Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Casey76 on March 06, 2014, 09:27
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How many raspberry canes do you need to have a decent supply of fruit. Say if I was to do half summer fruiting and half autumn fruiting?
Would 5 of each be OK, or would 10 be better?
(Just asking as I've found somewhere I can buy bare root canes which sells in bundles of 5)
And to add... how much space would be needed per cane (space isn't an issue, but I would need to work out where to put them :) )
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Depends on your meaning of decent. If you want to have the occasional desert then 5 would suffice. If you want to make jam or freeze them to enjoy throughout the year then i would say at least 10 but more like 15-20. I space mine 2ft apart in rows 4 ft apart.
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for most people i would say 10 canes would enough once they've established.
prob more important to net them well so you keep all the fruit instead of the birds taking half of it.
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I planted 8 Joan J (autumn) and make jam and eat some - so 10 Summer 10 Autumn should be plenty once they're into their stride :)
Summer ones need supports, the Autumn ones don't - which is why I grow the latter :D
On our site the birds leave the Autumn fruiting berries alone - another plus!
RHS advice here
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Grow-Your-Own/Fruit-A-to-Z/Raspberries
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Having a mix of summer and autumn varieties is a good idea, but keep them separated so you know which are which in order to prune them accordingly. Rasps will spread and throw up several new canes per cane each year and can be transplanted if needs be, especially if they shoot outside their boundaries, so 2' apart should give them room to produce new canes for next year. Depending on the size of your bed, I'd get 10 of each so, if one or two don't take, you have enough to get a decent bed established in the first year. Also, make sure drainage is good, plant quite near the surface (about 6"?) as their roots don't go down that far, and mulch well to conserve moisture in summer.