Hi Offgridman-
Just some quick tips. Raspberries like full sun, and well drained soil. Most people on this forum prefer everbearing over summer varieties mostly because you get your berries sooner. 'Caroline' is the everbearing red that most often gets recommended here on this forum. For me, I actually have 10 different varieties simply to stagger my harvest for as long as possible. I also recommend adding a few yellow raspberries like 'Kiwi Gold'/'Anne'. Nourse Farms (link below) is the best place I know of to buy berries... though, possible there is an equally good nursery closer to you. I don't usually worry about spacing too much, because they're just going to fill in eventually to what they like anyway... (to the point that you'll eventually want to thin them a bit). Make sure you put in a sturdy trellis. You can search around here for some good designs. For me, it was the raspberries that got me involved in growing other fruits... simply because they're so easy to grow... for me, theyÂre as hardy as weeds. :-) Good luck & Have fun.
-Glenn

Here is a link that might be useful: Nourse

Nourse is a great source, but you could also try Hartmann's for 100+ orders. As long as you buy a total of 100 items, you can mix types of plants (i.e, different varieties of raspberry and blackberry plants for $1.15 each, blueberries from $2-3, etc.). I've been very pleased with the quality of their plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hartmann's

Thanks for the tips -

Do you all find it true from my initial reading up on reaspeberries, that the everbearing bear on new canes, so need to be mowed down flat each fall, yet the summer bearing bear on second year canes, so need selective pruning each fall starting the second year?
Also, some places say you can do the everbearing with no trellis, but I imagine this depends on the variety and it's habits?...thanks again for any info..

Hi Offgridman-
With everbearing raspberries, you have a choice You can either mow them down in the winter, and then get one larger fall crop Or, you can leave them up, prune the dead tops back in the spring, but then get 2 (albeit smaller) crops: a summer and fall crop. Make sense? With most of my everbearing raspberries, I leave Âem up over the winter. But, the bed near the driveway gets mowed because thatÂs where the plow dumps the snow.
I strongly recommend trellises. My feeling is that then the plants put more energy into their fruit, and spend less energy trying to stand up. But, IÂm not positive on this  Anyone want to confirm that? Regardless, again, I strongly recommend a trellis.
-Glenn

DJofnelson-
Not being from California, IÂve never looked at HartmannÂs. They have some things that I havenÂt seen before in other catalogs (like mature blueberries, and 3-1 weaved blueberry) Interesting! Thanks for the tip!
-Glenn

Glenn,

I found about them on this forum. They do have a unique selection (and are actually located not too far away in MI). I've also gotten a bunch of wholesale bush cherries from them, as well as elderberries, huckleberries, paw paws, and various ornamental plants (e.g., hollies, etc). For cane fruit, they stock very robust bare-root stock early in the year and then offer potted plants in the fall for the same price. Also, all of their blueberries are potted (4x4 peat pots) and not bareroot.

Nourse is a good place to order from. I bought Anne from them last year and got very nice sized bareroots. One died, and I'm sure I could have gotten a replacement, but I decided I didn't really need another one so I didn't bother. I've got Heritage too and I let it do two crops by pruning the tops in the spring instead of mowing them down. This works well for me and I have berries almost all year. I've got black raspberries too and I'll recommend those for variety in flavor.

Raspberries prefer full sun, and they spread so you'll want to place them where you can mow around them to contain them. I have supports for the black raspberries because otherwise they'll tip root, but the reds are on their own and do fine. I might put in a trellis eventually simply to keep them more contained but I don't think it is necessary. Spacing doesn't really matter because they'll spread and grow very thickly. I'm going to have to do better thinning next year on mine as there were berries I simply couldn't reach.

Rather than spend money on raspberries since you are lucky enough to have wild ones I would suggest you take cuttings and root canes of the wild ones this winter when they are fully dormant(like grapes). You already know how they produce and that they do well in your area so as long as you like the way they taste and everything use the ones you have and save yourself some money.

Hi Kansastropic-
I can't say this for with 100% certainty for raspberries (though I believe it to be the same), but when it comes to blackberries, my cultivated varieties are infinitely better than my wild ones. TheyÂre larger by probably a factor of 8, taste much better, and theyÂre thornless. When you buy raspberries as bare root, youÂll probably only spend $3-$4 per plant, and you really donÂt need many as theyÂll eventually spread like weeds. I really recommend going cultivated here.

Athenainwi-
IÂve now ordered 30 BR raspberries from Nourse and only lost one but the rest have flourished. I consider only loosing one pretty good considering when my first BR raspberries arrived, I knew nothing about BR plants, and nothing about raspberries! IÂm really a big fan of Nourse. The only thing I think they could do better would be a better set of instructions for newbie gardeners. They do have a planting guide, but a few nice pictures would have explained a lot. That said, they were very helpful to me on the phone that first year.
-Glenn

Offgrid,
I suggest that you investigate Indiana Berry's offerings.
I bought 50 plants this past spring and 50 in 2007. Service/quality was excellent; they have a large inventory and gave me good advice. I already have more new plants/suckers than I can handle. Good luck.
Jim B

Thanks for all the tips and info!

Regarding my wild raspberries - they are very small, very tart, and don't really compare to cultivated species, so although I enjoy them, I don't really want to work on them, as they are already all over the place! ; )

Several suppliers have told me that I should wait till spring to plant.

Do any of you know of any advantage or if fall planting is good for raspberries in my mountain climate that sees a cold winter, and long snowpack? Would the roots grow at all during the winter?

Thanks again!

Hi Offgridnatureman-
I havenÂt actually tried planting much during the fall. Not because I'm afraid to... it's just my ambition finally wears out around now, and it doesn't help that all the leaves are falling off everything. I know my local nursery discounts everything by 20% of so in the fall, and I probably wouldn't hesitate to plant a one gallon nursery raspberry, I just havenÂt done it before. Perhaps I should just so when someone asks a question like this, I could have something intelligent to say! As for bare root raspberries, if the nurseries are recommending waiting until spring, that I'd probably just go with that.
Have you settled on any varieties yet? Some people here say "just plant Caroline and be done with it". But, I like different varieties so lengthen my harvest window for as long as possible. IÂm more about fresh eating than I am about freezing. I find the flavor differences to be subtle, and actually enjoy their differences. IÂve yet to find a bad tasting raspberryÂ. (expect for those raspberries that go beyond ripe of course)

What zone are you in? IÂm not sure how the elevation will affect them. Have you asked the nurseries about that? Maybe a bit more searching on that topic? Let us know what varieties youÂre thinking about.

Good luck! -Glenn

Hi Glenn,

I am still researching variety's, but yes, as you have done, I, would like to plant several to extend the season!

As I just purchased this property, I am a bit unsure of how cold, and the exact climate, but bascially, it's probably either a cold zone 5, or maybe a 4, 8000 feet, forested, mountainous, with rich black old river valley soil, no wind, kind of a little nook in a valley next to a stream, but might be very cold in the winter, due to it sitting low, and probably will have a snow-pack from mid December to early April, depending on the year.

This property is a complete opposite to where I garden now, at 6500 feet, in a red clay type soil, but a much warmer high desert type climate.

I think I will spend all winter reading up more on Raspberries, and as soon as the snow pack is gone, start planting!

AC