm between the stems. In the spring, the shortening of the shoots is repeated, they are cut to a well-developed bud.
The cut stems of the remontant raspberry should be burned. This is done to protect the raspberry tree from insects and pathogenic bacteria that can harm the site. After that, the bushes should be dug in and all weeds should be removed. Otherwise, they will take away such valuable nutrients from the raspberry bushes, which will make them more vulnerable and may not survive the frost.
How to do the bending correctly
Although raspberries are frost-resistant, severe frosts can kill them. Given this fact, some gardeners have resorted to bending bushes to the ground. The best covering material for all types of shrubs and trees is snow. Due to bending down, raspberry bushes will be completely hidden under a layer of snow, as a result of which they will be able to survive even the most severe frosts.
If your remontant raspberry grows evenly along the trellises, then the bushes should be bent one on top of the other, while fixing the shoot to the bottom of the next bush with wire. Since frosts make the stems more fragile, bending should be done at above-zero temperatures, just before the first frosty days.
After the onset of heat, the remontant raspberry bushes must be carefully released. They will straighten themselves. If over time in the spring it is found that some branches have broken or did not survive, then they will need to be removed.
It is also worth considering one more fact. If you collect remontant raspberries twice a year, then the autumn berries will be small and rather dry, since over the summer the bush is very depleted. Therefore, some gardeners plant a regular and remontant variety of raspberries on their plots and harvest twice a year. In the summer - from the summer variety and in the fall - from the remontant.
In very windy and little snow regions, it is not enough to simply bend down, but skilled gardeners have learned to get out of this situation as well.
Installation of protective systems against frost
If your raspberry is growing in an open field and the snow is blown off the bushes, then you can come up with a snow retention system.Its essence lies in the installation of a barrier from the windward side. To do this, you can dig sheets of plywood or polycarbonate into the ground. If we talk about durability, it is better to give preference to polycarbonate, since it is not afraid of frost and is not subject to decay.
To secure the snow retention system, you can tie it to the trellises if necessary. The structure must be installed so that it protects the raspberries from the wind, that is, it must be installed from the side of the predominant wind direction in winter. To correctly install the structure, you can check the wind rose. You can find it on the site of the district hydrometeorological service.
If the snow blows out even through the snow-retaining structure or it falls out too little in your area, then the raspberry bushes will need to be additionally covered with a specially designed non-woven material. For example, spunbond or lutrasil.
In this case, it is necessary to bend the branches of the remontant raspberry, tying them to the lower wire, and on top lay the covering material in several layers, which must also be fixed. If you live in a region with a harsh climate, but a small amount of precipitation, then the covering material with remontant raspberries can be additionally covered with arched cellular polycarbonate.
So, with proper care, remontant raspberries will bring your family a rich harvest of tasty and vitamin-rich berries. Follow the guidelines in this article and you will succeed.
On the features of growing and preparing remontant varieties of raspberries for winter, you can get additional information from the video:
