You may remember that our summer fruiting raspberries have been wiped out this year. All except one of the 36 plants are dead and I think that one is on its way out.
One of our plot neighbours has the same problem which we think is down to a root rotting disease called Raspberry Dieback and Root Rot (Phytophthora). The really wet conditions over winter and into spring probably provided ideal conditions in which the disease thrived. The plants will have to be dug up and destroyed and we'll have to find something to replace them that is unaffected by this. It really is a shame as last year these raspberries were delicious and bountiful!
So no lovely red summer raspberries for us this year.
We have had some raspberries though - purple ones provided by our Glencoe plant.
Glencoe grows more like a blackberry than a raspberry so you only plant one of them. We have ended up with two plants as the tip of one cane has rooted where it touched the ground. We could detach this and plant it elsewhere.
Fortunately unlike most blackberries Glencoe is thornless so it isn't as problematic as a blackberry to handle. It also produces an abundance of fruit which are somewhat smaller than the red varieties although for some reason the berries produced on the north facing side of the plant are later to ripen and are bigger than those on the south side.
In all so far we have harvested 2.2kg from this one plant and there is still lots of fruit to come.
Once fruiting is over all the fruiting canes will be completely cut out and the strong canes already produced will be tied down to the wires. At the moment the new canes are tied together in the middle of the plant to keep this year's and last year's canes apart.
These will be bent down and tied in to produce next year's fruit.
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I wish I had so many raspberries as you Sue; 2 kilos is a great harvest!
ReplyDeleteMy raspberry which I bought a few months ago, didn't grow at all. I think the plant must have been dead or sick when I bought it, because other fruit bushes which I bought from the same store grow well. Next time I'll buy raspberry from another place.
Last year with the summer raspberries we had a much better harvest, Dewberry. We're hoping the autumn fruiting ones perform well.
DeleteThat's a fabulous crop Sue, makes me want to re plant some.
ReplyDeleteI never had much luck getting to out Raspberries before the birds so I ended up sulking and pulling the whole lot up. I did transplant some of them but they never survived.
Enjoy your bounty
I would have thought raspberries would do really well, Linda as most seem to be bred in Scotland
DeleteI'm sorry to hear about the demise of your red Raspberries, but I think your article nicely demonstrates the merits of "bio-diversity"! It's not a good idea to have loads of one crop at the expense of others. Your Glencoe berries look really "rich" - almost like the Blackberry which its growing habit resembles. Does it taste different to the red ones?
ReplyDeleteWe hope the autumn fruiters will make up for it Mark. Glencoe just tastes like a raspberry
DeleteLove the raspberries,they have such a weird color. I personally prefer blackberries over raspberries, they give more fruits and need less work around them. We have thornless blackberries I think that they are "Black satin blackberries." I cut them in spring and that's it and they give me 30-40 kilos of blackberries each year.
ReplyDeleteGlencoe is treated just like a blackberry, Leanan. We have blackberries too - one evil thorny variety of unknown origin as it was given to us and a young thornless Loch Ness which seems to fruit earlier
DeleteLoch Ness is a great blackberry. It will give you fruits in August. The only thing is you'll need steps to pick them up they grow really really big :D
DeleteMine istrained down on wires Leanan so no need for a ladder which is good as I don't like ladders.
DeleteI was wondering if anyone was having problems with their Summer Raspberries this season. About 50/60% of mine have died back since early this year. My Autumn ones are O.K. Funnily enough both lots are in beds in damp/wet areas of my plots. Sad that the plants have died but I intend to remove the rest this year leaving the Autumn ones as they are, due to the fact that I have plenty of other early fruit anyway.
ReplyDeleteWe're really disappointed about the raspberries, Rooko as they were great last year. Are yours all together and are they the same variety as all of ours have died? Like you it's fingers crossed for the autumn fruiters.
DeleteWhat a shame about the raspberries, but what a bountiful harvest of glencoe!xxxx
ReplyDeleteIt is a huge disappointment, Snowbird but Glencoe has saved the day! The autumn ones are just starting too now.
DeleteGlencoe sounds great! Sue your harvests are off the scale!! Amazing :)
ReplyDeleteHoping for the autumn fruiting raspberries to come good for us too Anna
DeleteIf I can find space for it I would love a Glencoe especially as it is thornless. I must reread your Post as I am interested in how you are managing your Glencoe. We have a Tayberry which is totally out of control. How do we know which stems to cut off and when do we have to prune it ? It is throwing out masses of stems and lovely fruit at the moment. Marion x
ReplyDeleteWith Glencoe you treat it as you would a blackberry or tayberry, Marion - that is - after fruiting cut all the fruiting canes down to the ground and tie in the new canes. In the last photo the canes sticking upright are the new canes which I tied together to keep them from tangling with the fruiting ones. These will be tied down when the old canes have been removed. You don't need many new canes as the side shoots will branch from them and these will hold the fruit.
DeleteOurs has just about finished fruiting so I will prune soon when the last fruits have been picked.
With your tayberry it will be just the same but will have more young shoots so you will need to thin them out by removing and weak or straggly canes and also leaving space between the remaining canes.