Autumn Bliss raspberries

[Primrose]

I've just bought half a dozen canes of the above variety as this is all I've got space for at the moment (so not expecting a huge yield) . Never grown raspberries before but I understand this variety have to be cut down to the base every winter after cropping because fruit grows on new growth. Any special tips for me for to get the best out of them? Unfortunately they'll be in a rather shady location. Will this make a difference?

[Binky]

Hi Primrose

I have just bought some new raspberry canes as well. I don't know how long you have been subscribing to Kitchen Garden and whether you keep your old copies, but there is a really good, detailed article by Bob Sherman in December 2006, page 32. It tells you where and how to plant and gives month by month instructions on what to do with new canes, old canes, autumn fruiting canes.

[Primrose]

Alas I keep my KG copies for a year and then give them to a friend so no longer have that issue. I'm rather intrigued by the limited growing instructions on the label which says "cut off any surplus canes which grow from the base if not needed". I'm wondering whether new these canes develop their own separate root system and can be propogated and planted elsewhere by cutting down into the roots with a sharp knife in a similar fashion to the way other clumps of plants are divided when they grow too unwieldy?

[John]

Hello Primrose
Raspberries have spreading surface roots that will keep sending up new shoots. The autumn fruiting varieties will spread much more quickly than the summer fruiting ones so that after a few years a thick bed of cane growth will have formed. You will need to be quite ruthless and restrict the bed to about 2 ft wide and within the bed fetch out any very woody bits that are obviously past it. I go down the side of my beds with a spade and dig out any growths that have strayed. If you don't do this you'll finish up with a wide bed of congested poor canes that won't fruit very well.
With a newly planted bed there's not much to worry about for a couple of years.

John

PS For some reason my rasps suffer from iron chlorosis which shows as a yellowing in the leaves so I give them a yearly dose of sequestered iron feed to keep them healthy. Something to look out for on your plants.

[richard p]

the experts say you should cut all the canes off autumn bliss during the winter , they then grow new canes in the spring which will fruit in the autumn. which is fine if you only want fruit in the autumn. i now cut down about half the canes over winter to encourage new canes for autumn fruit , but the canes left for the 2nd year fruit in sping and early summer . rather than go through the whole bed thinning with secateurs i cut half with the hegetrimmer, then the other end the next year.

[Johnboy]

Hi Primrose,
My Autumn Bliss grow in a 3' bed, although 2' bed is quite adequate enough, which is lined with slates dug in vertically around the edges which confines the wayward roots.
I appreciate what Richard is saying but feel that somehow he misses the best of both seasons. Autumn Bliss should be grown for purpose and that is for late summer and early autumn picking then you get the very best.
Certainly you have to be quite ruthless in maintaining the amount of canes you have. Any that stray from the line that you want should be removed. I have found it best after a couple of years when the original plant have gone to dig out that space and replant it. I grow Lettuces down the edges close to the paths on either side and they have generally finished well before the wandering roots begin to appear.
JB.

[Primrose]

Thanks for all your helpful comments. I'm continually trying to make the most of the very limited growing space in our garden so am looking forward to adding another species of soft fruit to the list. Can anybody give me any idea how many raspberries I'm likely to get from just 5 canes? Your various comments seem to suggest that over the years I'll get more as a number of new additional canes appear.

[garden_serf]

I put 5 canes of Autumn Bliss into a very unsuitable, temporary location (while I was sorting out a more suitable site) and got roughly 2 Kg of fruit in the first year. They were out the front near the path & postbox and I even saw the postman eating them
I was impressed with the quickness of growth and the amount of fruit. The quickness of growth certainly sent up all the extra canes (to the sides) that I had to deal with ruthlessly. They were very shallow though so it was not difficult.

I am just about to move them (gulp smilie!) this weekend. I have prepared the new area over the last few weeks.

I have read also that they should not be planted too near potaotes or tomatoes as it can increase blight (on pots & toms).

[Primrose]

Thanks garden serf. Looks like my little bunch of canes will be a good investment. I'm worried though about your comments about potato blight as I was proposing to locate three potato planter bags pretty close to them as I literally have nowhere else to put them at the moment. I've never heard about this before. Are raspberries part of the same plant family?

[Johnboy]

Hi GS,
Your quote:I have read also that they should not be planted too near potatoes or tomatoes as it can increase blight (on pots & toms).

I would be more than interested where and how you gathered this information.
I actually believe it to be totally erroneous.
Blight affects only plants in the Solanum family and Raspberries do not belong to the family and can see no way that Raspberries can in any way affect Tomatoes or Potatoes blight-wise.
JB.

[garden_serf]

Hi JB.
I had read it in one of my books, so I cannot vouch that the information written in the book is correct.
Book = 'Secrets of companion planting - Carrots love Tomatoes and Roses love Garlic', Loiuse Riotte. Page 93. ISBN 1-58017-829-4.

I have found it to be an interesting read and appears to cover all the usual companion planting techniques and tips.
I understand why you question it and I too would like to know why this may be the case.

[garden_serf]

JB, I just found the following info which made interesting reading;

Cause of Potato blight:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytophthora_infestans

Raspberries and Phytophthora:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry

If it is the same type of Phytophthora, then it may show a relationship between blight, Raspberries & Potatoes.

http://ecochem.com/t_customer_888_2.html

I am just going out to move my raspberries. I have been planning this for a while as they are too near the path and I don't want people to get prickled!!

[Primrose]

As I've just planted my raspberry canes (just in time I think, as I notice two of them were beginning to shoot from the base already) and in due course will have the potato containers located within a foot of them and nowhere else for them to go unless I put them on the lawn and have patches of bare grass, I'll watch with interest over this summer if we get any blight warnings to see what happens and report back.

[richard p]

it would appear that phytophthora is a wole bfamily of funguses, one of which causes potatoe blight, another different one causes root rot in raspberries, another one attacks oak trees...
ive got raspberries which have had blighted tomatoes near them with no visible effect on the raspberries , im going with the theory that different phytophthora funguses attack different plant families...unless someone knows different

[Johnboy]

Hi GS and Richard,
Phytophthora are species/family specific and the phythophthora affecting Raspberries and Potatoes are different and therefore would not effect each other. I therefore see no reason why the Potatoes and Tomatoes should not be planted within reasonable distance of Raspberries.
The Potato Tuber is the host for Phytophthora Infestans mycelium and once the potatoes get blight then it can spread to the other members of the family; Peppers, Tomatoes, Aubergines and also Shrubs and Weeds in the family Solanaceae but NOT the Raspberry. The Phytophthora affecting Raspberries is also very very unlikely to have any effect on the Solanaceae family of plants.
GS,
If you revisit the Wiki site and under Cultivation click on the word Phytophthora (in Blue) then scroll down it will give you an idea of just how many types of Phytophthora are about and that list is only a fraction of the sum total.
I really do not think that you have anything to worry about.
JB.