[mumofstig]

I have to move my raspberries into a narrow area near to raised beds and want to stop them escaping into the beds.

How deep do you think the barrier needs to be? I thought that maybe I could plant them into open bottomed tubs about 18in deep, sunk into the soil the same as you can do with mint...do you think this would work?

Any other ideas for containing the rootrun?

[gypsy]

Our previous next door neighbour grew raspberries many years ago,we have been told that he neglected them for a long time when become elderly. We have lived at this house 5 yrs and never knew him but his raspberries still come up in our borders and the edge of our lawn. So it seems to me that they may be hard to tame. CC

[JayG]

How deep do you think the barrier needs to be? I thought that maybe I could plant them into open bottomed tubs about 18in deep, sunk into the soil the same as you can do with mint...do you think this would work?

I think 18" should do the job depth-wise, but reckon the tubs would need to be quite wide to avoid the roots becoming congested (mint refuses to abandon its rampant habits even when confined to a small container and I would be concerned that raspberries might behave the same).

[penance]

I would use a heavy duty plastic sheet, like a ground sheet and use that to line the area being used for the rasps. Also go down around 2foot to be safe.

I imagine the issue with mint is the runners rooting, not the roots themselves escaping the confines of a pot.

[JayG]

I imagine the issue with mint is the runners rooting, not the roots themselves escaping the confines of a pot.

Mint confined to a pot does not escape but in my experience becomes a congested mass of roots which is to the detriment of future growth (have to re-pot mine every year)

[tode]

The "runners" on my rasps are very shallow: only about 4 - 5 inches.  I would think that 1 foot should be sufficient.
But IMO you should use something stronger than plastic sheet.  Underground shoots can be incredibly strong (am thinking of the dandelions that can pierce pavement). 
Corrugated iron ?

[penance]

tode, not so.
Comercial root barriers are just heavy duty plastic sheet.

It does not need to be strong but inpermeable. Roots will not force thru a solid but will find very small holes in a permeable substance.

Corrugated iron would be fairly pointless as it will rust very quick.

[Salmo]

I have a new row of Autumn Bliss and was pondering this same question. My cunning plan is to put boards round, like a raised bed, with a sheet of pond liner going deeper to restrict the runners. The boards will allow me to mulch them.

Carol Klein planted some on Gardeners World. She surrounded them with overlapping house slates, which is apparently the traditional way to do it.

From what I have seen the runners are usually no more than 6 inches deep so, as tode says, a foot deep should be OK. If the occasional one escapes it can be dealt with.

[Yorkie]

I saw someone use paving slabs sunk vertically into the ground for the same reason, seemed to work OK

[mumofstig]

Righty o...thick guage placcy it is then............

Cheers m'dears for the advice

[waddecar]

I have a new row of Autumn Bliss and was pondering this same question. My cunning plan is to put boards round, like a raised bed, with a sheet of pond liner going deeper to restrict the runners. The boards will allow me to mulch them.

Carol Klein planted some on Gardeners World. She surrounded them with overlapping house slates, which is apparently the traditional way to do it.

From what I have seen the runners are usually no more than 6 inches deep so, as tode says, a foot deep should be OK. If the occasional one escapes it can be dealt with.

i line my raised bed boards with overlapping slates - didn't know it was traditional! Anyway I set up my raspberry bed 4 years ago. Slates and boards dont stop the roots spreading.

Planning to move the rasps in the spring to a new bed set in grass so that I can just mow down the escapees.

[Jay Dubya]

Hi, rasps are shallow rooted so you don't have to go too deep but don't hem them in too much they like to spread a little.

[PAH48]

2yrs ago a local guy gave me some corrogated sheeting 18-20 inch deep..4-6foot lenghts..
bright idea!!...dug them in ..so only the last inch or showed above ground level...on my then recently planted Rspberry bed.....

Guess what?

No they haven't started growing under the sheeting.........


OH! NO!....

They gone backwards into me Path!!!!

[whitehartlottie]

I am planning to put a paving stone path next to my rasp's (18" slabs) to hopefully deter runners popping up. I plan to put my asparagus bed next to it so really don't want the runners disturbing them, may try some plastic as well to be safe.

Does anyone know how much space I need to leave for the raspberry row in terms of width, was thinking of 18" (roughtly half a meter) ...it will be a single row of summer fruiting with single post support system.

[JayG]

I am planning to put a paving stone path next to my rasp's (18" slabs) to hopefully deter runners popping up. I plan to put my asparagus bed next to it so really don't want the runners disturbing them, may try some plastic as well to be safe.

Does anyone know how much space I need to leave for the raspberry row in terms of width, was thinking of 18" (roughtly half a meter) ...it will be a single row of summer fruiting with single post support system.

Yes you need a belt-and-braces approach 'cos raspberry runners don't readily take the hint! (I have 18" slabs about 18" away from my raspberries and guess what, the runners go under and up the other side!) Asparagus is the last thing you want invaded by raspberry runners.

18" is an absolute minimum width to grow the raspberries even if supported (and you really need to access both sides for picking.)