Kitchen Garden Forum

The 12 bareroot raspberries I ordered arrived last week. They are an Autumn fruiting variety Joan J. I have put them in a bucket of water as a temporary measure, as their bed is not yet ready - it needs more prep but it's too wet to work. How long can I leave them in the bucket? Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks.

Sarah

If you are going to be long preparing the ground, you would do better to put the plants in a bucket of damp potting compost. They will survive much better than in water.
As they are autumn fruiting don't be too long before planting as they will be wanting to grow their new canes quite soon.

dont leave them in the water , they will drown , the roots need air aswell as water. alan's moist compost is ideal,

Hello Sarah
Its alright to soak the bare roots for a couple of hours before planting out especially if they are a bit dry but as the others have said leaving them in a bucket of water will seriously damage them.
They can either be kept in moist compost as Alan says or even temporarily planted in the garden. Just dig a shallow trench in any clean soil, lay the canes in it (they won't need spreading out or anything) and cover the roots with soil then give a good soaking. Keep them cool as any unnecessary warmth will start them into growth which you don't want to happen until they are in their final positions.
When the bed is ready just dig them up and plant. Time is running out now on this task so I'd get them settled in as soon as possible in the next few weeks.

John

PS Raspberries are in their bed for a long time, 10 years or more, so a really, really thorough prep. and cleaning of their final home is a good investment in the future fruit crops.

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad I asked, as I was going to leave them in the water until I was ready to plant, which won't be for another week at least! They're now safely in my raised bed at home temporarily, so will hopefully be okay. It is very sheltered and good loose soil. Some of the canes have shoots on, so I'll prepare the ground as well as I can, as quickly as I can!