I don't think 80's is too hot for raspberries. My best guess is poor soil drainage, but that is only a guess.

I live in northwest Mississippi, outside of the raspberry's comfort zone. That didn't stop me from buying the plant last year at a local supermarket, however.

Our everbearing red raspberries bloom in June, and continue to bloom through the summer, right into September. Summers in Wisconsin get pretty hot, 85 degrees is common, and we do get into the 90's once in a while. These temps to not seem to have any effect on the raspberries. You say your raspberries blossomed, and the blossoms turned brown. I have never seen that happen with ours-I suspect too much water around the roots. Do you have clay soil?

The soil in the Mississippi Delta varies from sandy to clayey. Where I live is more clayey. The soil closest to the river is sandy.

God bless,

CKB

Paspberries are typically VERY hardy. (I have a pruned cane I used to mark the end of a row in the garden that is sprouting!)

I'd suggest taking a couple plants and planting them in a mound to insure adequate drainage and see what happens.

Root rot expresses itself by killing the fruiting canes whereas the primocanes are fine.

Is root rot in raspberries caused by poor drainage, over watering, soggy roots or can it be from something else? If it is just from over watering, will it correct itself by drying out the roots some? Any other treatments?

We have soil high in clay content, and our raspberry bed sits along a fence, below the neighbors grape arbor, so the raspberries get morning sun, and are shaded in the afternoon. That spot is pretty damp all spring, I don't think it dries out 'till august. Even so, I am not seeing symptoms of root rot. I heavily amend the raspberry bed with shredded maple tree leaves in the fall, after I cut the canes down to 10 inches. Why no root rot? As near as I can tell, we must have a favorable combination of soil microbes, and it is the soil microbes that discourage root rot.

I love my Heritage berries, I have a large patch that gave me probably between 30-40 gallons last year. I freeze most of it for smoothies and pies in the winter. The only thing I do is give them some well rotted cow manure every other fall.

CKB, This isn't terribly helpful, but as stated by others above when I have root loss they act just like you described. Mine was from the dang neighbor cats using the fenced 2'x4' Heritage container-box as their personal litter box. They dig out the roots when "covering it up".

Raspberries are near invasive here and it can hit 100 a few times a summer. Our soil is also mostly clay. I never water the raspberry(except when emptying my son's wading pool). It already has little green berries set. One of the bees' favorites too. Does yours act thirsty if you DON'T water it? I water almost everything else, but not that.

There is no doubt *a dry heat* at 100 in full afternoon sun will harm them and dry up the fruit, but that's the extent of my experience. I've only planted them last year and that was a failure.

When it hit 100 here, mine died off. Fruitlets dried up, leaves dried around the edges first, but the smaller leaves browned and died fast. But... I am in a dry environment and mine aren't in clay but a large container just above the ground. I lost the crop (and thought the plants, too) last summer from exactly that....

RE wilting: The leaves do wilt mildly when thirsty, but I don't recall them wilting real bad like other water stressed trees do. Some fruit trees can have leaves hang directly downward you'd think they were dead, but if watered in time they recover immediately. Although I don't have lots of experience, water stressing container plants is what I do ;-) I frequently "test" how far various plants/trees can go dry, so I learn to not over-water.

Those raspberries sure are hardy, though. Despite no foliage, just dead stalks showing, and a ton of dead roots laying on the surface from cats digging and pooping last summer, early this spring what do ya know... a few sprigs of foliage, then new shoots, and it looks just as strong today as it did last year when things were perfect, before summer heat hit. I have to get my shade cloth up ahead of time this year!