I have an awesome set of raspberry bushes on my property in Prince George, British Columbia. The provided a haul of nearly 40 litres last summer.
These days, I have plenty of leftover seeds from the berries when I puree them for recipes such as sorbet and then strain the juice to remove the seeds.
I'm wondering: can I plant the seeds removed from raspberries for producing new vines? Any recommendations on how to do so in terms of soil, plant food, etc?
I imagine so, but it seems like it would be faster to dig up and transplant the new plants that keep coming up from the spreading root system. That it what I do with blackberries and get a wonderful crop.
My experience is with cultivated red summerbearing raspberries but I think it applies to all varieties. They produce on last years canes. Hence each fall I would prune out most of the old canes and just leave the new canes that had come up that year. There were plenty of new canes. I would transplant those that came up outside the row into new rows. There was no shortage of such new plants.
I have never heard of anyone getting viable plants from seeds. Hybrid plants such as the ones sold in garden centers will not give plants that are true to the parent plant They are propagated from suckers or tip layers. The native wild raspberries may give viable seed, but again suckers and cuttings are much easier to use.
You don't need to seed any new canes. The opnes you have will spread.
This is what works for us (Can. Zone 4):
Cut back this year's fruit-bearing canes. If any new ones have come up, leave them. Fertilise with a generic fertiliser in the spring (I get
50kg bags from the agricultural co-op). The plants will spread, since they propagate via runners underground, so in a couple of years or so you will be pulling/digging them up in places where you don't want them. If you have dry spells and gravelly or sandy soil that won't hold water, water well, especially when the canes begin to set fruit.
You had a good crop, so you needn't worry about the soil. I layer on some leaves on the fall - that's what the canes get in the wild (they grow in clearings in the forest.) I also spread a thin layer of earth over them, to assist the composting process.
Sure, but a couple of considerations, and some of it depends on how hard you want to work at it.
1) It may not be the fastest way to propagate. You can lay the canes down and bury parts of them and they will root where buried. Not having a robust root system developed, seedlings will likely take a couple years longer to fruit. Not that the cane method is without drawbacks - in some areas there is a virus (rust) that kills the plant and will spread rapidly through connecting canes. You could cut the connecting canes and/or transplant, or maybe there is a spray for it, all of which are extra work.
2) If your berries are selective-bred commercial hybrids, you may get anything but what you expected from seed. Wild varieties should breed pretty true, however.
In my experience, they are not very picky about soil - I have to pull seedlings from the gravel in my driveway every year. In the wild, propagation is by animal droppings or by simply falling off the vine if nothing eats them. Of course nothing likes hard clay, but anything crumbly might work, and I would think they should absolutely thrive with a bit of compost or manure. They tend to be shallow-rooted, so you probably don't need to bury the seeds very much if at all.
My own propagation methods are very much labor un-intensive - I eat a few as I pick and spit seeds in the direction where I think I would like to see more berries grow. Maybe throw a whole berry a bit deeper into the brush here and there as I go. Been doing this way for about
6 years now and it's starting to pay off with better crops the last 2. But that's just my style - I prefer minimal/sustainable.
There are 230 species of blackberry family in the USA. The most obnoxious one is the Himalayan blackberry (Rubus discolor), however it produces large delicious fruit.
However, many of the native blackberries are small creeping plants that produce small fruit that is even better tasting.
When ( rarely) I take on the task of fertilizing cane-berries, I just use composted stable waste.. neighbors have it in quantity and I have permission to take as much as I want. ]
I cut down the canes that fruited last. I find I can do this here in Western Maine as early in the spring as I care to be out there.. a function of having to be insulated well from thorns. Old clothes, substantial gloves, heavy soled shoes, and a lopper that is quite sharp.
You'll know the old canes from the new canes by the appearance of the bark on the canes-- old canes will be dull in appearance and usually have some crispy/crumbly bark, maybe evidence of the old fruiting scapes. New canes are brighter, the bark is tight and fresh. It won't matter a whit if you take some new canes with the old, what you are doing is renewing the patch.
Cut out the old canes and take some of the new ones if you find the bed crowded, your yield on strong, healthy new canes will pay off, as will ease of picking. There are only 2 kinds of canes in your berry patch in Early Spring ( and I mean EARLY-- this is before new growth)-- spent canes that will not fruit, and "floricanes" that will produce your next crop.
Once you've cut, lay on the composted manure/stable waste, or some REALLY CHEAP granular 5-5-5. The Berry Patch is not the place for bark mulch or home compost unless it is your ONLY crop, or you are doing a PYO farm..... these berries will do well with cheap stuff.
What will happen is that the Floricanes for the next crop will love their space, sunlight and room, they will set fruit more heavily , that fruit will be larger and easier to pick ( greater yield) and they will in turn send up strong replacement Floricanes for the following years crop.
Lazy b**ch that I am, I typically make the effort in the berries about every 3 years.
And since I am short of stature, I will "TRY" to go thru the bed at flowering time and lop off anything in flower that is taller than I want to stretch to reach. This puts all the yield in my reach, pleases the bees who pollinate, results in larger berries on shorter canes, and tells the mother plants to put up MORE canes.
Cane fruits are exceedingly willing to propogate via root stolons/offsets, and equally agreeable to putting up new growth from seed or stem pieces.
What-ever you do will not be wrong until you think .. gee... my yield is declining, I guess I better go out there and pay attention.
Yes there is a virus/rust that affects all cane-bearing fruits. We've had good luck over 20 years by isolating affected areas and making the affected areas a controlled burn pile. YMMV, we havent eradicated it but we have slowed it.
One can bring a tangle of berries into submission.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.