Heritage raspberry help

8 years ago

I live in north central Idaho (zone 6 I believe). I have a small but growing patch of Heritage red raspberry bushes. Because of temperatures we get a small amount of berries in late July, and early into fall the second crop starts producing. Before they can ripen though the temps are too cold and all the unripened berries die. We are only able to pick less than 100 berries throughout the entire growing season. There will be hundreds still unripe left on the vine. I’ve talked to local nurseries and all sell heritage variety and say they grow great in my area. My question is what can I do to actually be able to get some raspberries this year? If I went out now as they’re starting to poke through the ground and cut down all the existing canes would that help? Or would that just get rid of the very few we get during the first crop in July/August?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

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Comments (4)

PRO
User
8 years ago
The local nurseries may be aware of good growth for this variety but they may not be getting feedback about the actual crop.

Perhaps your plants are in a shadier, cooler soil area of your property and would do better a short distance away. Planting in a raised bed could result in warmer soil and earlier growth.

Also consider growing an early summer bearing variety, the earliest variety available locally, or purchase bare-root from a more distant source.

I doubt that removing a lot of canes would help although you could experiment with just a portion of the patch.
wpark2419
Original Author
8 years ago
They are actually in full sun from morning until evening so that shouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately I may need to just buy a different variety. Thanks for your reply
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Nobasil (z4 New England)
8 years ago
I had a similar problem with Anne (everything I read was that it was supposed to be great in zone 4, but it would get too cold in September and the berries never ripened well). I eventually pulled them out and switched to entirely summer bearing raspberries (Killarney has always produced well for me). Hopefully someone else has a better idea.
User
8 years ago
I'm also in zone 6, although it's in the mid-Atlantic so a whole different climate. I grow Heritage successfully but only as a fall-bearing variety. I cut all the canes down to the ground in February, and my harvest starts in mid-August. It really picks up around Labor Day, and I may still have a few stragglers in October.

My new canes are about a foot tall right now. You said that yours are just starting to poke through the ground. Perhaps your later spring is the issue here?