Raspberry plants, being in one place in the garden, eventually lose their fertility, the soil under the raspberries is greatly depleted. In such cases, it is possible to rejuvenate the raspberry plantation without acquiring new planting material.
How to understand that raspberries have become old?
In one place, raspberry bushes can actively bear fruit from 5 to 10, sometimes up to 15 years. Much depends on the fertility of the soil and the care of the plants - timely feeding, weeding, removal of old shoots.
The signs of the coming aging of raspberry bushes indicate:
- a sharp decrease in yield or complete absence of berries on the shoots;
- the absence of young shoots or new plants look weak, their height is 15-20 cm lower than last year's;
- they lose their immunity and are affected by fungal and viral infections;
- in the raspberry tree there are many old dry shoots.
If you notice that your raspberry patch has aged, proceed to renew it.
Types of work to renew old raspberries
Rejuvenation of raspberry plantings is carried out to preserve good yielding varieties, increase productivity, get rid of soil pests, fungal and viral diseases. There are several ways to update an old raspberry tree.
Transplant roots
Applied in early autumn, if it is possible to move the raspberry to another place on the site. The advantages of this method are that:
- plants get the opportunity to root in a well-prepared, fertilized layer of soil;
- with proper processing of planting material, you can get rid of pathogens that have accumulated in the old place.
Transplant in the following sequence:
- Mark the healthiest, most productive bushes during the fruiting period.
- Select two plots, one for the nursery and one for the new permanent raspberry plant. Avoid shady and poorly ventilated areas.
- Apply fertilizer to the selected location. They must contain nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, for example, ammophoska or any complex fertilizer. The application rate is 15-20 g per square meter. It is good to add manure and wood ash.
- After finishing fruiting, dig up the marked bushes. If old branches are present in them, remove them along with the portion of the root on which they grew.
- Place the underground part of the plants in the root germination solution for 20 minutes. You can also dip them into a mash made from dry crushed manure (about 1 kg), 10 liters of water and a small amount of clay, with a density reminiscent of liquid cement or thick sour cream.
- Remove the roots from the solution and let them dry.
- In the area set aside for the nursery, make depressions to a depth of 10-15 cm. Place the prepared raspberry bushes in them, cover with earth, compacting the soil around the trunks.
- By the end of October, new young growth from the bushes should grow in the nursery. Dig it up carefully and plant it in its permanent place.
With timely watering and removal of weeds, new bushes will take root even before the onset of late autumn. You will get your first harvest in a year.
Planting material can be prepared from raspberry roots. To do this, in early spring, dig up the entire bush with rhizomes, cut the roots into small pieces with white tubercles - root buds. Plant the cuttings in a greenhouse to a depth of 8 cm.
In the fall, plant the resulting seedlings in a place intended for raspberries.
Mow everything
One of the methods of rejuvenating old raspberries is to completely remove all shoots on the site. This is done in the event that signs of fungal diseases appear on the plants.
The procedure is carried out in the fall, in September-October. Burn the cut branches. Fertilize the site with mineral complex fertilizers, add wood ash.
In the spring, young strong branches will grow on the renewed site. If done correctly, you will get the harvest that same year.
Add more manure
This method does not guarantee the renewal of a very old plantation. It is effective for severe depletion of the soil under the raspberry tree in the absence of diseases.
Chicken, horse or cow manure is a versatile fertilizer for raspberries, and is also environmentally friendly. Enzymes and nutrients stimulate the emergence of new strong shoots on the bushes, increase the yield.
Partial rejuvenation
If it is not possible to allocate a new place for raspberries on your garden plot, then you can partially renew it. With this method, remove the oldest and worst bushes.
Perform the procedure in early spring or autumn:
- Carefully make cuts with a shovel to the depth of a bayonet on four sides and dig out the designated bushes. At the same time, do not damage the adjacent growth and its root system.
- Add humus, soil to the grooves remaining in the ground, pour water.
- Transplant the young branches that have grown during the summer in October next to the main raspberry tree.
- Repeat this way for several years. Your raspberry plant will gradually move around the site, replacing old bushes with new ones.
This method will allow you to renew old shrubs while maintaining proven varieties.
Errors when updating old raspberries
When updating the plantings of raspberries, the following mistakes are often made:
- selection of a shaded or wetland area;
- planting new plants in the old place - this is how the plantings become infected with fungal diseases and pests from the bushes that previously bore fruit in this place;
- untimely or, conversely, too abundant watering (you need to water when the soil dries out 5 cm or more);
- too heavy soil with an acid reaction in the renewed area;
- planting seedlings too deep;
- young growth is not removed, which takes away strength from the main bush;
- insufficient amount of applied fertilizers.
All these blunders can lead to the fact that your efforts to ennoble raspberries will be wasted.
If signs of “old age” have become visible in raspberries, you need to immediately start rejuvenating them. Updating an old raspberry is a time-consuming and painstaking work that requires a careful approach. But he will bring you the result in the form of a bountiful harvest of your favorite berries.
Author of the publication
12
Russia. City Novosibirsk
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