[Tortoisebex]

Hi

I have just taken a allotment that has some established raspberry canes on it, they are about 2 foot tall at present and sutrrounded by grasses etc whioch I plan to clear.

I question is do I need to do anything to the canes? or should i just leave them and see what they do?
I also have a lot of strawberry plants....  again i dont know how old they are...  what would people do? leave and watch or remove?

Thanks

Bex

[angelavdavis]

Personally, I would clear the grass and weeds around the plants, give them a mulch with some rotted manure or compost and wait and see.

If you want to do something more, if you can see any remnants of fruit on the raspberries, they will be autumn ones so can be cut to the ground, but if not, I would leave alone and wait and see.

You may spot some newly rooted strawberry runners and remove them from the parent plants to create a new bed if you want to, then if your old plants aren't producing very well, you have an insurance policy.

Giving them a feed won't mean a lot of work and I am sure you have lots else to do on your new plot!  Good luck!!

[Paul Plots]

That sounds good advice to me... 

If you have the time, as well as cleared space and the strawberries are truly clogged with grass, you might consider: lifting enough strawberry plants in early spring to make a new clean bed. You'll be taking a chance as it's hard to tell (if you can at all at that stage) how old the plants are. Might be worth the effort though?

[angelavdavis]

Paul has jogged a memory as I did a similar thing when I took over a plot in June (after they produced fruit).   They have all survived OK as generally strawberries are tough as ole boots. 

In fact they got replanted twice because I asked my hubby to plant them through weed suppressant and/or newspaper and he didn't, so I did them again when they were choked with weed again (you live and learn!)

I am yet to find out if the plants are any good, but I generally sorted through the ones that seemed to be newer plants and remember two years ago the strawberries being very productive on the plot (when it belonged to someone else).

I took my plot over in June and the strawberry bed was one of the few that I could actually work at the time, so I did.  If I was taking over the plot this time of year, I would tidy the strawbs and concentrate on the other bits.  As Paul says, you will be able to clear the grass better by physically digging up the strawbs first, as no doubt it is couch and growing through the whole plants, but I suspect you probably have more than enough to contend with  :blink:

[Ema]

The plot I'm getting has a big raised bed of strawberries

It's plonked right in the middle of the plot it's too wide to reach the middle ones

They'll all be lifted out and moved into rows in a 1/4 of the plot I'm allocating to fruit. Hopefully before it gets too warm!

[Hobnails]

Hi

I have just taken a allotment that has some established raspberry canes on it, they are about 2 foot tall at present and sutrrounded by grasses etc whioch I plan to clear.

I question is do I need to do anything to the canes? or should i just leave them and see what they do?
I also have a lot of strawberry plants....  again i dont know how old they are...  what would people do? leave and watch or remove?

Thanks

I inherited an old overgrown patch of raspberries on my plot. They produced nothing much
next year. I could see no disease and as funds were short dug them out and replanted some good canes in clean ground in another place.
I couldn't believe the result- a bumper crop of good sized autumn berries.
You might consider moving yours from the tired plot where they've been growing. The criterion is making sure they are disease free.


edited to fix quote