A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 identifying raspberry plant activities--help!

You're like the opposite of my sister with a different partner.

Your sister move to the big apple? Poor gal. I know what kind of culture shock that can be. My partner moved there with me, coming pretty much from rural Illinois. Course she did live in OKC for a while, so I guess it wasn't nearly as shocking as it coulda been. She holdin up ok? Big weekend this weekend She'll have a blast if she can handle the crowds.

Hanging around here you'll learn a lot about a lot.

Na, she moved to Chicago. Different but from very small to very large none the less.

I am so amazed and tickled to see the responses, and I have to say I needed to see them--I was getting bummed over the apparent no-show primocanes.

I have not seen anything happen at all. But maybe I just don't SEE it...I will pull back some dirt tomorrow and report my findings. As for where I got them--I bought them from QVC. I was blown away by the pictures and the reassurances that this was a hardy, reliable plant--and by the way, the 50 strawberry plants I bought the same day are doing wonderfully. I planted them the same time as the raspberry roots, and they are growing like mad and I saw some fruit appear on some just in the past few days. Not sure if I should be cutting back on the incredible runners, but the plants themselves are big, green, happy and thriving.
(Now why can't raspberries be that obvious??!)

Will get some pics, too.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by LMT:
[QB] To Missy and Mary,


Missy -- If those plants (root stock) have been in the ground for more than six weeks and no plants have sprouted primocanes then you should, carefully, pull a little soil away from the stem. I think you might have them planted too deep. If you see a bit of green, push the soil back and grin.

LMT--I am hoping that instead of making all the above-ground stuff like leaves and canes, that my raspberry plants are busy doing underground stuff like making root systems and sending runners. In which case, if there are in fact runners, I am afraid to weed between the plants in case there ARE runners. So I let grass and wildflowers and all sorts of stuff go on instead. And perhaps that is a mistake. I did, however, mulch directly around each of the 5 roots I had planted (5 feet apart for good measure). Not sure if this was a good idea but time will tell. And thanks for the help!!!!
Missydog

oh and the OH State Factsheet was very helpful!!!!

thanks!

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1421.html

Here's a picture I took about 3 days ago. You can barely make out the edges of the leaves turning brown

Oh, and, yeah, LMT...Chicago is big enough for a small town girl, no doubt!

Missy,

You should see some green around the root (crown root). If you don't, I'd guess they are too deep and I would carefully pull a little soil back.

Mary,

You need to cut off the portion of the plant that fruited. About two inches below the green should work. Yes, a dead looking stem.

LMT - The stem that's left actually didn't produce fruit. I cut off the one that did. Think I oughta still cut it off? May as well - I checked it today and the edges are starting to curl (brown) - think it's getting ready to 'Fade to Black'

I had a similar experience, but I kept watering the plants - put them on a drip system that watered them every day for an hour. The second year, the plants put up a few new shoots, but not as many as I expected. This year, the third summer, I am finally getting raspberries and the plants are putting out runners to create new plants. I imagine (and hope) that next year there will actually be enough berries to actually do something with! growing fruit seems to be a long-term investment. Hang in there!