Hi All
Carrying on from my first posting regarding my new allotment, I have now
discovered that I have a little bit more land than i first thought and that
this strip of land is covered in raspberry canes. Does anyone know if it is
possible to salvage these at all. They look like very dead sticks at the
moment about 2' in height, but not knowing anything about raspberries, i
don't know what to do next.
Kind Regards
Kim
(Cardiff, Wales, UK)

"Kim Bewick" wrote in message
...
Hi All
Carrying on from my first posting regarding my new allotment, I have now
discovered that I have a little bit more land than i first thought and
that
this strip of land is covered in raspberry canes. Does anyone know if it
is
possible to salvage these at all. They look like very dead sticks at the
moment about 2' in height, but not knowing anything about raspberries, i
don't know what to do next.
Kind Regards
Kim

They will look like dead sticks at this time of the year. If they are summer
fruiting then some will be dead canes that fruited last year. Others will
have small leaf buds and it is these canes from last year that will provide
this year's harvest.
You can safely remove the dead canes they will literally snap compared to
the fruiting canes which will be flexible- but even if you chop the lot down
they'll still make shoots for next year.
If they are autumn fruiting you can hack all the canes down as the fruit
will be on this years new growth.
Razzers are supposed to have a life of ten years - as they get older the
fruits get smaller and less tasty. But we found old canes on our plot and
they produce masses of small fruit each year. We use the fruit from these
for Pavlovas and summer puddings, and have new Glen Magana canes to eat
fresh from the cane with double cream..... Yum!!!!

"Kim Bewick" wrote in message
...
Hi All
Carrying on from my first posting regarding my new allotment, I have now
discovered that I have a little bit more land than i first thought and
that
this strip of land is covered in raspberry canes. Does anyone know if it
is
possible to salvage these at all. They look like very dead sticks at the
moment about 2' in height, but not knowing anything about raspberries, i
don't know what to do next.
Kind Regards
Kim

They will look like dead sticks at this time of the year. If they are summer
fruiting then some will be dead canes that fruited last year. Others will
have small leaf buds and it is these canes from last year that will provide
this year's harvest.
You can safely remove the dead canes they will literally snap compared to
the fruiting canes which will be flexible- but even if you chop the lot down
they'll still make shoots for next year.
If they are autumn fruiting you can hack all the canes down as the fruit
will be on this years new growth.
Razzers are supposed to have a life of ten years - as they get older the
fruits get smaller and less tasty. But we found old canes on our plot and
they produce masses of small fruit each year. We use the fruit from these
for Pavlovas and summer puddings, and have new Glen Magana canes to eat
fresh from the cane with double cream..... Yum!!!!

On Sun, 7 Mar 2004, Kim Bewick wrote:

Carrying on from my first posting regarding my new allotment, I have now
discovered that I have a little bit more land than i first thought and that
this strip of land is covered in raspberry canes. Does anyone know if it is
possible to salvage these at all. They look like very dead sticks at the
moment about 2' in height, but not knowing anything about raspberries, i
don't know what to do next.

The very same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. Let them grow
- they should produce something this year.

In my case the whole allotment had been bulldozed flat, but I'd known
this allotment for some years before I took it over and I knew that the
roots were there. I let them grow and the following year I gathered
about 40 lbs. of raspberries
1
--
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet: | writing from |
| Fidonet: David Rance 2:252/110 | Caversham, |
| BBS: telnet://mesnil.demon.co.uk | Reading, UK |
+-------------------------------------------------------+

On Sun, 7 Mar 2004, Kim Bewick wrote:

Carrying on from my first posting regarding my new allotment, I have now
discovered that I have a little bit more land than i first thought and that
this strip of land is covered in raspberry canes. Does anyone know if it is
possible to salvage these at all. They look like very dead sticks at the
moment about 2' in height, but not knowing anything about raspberries, i
don't know what to do next.

The very same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. Let them grow
- they should produce something this year.

In my case the whole allotment had been bulldozed flat, but I'd known
this allotment for some years before I took it over and I knew that the
roots were there. I let them grow and the following year I gathered
about 40 lbs. of raspberries
1
--
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet: | writing from |
| Fidonet: David Rance 2:252/110 | Caversham, |
| BBS: telnet://mesnil.demon.co.uk | Reading, UK |
+-------------------------------------------------------+

Wow! That was a quick response. Thank you both very much.
Best wishes
Kim


"Kim Bewick" wrote in message
...
Hi All
Carrying on from my first posting regarding my new allotment, I have now
discovered that I have a little bit more land than i first thought and
that
this strip of land is covered in raspberry canes. Does anyone know if it
is
possible to salvage these at all. They look like very dead sticks at the
moment about 2' in height, but not knowing anything about raspberries, i
don't know what to do next.
Kind Regards
Kim
(Cardiff, Wales, UK)

Wow! That was a quick response. Thank you both very much.
Best wishes
Kim


"Kim Bewick" wrote in message
...
Hi All
Carrying on from my first posting regarding my new allotment, I have now
discovered that I have a little bit more land than i first thought and
that
this strip of land is covered in raspberry canes. Does anyone know if it
is
possible to salvage these at all. They look like very dead sticks at the
moment about 2' in height, but not knowing anything about raspberries, i
don't know what to do next.
Kind Regards
Kim
(Cardiff, Wales, UK)

The message
from "Kim Bewick" contains these words:

Carrying on from my first posting regarding my new allotment, I have now
discovered that I have a little bit more land than i first thought and that
this strip of land is covered in raspberry canes. Does anyone know if it is
possible to salvage these at all. They look like very dead sticks at the
moment about 2' in height, but not knowing anything about raspberries, i
don't know what to do next.

Lucky you. If you look carefully, you should be able to see which are
dead and which are this year's fruiting canes.

The old wood will be branched, and the new stuff will mainly be just
canes with buds on. Also, the new stuff will look cleaner and may be a
light caramel colour.

You can cut the old wood now, as close to the ground as you can without
damaging the roots. (Probably won't matter if you do.)

You may need to take expert advice when the fruit is ripe - you may have
autumn-fruiting raspberries, and these have a different pruning régime -
but you can't harm them by treating them as summer fruiting ones the
first year.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Kim Bewick" wrote in message
...
Wow! That was a quick response. Thank you both very much.
Best wishes
Kim


"Kim Bewick" wrote in message
...
Hi All
Carrying on from my first posting regarding my new allotment, I have now
discovered that I have a little bit more land than i first thought and
that
this strip of land is covered in raspberry canes. Does anyone know if it
is
possible to salvage these at all. They look like very dead sticks at the
moment about 2' in height, but not knowing anything about raspberries, i
don't know what to do next.
Kind Regards
Kim
(Cardiff, Wales, UK)


Pile loads of grass cuttihngs / compost /stable manure around the canes up
to 1 ft high ........you will be amazed at what is produced .......Raspberry
canes need lots of compost /feeding and moisture at the roots

In article , nambucca wrote:

Pile loads of grass cuttihngs / compost /stable manure around the canes up
to 1 ft high ........you will be amazed at what is produced .......Raspberry
canes need lots of compost /feeding and moisture at the roots

Could I use fresh grass cuttings for this?

The place we're in the process of buying has a very overgrown veggie
plot and we've uncovered four rows of raspberry canes amongst the
brambles and weeds. We've trimmed the stems down to around eighteen
inches high and cleared most of the taller weeds, but there are still
loads of low-growing or annual weeds.

I'll have no shortage of grass cuttings and if I could tip them directly
around the raspberry canes to feed them as well as act as a mulch to
help get the weeds under control, that would be a real bonus.

James

In article , nambucca wrote:

Pile loads of grass cuttihngs / compost /stable manure around the canes up
to 1 ft high ........you will be amazed at what is produced .......Raspberry
canes need lots of compost /feeding and moisture at the roots

Could I use fresh grass cuttings for this?

The place we're in the process of buying has a very overgrown veggie
plot and we've uncovered four rows of raspberry canes amongst the
brambles and weeds. We've trimmed the stems down to around eighteen
inches high and cleared most of the taller weeds, but there are still
loads of low-growing or annual weeds.

I'll have no shortage of grass cuttings and if I could tip them directly
around the raspberry canes to feed them as well as act as a mulch to
help get the weeds under control, that would be a real bonus.

James

In article , nambucca wrote:

Pile loads of grass cuttihngs / compost /stable manure around the canes up
to 1 ft high ........you will be amazed at what is produced .......Raspberry
canes need lots of compost /feeding and moisture at the roots

Could I use fresh grass cuttings for this?

The place we're in the process of buying has a very overgrown veggie
plot and we've uncovered four rows of raspberry canes amongst the
brambles and weeds. We've trimmed the stems down to around eighteen
inches high and cleared most of the taller weeds, but there are still
loads of low-growing or annual weeds.

I'll have no shortage of grass cuttings and if I could tip them directly
around the raspberry canes to feed them as well as act as a mulch to
help get the weeds under control, that would be a real bonus.

James

The message
from James Fidell contains these words:

In article , nambucca wrote:

Pile loads of grass cuttihngs / compost /stable manure around the canes up
to 1 ft high ........you will be amazed at what is produced
.......Raspberry
canes need lots of compost /feeding and moisture at the roots

Could I use fresh grass cuttings for this?

No. Especially at this time of year they would extract nitrogen from the
soil as they decayed. A small amount in the autumn might not hurt, but
I'd only use well rotted stuff.

The place we're in the process of buying has a very overgrown veggie
plot and we've uncovered four rows of raspberry canes amongst the
brambles and weeds. We've trimmed the stems down to around eighteen
inches high and cleared most of the taller weeds, but there are still
loads of low-growing or annual weeds.

Arrrrrrgggggghhhhhh! Take out the dead (last year's) canes and leave the
new ones alone!

I'll have no shortage of grass cuttings and if I could tip them directly
around the raspberry canes to feed them as well as act as a mulch to
help get the weeds under control, that would be a real bonus.

You can use Paraquat on weeds round the bases of rasbperries when all
the new canes have grown. Or, you can mulch with compost or bark
chippings.

Make a proper compost heap and bung (just about) everything and anything
on it. Keep it working by adding plenty of nitrogen: the cheapest and
one of the most effective sources is urine.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from James Fidell contains these words:

In article , nambucca wrote:

Pile loads of grass cuttihngs / compost /stable manure around the canes up
to 1 ft high ........you will be amazed at what is produced
.......Raspberry
canes need lots of compost /feeding and moisture at the roots

Could I use fresh grass cuttings for this?

No. Especially at this time of year they would extract nitrogen from the
soil as they decayed. A small amount in the autumn might not hurt, but
I'd only use well rotted stuff.

The place we're in the process of buying has a very overgrown veggie
plot and we've uncovered four rows of raspberry canes amongst the
brambles and weeds. We've trimmed the stems down to around eighteen
inches high and cleared most of the taller weeds, but there are still
loads of low-growing or annual weeds.

Arrrrrrgggggghhhhhh! Take out the dead (last year's) canes and leave the
new ones alone!

I'll have no shortage of grass cuttings and if I could tip them directly
around the raspberry canes to feed them as well as act as a mulch to
help get the weeds under control, that would be a real bonus.

You can use Paraquat on weeds round the bases of rasbperries when all
the new canes have grown. Or, you can mulch with compost or bark
chippings.

Make a proper compost heap and bung (just about) everything and anything
on it. Keep it working by adding plenty of nitrogen: the cheapest and
one of the most effective sources is urine.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

In article , Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from James Fidell contains these words:

In article , nambucca wrote:

Pile loads of grass cuttihngs / compost /stable manure around the canes up
to 1 ft high ........you will be amazed at what is produced
.......Raspberry
canes need lots of compost /feeding and moisture at the roots

Could I use fresh grass cuttings for this?

No. Especially at this time of year they would extract nitrogen from the
soil as they decayed. A small amount in the autumn might not hurt, but
I'd only use well rotted stuff.

Sounds fair enough. I'm going to have to think of something to do with
fresh grass clippings as I'll have loads of them. It's quite possible that
a few feathered or four-legged lawnmowers might be the long-term solution.

The place we're in the process of buying has a very overgrown veggie
plot and we've uncovered four rows of raspberry canes amongst the
brambles and weeds. We've trimmed the stems down to around eighteen
inches high and cleared most of the taller weeds, but there are still
loads of low-growing or annual weeds.

Arrrrrrgggggghhhhhh! Take out the dead (last year's) canes and leave the
new ones alone!

Assuming they survive this year, that's what we'll do. The way things were
a month ago when we started clearing the veggie patch, I'm amazed we found
them at all. I was quite tempted to put the brush-cutter on the strimmer
and take the entire garden down to three inches high (from the three feet
high it was at the time).

As luck would have it, we also found three or four vines, a very
sad-looking rhubarb plant and what may or may not turn out to be an
asparagus bed. Oh, and what I *think* are loganberries, but may well
be something else entirely.

You can use Paraquat on weeds round the bases of rasbperries when all
the new canes have grown. Or, you can mulch with compost or bark
chippings.

Compost and/or bark chippings looks like the way forward then.

Make a proper compost heap and bung (just about) everything and anything
on it. Keep it working by adding plenty of nitrogen: the cheapest and
one of the most effective sources is urine.

Oh, the compost heap(s) will be along soon. There are actually two
large wooden compost bins there already. Unfortunately they appear to
have mostly composted themselves.

James