Red Indian Summer Raspberry

The whole Pohick family has the gardening bug now. We had so much fun planting our Belle of Georgia Peach Tree, that we decided to plant some other fruit bearing plants. Today, Scribbles and Sarah helped Jake plant two Red Indian Summer Raspberry bushes. Here are some characteristics of the Red Indian Summer Raspberry:

• Everbearing - This means that it produces two crops per year. First in the spring and then a second crop in the fall. Common raspberry bushes only produce one crop in mid-summer.
• Scientific Name: Rubus idaeus
• Wikipedia Article: Raspberry
• Large, sweet, bright red berries
• Ideal for cooking or fresh eating
• Light - 6+ hours of direct sun
• Water Usage - Semi-Moist
• Spacing: 5' between plants
• Growth Rate: Fast
• Average Size: 5' x 5'
• Cold Hardiness: -20 to -30
• Pruning: Cut back in late winter
• Fertilization: Early Spring
• The ever bearing raspberry produces an early-summer crop on the previous season's growth and a fall crop on the current season's growth.
  
• Raspberries are valuable in home gardens because of the fruits fragile and perishable nature which prohibits the shipping of fresh berries.
  
• Health Benefits: Raspberries contain significant amounts of polyphenol antioxidants such as anthocyanin pigments linked to potential health protection against several human diseases. The aggregate fruit structure contributes to its nutritional value, as it increases the proportion of dietary fiber, placing it among plant foods with the highest fiber contents known, up to 20% fiber per total weight. Raspberries are a rich source of vitamin C, with 30 mg per serving of 1 cup (about 50% daily value), manganese (about 60% daily value) and dietary fiber (30% daily value). Contents of B vitamins 1-3, folic acid, magnesium, copper and iron are considerable in raspberries. Raspberries rank near the top of all fruits for antioxidant strength, particularly due to their dense contents of ellagic acid (from ellagotannins), quercetin, gallic acid, anthocyanins, cyanidins, pelargonidins, catechins, kaempferol and salicylic acid.
  

Planting Raspberries:

• Raspberries grow best in climates where the spring is lingering and slow to warm, but may succeed in warmer climates if the are grown in light shade.
  
• A row or hill of raspberries will ordinarily produce good crops of fruit for 10 years or more, before they need replacement.
• Raspberries grow best in rich,well-drained soil with a pH 6.0 to 6.5. They benefit from supplemental compost and manure. They should NOT be planted in an area where eggplants, peppers, potatoes or tomatoes have been grown within three years, because they are susceptible to verticicillium wilt which is associated with those plants.
• New plants should be set in the soil about 2 inches deeper than they were originally growing. They should be planted in late fall or early spring about 2 to 2 1/2 feet apart in rows which are spaced about 7 to 8 feet apart. After planting, cut the canes back to 4 inches, leaving the stubs to mark the rows until new sprouts appear. Newly planted summer bearing raspberries should be left alone for the first year to establish themselves, and then cut back to 3-5 canes per plant when the buds begin to show in the following spring.

Care and Cultivation:

• Raspberry plants should be fed in early spring by scattering all purpose 10-10-10 fertilizer around them at the rate of 1 pound per 10 feet of row.
  
• They must not be allowed to dry out during flowering and fruiting. In spring, shorten the canes to 3 feet, forcing the growth into lateral side branches which are trained along support wires.
• After they produce fruit, the spent canes are cut back to the ground. With ever bearing varieties the second crop is produced on canes which sprout in the spring, these canes shouldn't be cut back until they produce fruit the following spring.
  
• Never cut off the new canes which haven't produced yet, they will produce the next years crop.
• Raspberries are easily propagated by tip layering (pin the tip of the cane to the ground, where it will root, then once rooted you may sever the new start from the parent plant), or from sucker growths which spring up around the parent plant.

Raspberry bushes are available at many local nurseries or even from Amazon.com.

Raspberry Journal

• 20 March 2008: We planted two raspberry bushes today. Each bush is approximately 1 foot tall and has a few small green leaves.