RASPBERRIES GONE WILD

hOW DO i CONTROL RASPBERRIES GONE WILD?

I must need coffee. My first reaction was


a flamethrower

Sorry, but I know nothing about rasberry cultivation

A bit more info might help with what to do with them. Has the clump got too large/wide? Are they summer fruiting or fall fruiting? Have you got the name of the variety? Are they freestanding or on a trellis or fence and are they in the ground or MM?

Raspberries will run rampant if allowed. It took me awhile to realize that what was growing in the dark shady corner of our yard was tangles of raspberries. (Too much shade for them to fruit - at least that's my guess) - but it took axes and long, long pruners to get through them.

So, how much of a mess are you dealing with?

They send out suckers underground. My raspberries at the restaurant are only three years old, so too soon to know if what I am doing will work. The first thing I did (okay, really a strong young man did) was dig a deep trench and line it with weed-cloth. Then I watch out for suckers. One of the little buggers grew long last year, flopped over about 18" away from the original, and set roots! Just like a strawberry! I didn't know it would do that, but it did!

And the other thing I do is prune a lot. So far, none have turned up outside their area, but like I said, this is only year 3.

PS - I'm kinda thinking the flame thrower might not be that bad an idea! Besides the thorns making it difficult to uproot them, I am pretty sure that they will keep growing from wherever the root breaks off.

Technically I "can't grow raspberries" where I live. But I try. I learned how to string them up from my friend who has a lot of "bushes" up in Bellevue, WA where they grow like crazy.

I only have three so not "crazy" and this is only year two. I started early when they first started sprouting leaves. I have two stakes and a lot of hemp twine. Tie twine to one steak, go all the way around suckers, wrap around steak, and back around the other side of the suckers starting close the base. I do this all the way up the raspberry bushes. This keeps you from having to touch them, they are awfully poky. You have to add new string as they grow more. I have short steaks, I would suggest around 10 feet if they grow well in your area.

On a side note, if you just want them gone for the year, you might try goats. A little slower than a flame thrower but they'll be cleared quickly enough. I have a friend who bought goats just to eat down all the wild blackberry bushes in their backyard, then sold them to someone else for the same purpose when her backyard was cleared. Warning, they eat and eat, and eat everything :o)

[edit] Oops, I went out and took a picture just for this post then forgot to add it,

From what I understand blackberries make raspberries seem tame! Love the goat idea! They do eat everything, but it's not always a bad thing!

martha wrote:From what I understand blackberries make raspberries seem tame! Love the goat idea! They do eat everything, but it's not always a bad thing!

I had goats until last year -- they didn't bother the Raspberries.

I just mow them over to keep them in the space I have available for them. I have transplanted some of the 'starts' to another area as well.

mine came from the bottom '40' of my yard. i dug them up after i dug a trench and put them bout every 8 inchs or so, i did the same thing as krazi's pic, but i used electic fence post wire not twine in between the t-posts still have plenty more to move later.

boog

We've been growing raspberries for about 10 or so years now. The way we control them is by simply mowing over the shoots that grow outside their alloted space (probably not the right way, but it works for us ). It doesn't seem to hurt the main plants and they keep growing like crazy.
We also prune them to about 2 feet every winter, and add ashes from our wood burning stove on them in very early spring. (like late Feb.)

Ours are not in MM but they give us two (usually bumper) crops every year.

Don't give up!

Weatherkid