How to care for raspberries in spring: tips from experienced gardeners

Full-fledged care for raspberries is the key to successful plant growth and a rich harvest. Raspberries need special care and care in the spring, when after winter it is very vulnerable to diseases and needs an additional power source. Spring care for raspberries, according to the advice of experienced gardeners, can not do without such works as bush pruning, top dressing and pest treatment.

Spring pruning raspberries

Pruning raspberries in the spring takes place in two stages. The first step is to take care of the removal of the shoots, which are the favorite “treat” of the raspberry stem gall midge. To calculate the shoots that suffered from this pest is quite simple, especially in the spring, when there are no leaves on the bush: swellings will be visible at the bottom of the shoots, an incision which can be detected by the pest's larvae.

In addition to shoots affected by the pest, it is necessary to cut off those that are weak and those that are frozen.

The second stage of pruning should begin when the bush begins to grow. The upper part of the shoots should be shortened to the first good kidney, which the stand overwintered.

It will not be superfluous at this stage to make a garter of the bushes. In the center of the bush, a peg should be installed and the shoots of the plant tied to it.

Spring Raspberry Fertilizer

Raspberries need to be additionally fed, given the fact that, in principle, it is unpretentious to the soil, it can grow in sparse soil, so top dressing is an important stage in spring care for raspberries. The most important and necessary fertilizers include nitrogen, potash and phosphorus fertilizers, it will also be appropriate to use organics.

The tips of experienced gardeners for caring for raspberries in the spring, offer the following feeding scheme:

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1. As soon as the snow melts, before loosening the soil, it is necessary to add 15 grams of ammonium nitrate or 10 grams of urea from a flow rate of 1 square meter.
2. After loosening the soil, mulch the soil. For these purposes, you can use humus, peat compost, straw manure.
3. In May, to fertilize raspberries, you need to use mullein, which is bred at the rate of 500 ml per bucket of water. Fertilizer is used in the amount of 5 liters per square meter of planting.

Tips from experienced gardeners to fertilize raspberries with organic

For those who refuse to use chemistry in spring raspberry care, experienced gardeners have prepared some tips on adding organic matter to the soil:

• Organic matter should be added to the soil only in mild weather, it is best if it is cloudy, otherwise sunlight can cause undesirable chemical reactions;
• Fertilizers must not fall on the foliage and stems of the plant;
• Organic infusions for fertilizer can not be tightly covered, they need good air circulation.

Important! In spring, raspberries are especially in need of intensive watering. During flowering, the soil must be constantly moist. In order not to "rush" into the garden with water each time, you can use the drip irrigation system, which also saves some water.

How to process raspberries from diseases and pests in the spring

In spring, everything pests that are characteristic for raspberries, begin their active life, so this time is most suitable for the beginning of the fight against them and prevention.

If you are guided by the advice of experienced gardeners on caring for raspberries in the spring, then you can not help but carry out work such as pruning, cleaning the area and loosening the soil.For example, most parasites that attack raspberries hibernate just in the dead parts of the bush and in the soil. Therefore, cleaning the territory and loosening the soil is not only a way to visually ennoble your site, but also makes practical sense.

Only after these works can you begin the treatment of plants from pests. Using special tools that you can buy in any store with goods for the garden.

Important! Raspberry bushes should be processed before the flowering phase, otherwise then they can affect the amount of the crop and its quality.

To protect raspberries from disease, you can use a solution of Nitrafen. It helps protect raspberries from being hit by anthracnose and gray rot. 200 grams of Nitrafen solution must be diluted in 10 liters of water.

If in the spring the raspberries are properly cared for and not neglected by simple agrotechnical work, then the whole season she will be pleased with her rich harvest, and caring for her during the fruiting season will be simple and does not require much time.