I didn’t do an update last year, but I’ve been documenting the progress of my raspberry plants over the years. Each year does seem to get better, but there are a few general observations. The plants with the most sunlight markedly outperform those plants with partial shade. I planted two rows of raspberry canes. I believe the Anne raspberries planted in partial shade did not survive. The Joan J are small, but do produce some raspberries.
The mid-summer harvest produced far more Anne raspberries than Joan J, but the fall seems to be producing more Joan J. Also, this year I did not bother with bird netting and I haven’t noticed any major losses to the birds. It is far easier to not deal with the netting, but perhaps I am loosing some raspberries as a result.
The newest pest I encountered this summer was the spotted wing drosophilia. Or I should say the larvae they produce. There were a few of the raspberries during the mid-summer harvest that had small white worms crawling out of them, which look like maggots. Not very appetizing. They aren’t dangerous to eat, and just add protein, but they look gross. I picked the fruit fairly promptly, but if you don’t, they will destroy the fruit. Apparently this is a relatively new pest and it has quickly spread across the country. Since my harvest is relatively small, it was pretty easy to inspect the fruit and remove any of the worms.
The only other major change in how I care for my raspberries is that I got automatic sprinklers late last year. Before that, I used a soaker hose which seemed to work well. Now I have two sprinkler heads that left up and spray the plants.
So, here’s the photos. As they say, the proof is in the pudding.
4/21/19 – Spring 2019. This is the row that is closer to the fence and has more of the neighbor’s tree shading it. There are several smallish canes from the previous year, starting to show some growth.
4/21/19 – Spring 2019. These are the bare root canes in the area that gets almost full sun. There is no fence to shade the area and the tree in the neighbor’s yard provides far less shade to this row. The canes in this area are much larger.
June 1, 2019. You can see how much larger the canes have grown in the full sun area. The canes on the left are all Joan J at this point. The canes on the right are mostly Anne with a few Joan J mixed in. I’m not sure if I accidentally planted them that way, or if the Anne really needed the full sun to keep coming back.
June 28, 2019. Joan J are producing yummy raspberries.
July 1, 2019. More yummy Joan J raspberries.
July 4, 2019 – one of several bowls of Joan J raspberries harvested.
July 7, 2019. Now we are getting large, delicious Anne raspberries ready for eating. Also still getting some Joan J. The Anne seem larger at this point, but all of them are delicious.
July 9, 2019. More yummy Anne and Joan J raspberries.
July 28, 2019. You can see the canes in full sun doing their best to get out of the slight shade from the neighbor’s tree to the left. This is the first year I didn’t put any bird netting over the raspberries and they are getting very tall. I created a simple trellis using twine attached to the tall stakes. Those stakes are 6 foot tall stakes, hammered in about 4-6 inches. I would estimate the canes on in full sun are over 6 feet tall.
July 28, 2019. Raspberry canes in partial sun. Joan J canes. They do produce raspberries that taste good.
July 28, 2019. Full sun raspberry canes. Mostly Anne with a few Joan J mixed in.
September 13, 2019. Getting the fall harvest started with both Anne and Joan J producing on the first year canes.
July 4, 2019. Our one year old Portuguese water dog realized he can hop the chicken wire and loves raspberries.
