Lilacs:

It sounds as if you planted a containerized plant in full, leafy growth. Is that the case? If so, the plant may not have been ready to leave its protected environment to face the cold nights you are surely still having in Colorado. My own raspberries are just now poking up 8-10 inches with new growth, and I am in a much warmer night time situation than you.

Also, whenever you put a containerized plant in the ground and the roots lose some of their soil, the plant is subject to transplant shock and should be pruned down immediately. It is possible you have both weather and transplant problems.

I think you would have a better chance of success with raspberries if you order in dormant, bareroot plants rather than the more expensive containerized models.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Raspberries are not bushes, but produce long canes that will need to be trellised, so they will have a tendancy to fall over. If yours has new tender shoots coming up, it could also be transplant shock. The good news is, its hard to kill raspberries, so the roots will likely be fine, and send up more shoots once its gets warm.

I tend to agree with Don that you may have planted it out too early. Lowes is notorious here for selling plants that are fully leafed out, one or two months too early. Now that it is time to plant, they are still selling them, but they are all dead from a total lack of care. They just throw them in a bin until they dry up and die. The potted plants are outside and usually in good shape, but they have them out in February and early March, and they are usually leafing out already, having likely come right from some greenhouse. I guess they make so much money, they really don't care.

Yeah, I admit I succumbed to Lowes' beautiful, leafy raspberry plants. I looked online, and I read that raspberries could be planted out in early spring, so I figured the eve of May should be late enough.

I have pretty much no disposable income except for the Lowes card, so if I can get something at Lowes, that's where I go.

Should I wait then to plant out my Lowes blueberry? It was bare when I bought it a month ago, but has since leafed out and looks healthy. It's sitting in front of a south-facing window.

I plan to plant another raspberry or two. (I've always heard them referred to as "raspberry bushes.") I'll go bareroot then.

Your blueberry will not be hardened off if it is indoors now, so I would not plant it out until the risk of a hard freeze is past. A light frost will not hurt it.

I checked on my poor raspberry plant today. It looks very sad. It's limp and falling over and the edges of some of the leaves are turning brown.

I swear I have a black thumb. I just don't do very well getting anything to grow.

Don't get discouraged. Gardening is, like anything else, 95% perspiration, 5% inspiration, especially if you are consistent with the perspiration over time. Do you know the name of the raspberry you planted? Raspberries just love to flop around, unless you stake them. What is your weather like? Heat wave? Freezes?
Recently, I've learned to buy my raspberry and blackberry plants small, on sale or free. They get big, fast.

Lilacs,

Are you watering it every day?

dave

Raspberries are pretty tough. I wouldn't worry about it just yet. Make sure it gets some water if you aren't getting rain, but otherwise leave it alone for a while.

It's a Latham raspberry. I watered it in well when I planted but not since then. We did have some snow a couple days ago, and that provided some moisture. It's supposed to rain in the next day or two.

We've had typical Colorado weather for this time of year, which means heat, snow, wind, cloud cover, and sunny. Usually not at the same time. :-)

I'd make sure you give it a drink every day, especially the first several days after planting. Athena's right tho. Raspberries are tough, actually, I'm pretty sure they're a weed, good luck killing it. Or, I mean it should be fine. Sounds like it had plenty of roots when you put it in, they should be able to keep it going.

dave

Hi everyone. I am in Oregon, My cousin gave me a Raspberry plant, I have a raised wooden bed, I planted them in, they were little plants, than they got tall and green, they started falling over, so I held them up with sticks. One day they were tall and green like the rest of my plants in the box and than the next they were dried bad and leaves r shriveled. i water them at night as I do my chicken hens and my morning glories and a beautiful pink flower daisy plant.. yes they r all in the same wooden box. My question is, if most likely they are root bound can I take them out and put them in regular dirt and soil in the ground? I am so depressed as my cousin gave me them an dthey did look good. now for 4 days the r dead looking

this was before they started dying.

Hi Laura, yes you can take those raspberries out of the box and plant them in the ground. They'll be much happier in the ground! If they're happy, they'll spread and send up new shoots, so maybe plant them in a place where they can do that and not invade other plants.

I hope they make it! Good luck!