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Arlene Wright-Correll |
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Arlene Wright-Correll |
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| Harvesting
raspberries and blackberries for longer shelf life and better flavor©
by Arlene Correll |
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Pick the fruit every 2-3 days. Pick berries with good color, and if it doesn't pull away from the stem easily, leave it for next time. Harvest only when the plants are completely dry. Your berries will keep longer, and you won't spread diseases among your plants. Use shallow trays to collect berries to prevent damage to the soft fruit. |
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Refrigerate
immediately after harvest. Leaving a tray of berries on the ground will
attract insects.
Once your crop is harvested, you'll need to prune the canes. Here is some information on pruning brambles. Raspberries don't need pruning the first year, but afterwards will need to be pruned once a year after harvest. |
| Summer-Bearing
Raspberries
Immediately after harvest, cut all canes that have produced fruit to ground level. This helps to prevent disease and gives the plant more room to grow. What remains is first-year canes that will produce fruit next year. Thin each plant to three or four straight, sturdy canes. Cut the remaining canes back to a height of 4-5 feet. Fall-Bearing Raspberries Pruning fall-bearing raspberries is easy because you don't have to decide which canes to save. Simply mow off these brambles as close to ground level as possible after the leaves drop in the fall. Remove all stubs. Any buds that grow from stubs that weren't cut low enough will grow into unproductive branches. Black and Purple Raspberries Most of the fruit on these raspberries is borne on the sideshoots. To encourage the plant to put it's energy into growing productive side-shoots, cut the tip off each cane in the summer. This should be done when the plant reaches a height of 2½-4 feet. After harvest, cut out the canes that have produced fruit and choose 6-9 large, straight canes on each plant to save for next year. Prune back the side branches on these canes to 8-12 inches and remove spindly ones. Blackberries Blackberries are usually left to grow along the ground the first year. Fruit is borne on second-year canes. Prune spent canes off immediately after harvest. In very early spring, thin to the best 6-9 canes per hill, and cut these canes to a length of about 7 feet. Shorten the side-branches to 10-15 inches and remove the spindly ones. Tie these canes along the trellis. I'm still picking blackberries. About
the author, Arlene
Wright-Correll (1935-
), free lance writer, award winning artist and avid gardener is
mother of 5 and the grandmother of 8.
For almost 40 years she was an International real estate
consultant and during the last 20 years of her career traveled to many
parts of the world. She
has been a cancer and stroke survivor since 1992.
While working and raising her children she had many hobbies
including being a very serious home-vintner for approximately 14 years
while residing in upstate New York in St. Lawrence County producing
2,000 to 3,000 bottles of wine a year.
She was the president of the St. Lawrence County chapter of the
American Wine Society in
"Tread the Earth Lightly" & in the meantime
may your day be filled with... Peace, Light, and Love, Arlene Wright-Correll www.learn-america.com
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