By Alan on Sep 20 in Blog | Comments Off

Transplanting Raspberries

This week I had a friend ask me, “When is the best time to transplant raspberries?”   I told him that I had grown up weeding my father’s raspberry patch and didn’t appreciate the scratches that I would get on my arms and hands.  Since there are lots of other fruits that don’t have thorns and I have limited space, I don’t grow them.  I admit that I still enjoy eating them.   I told him that I would get back to him and not just shoot from the hip with an answer.

My initial thought was that since fall was a good time to plant fruit trees, maybe this would be a good time to transplant raspberries.  If you live in a warmer climate, this would be all right.  However, if you live in colder climates the best time is in early spring, preferably while the plant is still dormant (before the new growth appears) and just after the soil thaws.

Something that you could do in the fall is prepare the bed where you will place the transplants.  This will speed things up, especially if you have a wet spring and it is harder to work the ground.  Another thing to do in the fall is to prune the raspberry plants and put about 3’’ of compost over them for winter protection of the roots.

When preparing the soil, at the new site, put a couple of inches of compost over the top and then spade or till to a depth of about 6’’.

In the spring dig holes a couple of feet apart and space rows so you will have room to access the plants and berries.  When digging up the raspberry plants make sure that you provide a good root ball.  Plant the transplants at the same depth that they were in their old bed.  Backfill and tamp the soil down around the plants.  Additional water will be required until the plants are established.  Once the temperatures warm up the raspberry plant will resume growing.

If you have waited too long and the plants have already started growing, cut them back to about 6’’ to give the roots a better chance to establish themselves.

Eventually you should have some nice plants with lots of raspberries on the vines.  If you remember earlier in this article and in my last article I talked about planting fruit trees in early fall.  In this specific case, planting in early fall has advantages.

§  There is generally more rain in the fall.

§  The temperatures are cooler, so the soil doesn’t dry out as rapidly.

§  There is less fertilizer requirement because the trees are going dormant.

§  Even if there are early frosts, the soil will still remain warmer than the surrounding air and the roots will continue to grow, often into late fall.

All of the above means less stress on the tree, especially if you have a hotter and drier than usual spring and summer like most of the USA did this year.  I learned this the hard way. When an older fruit tree died early this summer, I removed it and I replaced it with another tree.  I had it on an irrigation system, but nearly lost the tree because the hot dry weather required additional watering.  I caught it just in time, but lost some of the new growth and damaged many of the leaves that survived.  

Be sure to check on the best time to plant or transplant specific plants.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven:  2… a time to plant…”

Dennis Adamson
Master Gardner
For The Family