Growing Raspberries

New Raspberries For Free
New growths will spring up from around the base of existing raspberries during the summer.

These should be dug up including some parts of their root system in October and transplanted to their new place - the chances of success are very high.

Raspberry Diseases

It is recommended that raspberry canes are always sprayed with a fungicide at the beginning and end of June to prevent common raspberry diseases.

Raspberry Beetle is a pest where the beetle larvae feed on the berries, leading to badly formed fruit - it becomes dry and shrivelled. The larvae fall of after a time, and can be seen on the soil at the base of the plant.

Spur Blight is a fungal infection and is best controlled by regular pruning of overcrowded branches and burning them. The first symptoms are purple areas appearing on the branches in August which quickly turn into silver patches marked with black fungus. If the infection is not prevented, spray with copper fungicide such as Bordeaux mixture (available from most garden centres).

Aphids (several types) often infect raspberries and the only successful course of action is to spray with a good insecticide immediately they are noticed. The varieties 'Malling Orion', 'Malling Delight' and 'Malling Leo' are surprisingly resistant to aphid attacks.

Birds love raspberries, and can be a real problem in some areas where they are numerous. Netting or fruit cages are the only real solution, although there are a variety of 'scaring' mechanism available at garden centres.

Click here to see a range of excellent quality and good value walk-in, heavy duty steel fruit cages.

Other walk-in fruit cages are available by clicking on the descriptions below:
Decorative Steel Fruit Cage Aluminium Fruit Cage, by far the best on the market in its class!
Timber Fruit Cage, for a more rugged natural look

Smaller fruit cages are also available below: Steel Vegetable and Strawberry Cage, stands 1.2m high above ground
Steel Freestanding Veg and Strawberry Cage, easily moved around
Aluminium Vegetable Cage - the cost effective option

Recommended Raspberry Varieties

All raspberries are self-fertile, so it is not necessary to grow more than one different variety.

Malling Jewel - now the most popular variety because it is resistant to some diseases and forms a neat compact plant which will withstand wind well. It has an excellent flavour.

Click the picture to enlarge it. Fallgold - an unusual variety for several reasons. First, the fruits are golden orange when ripe! The picture on the left was taken when the fruits were fully ripe. They were lovely tasting.