Well, I'm not much help, but seeing as how no one has posted a reply yet...

The raspberries were yummie last year when we moved in. Our neighbors/friends said that they were way better the year before when they had watered them.

Now, does that mean spring watering or both spring and summer? Not sure, but they did imply that the fruit would be more plentiful and bountiful if "watered."

The plants are everywhere, like a bramble weed but with yummies. I am guessing they are wild or naturalized...not sure though.

Good luck and I hope you get a more solid answer.

J.

I'm not going to be much help either, Bonnie.

A few years ago, I ordered everbearing raspberries for a friend. She has been delighted with how well they've done and enjoys having them produce late in the season as well as some early.

She dug quite a few suckers and potted them up for other gardeners this Spring. So, I'd think that they could be moved around your yard just as you can with June-bearing varieties.

The canes that have already produced fruit were cut down to the ground and the new canes cut to a manageable height - about 5 feet. These canes were gathered and tied loosely to stakes.

She waters with tall sprinklers but I can't really believe that raspberries do better with this approach than say, a soaker hose. They have some problem with mildew late in the year and wetting the foliage so often can't be good for their resistance.

Oh, and she fertilizes with some pretty high-powered commercial fertilizer in the Spring.

DigitS'

Well, I am definitely not an expert, but this is the second year I have grown fall bearing raspberries in containers so I have a little experience.

Fall bearing raspberries don't really need support because the canes are pretty strong, but a support will be helpful during fruiting when canes get top-heavy with fruit. I don't know if it will increase productivity to have a support.

For pruning needs it really depends on when and how much fruit you want. Fall bearing raspberries produce two crops; a small crop in the spring from last year's canes, and a larger crop in the fall from new/first year canes. The easiest way to prune is to cut off/mow down all of the canes after fall fruiting has finished in the winter or early spring. The reasoning behind this method is that you will get a much larger fall crop than the spring/fall crops combined. (Did that make sense?)

If you want both spring and fall crops pruning is a little more complicated. You need to remove only the canes that have fruited in the spring, and this would probably be easiest in the summer immediately after fruiting. Then leave the new canes alone until they fruit the next year. This method may be better for our zone, where the fall crop is cut off by early freezes.

Either way, you will get the best production and easiest harvest if you keep the patch well pruned and trained to a specific area. It is recommended to keep raspberries in rows of 12 to 18 inches wide and remove all suckers that form outside the row. You need to also remove all canes that look diseased or are smaller and less vigorous than the others. All old canes should be removed to prevent disease and pests.

I am not sure if you can do the tip bend method of propagation with fall bearing raspberries. But I am fairly confident that suckers and root cuttings can be grown if you get a good amount of root with them. In fact, I am trying to do that right now with mixed results.

I have no information for you about watering. I would assume any method would be fine as long as you don't over water. I hope this information helps.

Follow Lindy's info. I'm still amazed at her "deck" gardening. If we have a successful gardene lover here, it is her on a deck, in pots.

I have grown both red and black raspberries in the Parker area and now my new ones (their second year) in COS. A couple here are from ones dug up and taken with me. They seem a bit slow to come back. Differenent environment and soil. The last were left to grow at will and became huge bushes without support. I hand watered them, but they also got runoff from the neighbors lawn. Current ones have a wire fence and the sprinkler system 3 times a week.

What I have found is buying plants from a good nursery produced better results. As for pruning, I guessed when the new growth started showing up.

Thanks to all for your insight. So sorry I canÂt spell ras"p"berry. I really like lindy looÂs idea of pruning the spring canes after fruiting and then mow down everything in the fall. How many canes do you allow each container to fruit on?

Steve, I agree with you that overhead should not make that much difference but I had read from several sources that they like it better and your gal seems to have success with it.

The other thing that I found in reading is mulch, mulch, mulch is key. DonÂt disturb the tender, close to the surface roots with cultivation type of weeding.

Emagineer, what spacing did you use? I was thinking I could pull the suckers (the book said not to cut because that just promotes new suckers at the cut point) and to space plants 3Â apart in rows that are 5Â apart cutting canes to the ground to encourage roots to develop. But would much rather take your personal experience.