I planted my raspberry canes as directed and after much research on the net. I am convinced it did it right...planted them in early spring, now it's June and all I see is the same stubby 4" cane (one per plant) peeking up at me from it's happy well watered, well manured little home. I am guessing some new plant activity is present but I cannot identify it, all I see is what most likely is weeds and grass starting up in the cozy homes I created for these canes...I don't expect anything to really happen until next summer but would LIKE to know if there's a runner or two, a leaf or two, SOMETHING to show some activity...how do I see this? Can anyone describe or show me a pic of the kind of growth that should be happening? And by the way, I planted them with the cane standing upright and only one of them touching down to the soil...was this a mistake??? I planted 5 of them, 3-5 feet apart. Can I let the grass grow around them knowing they will make themselves apparent sometime in the future?

I don't know the answer to your question, Missy, but someone will be along shortly who does I am sure. I just want to say "hello" and "welcome to the friendliest gardening board on the net"! I hope you have as much fun here as I do!

Dianna

Missydog_lala,
Welcome to The Garden Helper's Forum!!!
We're very glad you found us!!!

And an extra special Welcome to a fellow
New Yorker!!! YAY!!! Glad to have you on board!!

By any chance do you have a picture of your
plant(s)?

And outta curiousity, where did you get them from??

I started my raspberries last year and they were timid at first. I bought everbearing and they didn't really kick till full blown summer, providing a meager fall crop.

This year, year two, they are cranking!

No grass!

Same issue with my raspberry. I just bought one bush, everbearing, and I think I got it at Lowes. (Don't yell!) I planted it, watered it 2x week kept the grass down around it. I think I made 2 mistakes. One being, I let the first 'berry' ripen, instead of cutting it off. I think I shoulda cut it off so it could work on the vine growth instead of the fruit growth. 2nd, I surrounded it with some extra bricks I had laying around...and I'm wondering if I smothered any suckers because of it

Here's what it looked like before I realized I shouldn't have let the berry grow - sometime around the 1st week in June.


Still haven't really figured out how to prune it. Everything I read explains what to do with a full grown plant. This is so not full grown, that I'm kind of at a loss for what to do with it I'll have to get a more recent picture...I think we're down to less leaves now than pre-berry

My root stock didn't produce berries until the fall (on the primocanes as advertised). You shouldn't have flowers or berries. Allowing them to grow will slow the development of the plant (I'd guess).

Yeah, I found that out after the berry grew, we picked it and ate it. <sigh> Not sure were to go from here.

The plant will show the way, seriously.

Do they have thorns?

I hope so, LMT. It's got no thorns, that I could see. I'll look closer tomorrow, but I really don't think so. It looks like a stick (seriously) with one small (3"?) branch coming off it, with some leaves. The main stalk has nothing growing from it, and no other branches but that one It's wood, not green. The branch is green, I think. The leaves are also green (at least).

I noticed this afternoon there was a huge spiderweb around the bottom of it. No idea if that's good, bad, or indifferent. I left it there though. I'll try to get a pic tomorrow.

Okay. I checked - closely. I felt my raspberry up this morning LOL no thorns, anywhere. Not on the main cane or the leafy shoot. LMT send instructions for your raspberry dance please?

To Missy and Mary,

I posted last night but got a closed for maintainance message, so you get the cliff notes.

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.

Mary -- Now that the cane has fruited (rare), cut it back to a 3-4 inch stem so it will develop primocanes.

It's not unusual not to have thorns on such a small stick. The darn thing never should have grown a branch!

Oh, got bills? LOL!

It hasn't grown a peep in about a month. After I realized we shouldn't have let it fruit, we cut off that whole stem, back to the main cane. May be I shouldn'ta cut it so far back. grumble.

Fresh outta bills though, sorry! LOL!

I do need to expand on this. I planted 6 plants/bare root stock last year. One was DOA. One only managed two whimpy primocanes. Two rocked and produced fruit.

What grows this year (primocanes) will produce this fall's and next summer's crop (when they are floricanes).

Like most weblinks, this will be helpful next year.

Part of the reason they leave a couple inches when they trim back is to know where it is. You could be just fine.

I hope so! Where did you get your raspberries, if you don't mind my asking? I'm afraid I shouldn't be shopping for these things at a big box store, which I did (Lowes). I can chalk it up to being their 'fault' if it doesnt grow LOL! At least though, it doesn't seem to be dying. I did pinch off some leaves at the tip of that one tiny branch, because they looked dried up. That could be a sign of things to come, I suppose. I have to admit, I started to neglect it a bit (not enough water for awhile) because it wasn't in plain site and I forgot about it. Bad, bad me.

I bought from Stark Bro's in Missouri who resold from some grower in Oregon.

Thanks - next time around I'll definitely buy from a nursery instead! --grumble--

Cross your fingers for me that this one comes up. I haven't given up hope yet.

We know it's alive. Believe it or not, since it's a red, you can turn one plant into a field. Nearly without skill.

While no one c/would answer my question, I found my answers.

Thanks LMT...I have next to no skills, so that's comforting to hear. I'll keep ya posted.

You have skills. You just haven't learned to appreciate them.

You're good for my ego Thanks!

What did you know six months ago, what do you know now?

You worked for all of it.

That's very true. Its amazing how much I've learned over the past couple of months. Who woulda thunk this NYC girl would be composting and seeking out manure for gardening a year ago? Not me! Pretty cool when I think about it

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!