Regular pruning is required for the stable development of raspberry bushes and a bountiful harvest. In different seasons, the ways of processing branches differ. When pruning, weakened, dried or damaged branches are removed, a bush is formed to improve the quality of the berries. The procedure improves the air exchange of the plant, allows the shoots to grow steadily.
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What is pruning for?
When planting, seedlings must be shortened by 40-50 cm. Subsequently, in the process of growth, the bushes are pruned several times per season. If this is not done, large berries do not appear, because dense growth does not let the sun's rays and air pass through.
Benefits of pruning bushes:
- prevention of crop diseases;
- restoration of air exchange;
- simplification of the process of picking berries;
- increase in yield, quality and size of berries.
Seasonal pruning rules
When looking for an answer to the question of how to properly cut raspberries in spring, it is necessary to take into account the climatic characteristics of the region and the age of the plant culture. Spring care is usually carried out in March-April in accordance with weather conditions. The snow cover should already be melting, but the soil may be cold.
You will need to inspect the raspberry branches and remove the frozen, deformed, dried lashes with pruning shears or garden shears. The damaged branches are cut to the first viable buds. Sick shoots are cut off completely. About 8-10 strong branches are left on the bush, the rest of the thin shoots are removed. In a large raspberry plant, it is required to leave about 2 m between the rows, 0.5 m between individual seedlings.The remaining branches are shortened by 20 cm, the height of the bushes should remain at least 50 cm.
Experts recommend using an unusual method of pruning branches at different heights to gradually ripen the berries throughout the season. To do this, you need to distribute the bushes into 3 parts.
The cutting height for each group of bushes is as follows:
- at the first level, the tops are shortened by 15-20 cm;
- at the second level, you will need to cut off shoots 1/2 of their length;
- on the third, a small pruning is needed, in which only 15 cm of the length of the branch is left.
On shorter shoots, the crop appears later. With this pruning, berries ripen gradually from July to September-October. Pruning when planting bushes in the spring will allow the culture to quickly take root.
Summer and autumn pruning
In the summer, at the beginning of raspberry flowering, diseased branches and damaged foliage are removed. They are burned to prevent the spread of disease in the area.
Young shoots, which have reached a height of more than 20 cm from the center of the bush, are cut out once every 7-14 days. You will need to cut the root system of the sprouts with a shovel.
A double pruning system is recommended to increase yields. In early June, when the shoots reach a height of 100-120 cm, it is necessary to cut off the tops by 5-7 cm. This procedure will increase the supply of nutrients to the lateral kidneys. Over the summer, 4-8 shoots grow in length up to 50 cm. By autumn, young shoots are bent to the soil for reliable wintering under a cover of snow. In the spring, the lateral shoots are pruned 10-15 cm to stimulate the appearance of new branches. Excess shoots are pruned during the summer.
The final pruning is done in the fall. A few weeks before the cold snap, deformed, diseased and pest-damaged branches are removed. Two-year-old branches, which were yielding in the current season, and weak green shoots are also cut out. Cut branches are burned to prevent pests from breeding.
It is necessary to estimate the free space between the bushes, which should be at least 60 cm. With the growth of lateral shoots, excess branches are removed. In regions with a changeable climate, thermophilic raspberry bushes that cannot withstand temperatures below -35 ° C need to be bandaged, pressed to the soil and fixed. After the appearance of the snow layer, the bushes are covered with snow.
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