Raspberry Canes - before planting out

[skinny_bum]

There is a realy good offer on in the paper and the net www.mailshop.com (or).co.uk I cant remember, but they have an offer of buy 20 rasp canes and get 10 free all delivered for about £20 of early, mid and late season.

Any way some one on my plot got some so I had a look and they look great, but what he has done is leave them all together in a bunch and put the roots in the ground, what does this do, does it stop the bear roots from drying out before your ready to planing out?

I would like to get some and share with a friend but havent finished preparing the ground and I think that the offer will end soon, can I also do the same when I get the canes and for how long can they stay in the grown like this? or do I store then some other way before planting out, it would obviously be best to plant out when you get them but I cant at the mo and dont want to miss the offer.
SB

[PLUMPUDDING]

Hi SB, It is called "heeling them in" and just protects the roots until you are ready to plant them in their proper positions. Sounds like a good offer. What variety are they?

[skinny_bum]

Hi Plumpudding, thanks for that, the healing in thing makes so much sense.

The variety's are
Glen Cova,
Malling Jewel &
Zeva

oh and the web site is .co.uk, you can buy any of these in 10's as well, but you get a better deal with more.
I am also in the process of buying some blueberries and gooseberries, and next summer a massive tub of cream for when they are all ready. Yumm cant wait
SB

[John]

Hello Skinny_bum
As PP says this is a good way of protecting the roots until you can plant out properly. If you think the plants may be in the ground like this for more than a week or so I think I would cut a short trench, undo the bundles and spread them out closely along the trench then cover with soil. This will prevent those in the middle of the bundle from suffering.

John

PS Raspberries are in their permanent positions for a long time so its well worth spending extra time getting the soil really clean and well prepared. As they are shallow rooting it can get difficult to keep the row clear of weeds during the growing season, especially perennial weeds. Also if you intend to get a fruit cage round them at some time in the future plan out your row planting carefully - most cages are based on a 6 ft grid and allow room to get round the end of the rows.