DR. RAZBRY'S RASPBERRY FAQ PAGE l. Why are raspberries so expensive? This depends on who you talk to--the grower or buyer. Even though raspberries are fairly easy to grow they are the most delicate fruit on the market. If not properly handled they can rot within hours. Because of the delicacy of the fruit, special care in cooling and handling are required that is not required on other fruits. Many fruits can be picked when under-ripe and sent to market; raspberries cannot and are shipped at the peak of ripeness, thus making their shelf life very short. Depending on where you are and the time of year, fresh raspberries will cost between $2.00 and $5.00 per half pint. 2. How difficult are raspberries to grow? In many areas raspberries are considered a weed. In general, raspberries can be grown in any climate under most conditions. It's just a matter of having some basic growing knowledge. 3. Can I grow them in my area? Raspberries can be found in all areas of the world. Some wild berries are very tart and are difficult to eat. Raspberries can be found from the artic to the tropics. 4. What type of soil do I need? Even though raspberries are found world-wide, this does not mean they will grow in all soil locations. Raspberries are shallow rooted plants (90% of root system is in top 6" of soil) and are unable to stand wet feet. If you have any area where water stands more than 6 hours after a heavy rain, then this is NOT the place to plant raspberries. Each plant must have a well drained soil. Without this your success is slim to none. 5. Do I plant in sun or shade or both? Raspberries are sun loving plants. In many northern states where timber is harvested, raspberries show up the following year after a clear-cut. The same should apply to your plantings. The more sun you give the plant, the less chance you will have of disease. This does not mean you can't be successful in a partically shaded area. But do not plant in full shade. 6. What do I need to fertilize with? For those who are growing organically-any good home made compost or well rotted manure will do. For everyone else a good garden fertilizer of 10-10-10 is usually sufficient. If you really want to get technical, have your soil tested. 7. What about diseases? There are diseases which can attack plants. One of the best ways to eliminate 90% of any potential problems is follow questions 4 & 5. Nature can help if you give her a chance. If that fails, there are chemicals, if used properly, which are fairly safe and will do the job. Your Cooperative Extension Service can be most helpful. 8. What about insects? Number l, follow questions 4 & 5. Every good "healthy" garden is full of insects. The trouble with most people is they don't realize that over 95% are "benefical" insects. NOT ALL BUGS ARE BAD. It's a case of the "good" bugs after the "bad" bugs. So don't panic just because you see a bug. It's the other 5% that raise hell. This usually happens when nature gets thrown out-of-balance. If this happens there are biological means of correcting the problems. If everything else fails--well then we still have chemicals that kill everything, including any benefical insects in the area. 9. Why are some raspberries so tart? The make-up of a raspberry is measured in brix. To people like you and me this means the amount of natural sugar in the fruit. Usually, the early bearing raspberries have a low brix reading (low sugar). The fall bearing varieties are usually much higher in natural brix. With many new varieties on the market, many are being bred with more natural sugar in the berry. 10.How many plants do I need? This will depend on what you have in mind. As a rule of thumb, 10 plants per person, per year is sufficient. This will give you all the fresh berries you want plus allow you some for freezing, canning, jams, etc. Remember, those 10 plants will multiply and spread after the first year. ll.Where can I buy good plants? Unless you care to gamble, don't go dig up plants from Aunt Mary's patch. The reason is there may be the possibility of transmitting diseased plants to your garden. Today, all reliable nurseries are required to sell certified disease free plants. These come from growers who specialize in raspberry plants. You can contact your State Dept. of Agriculture or your local Cooperative Extension Office. Both should be able to give you the name of a reliable supplier. 12.Where can I get more detail information? One of the best resources in your own back yard is your local County Extension Office. They will have recommended varieties for your area as well as helpful tips on growing raspberries. For anyone wanting to make low sugar jams, etc., they will have brochures which can be of great assistance. 13.Are all raspberries Red? No. The most common raspberry is red but there are other colors out there. The purple raspberry is a cross between the red and black raspberry. The black raspberry is a rarity today and is very expensive if you can find it. It has not successfully been grow with red raspberries as the reds throw a disease on the blacks and eventually kill them out. It's just example of nature,s way of survival of the fittest. One of the best tasting (high sugar) varieties today is a yellow variety. Some people are turned off by a "yellow" raspberry but the flavor is excellent fresh. No one has been able to make a jam from it as it does turn a "brown" when processed and does not look very appetising. If you like to have fun, try all colors. 14.When do I trim out my raspberries? This is a question asked more times than anyone wants to admit. You first need to know what type of raspberries you have. There are 2 types: floracane-summer fruiting varieties. These are canes that grow the first year and bear fruit the following year. When these canes bear fruit they die. You should cut out these canes immediately after they are done. You will notice as the fruiting process peaks the plant will turn yellow and look like it is dying--it is, but this is natural as the plant has completed it's life cycle. By removing this dead part can you allow room for the new green shoot (suckers) which will bear next year. The second variety is the "fall" bearing varieties. The fruit comes from the shoots known as primocanes, these are plants that shoot up in the spring and bear on the same cane that year. After fruiting in the fall you can mow these back to the ground, but wait until late when the leaves have dropped. If you cut too soon some of the nutrients that go back into the roots will not have had a chance to return and it can result in poor crops the next year. 15.Can I grow raspberries without chemicals? Yes, just ask the Organic Growers. It may take a little extra work and knowledge but anything can be done if you set your mind to it. Your local library will have books which can help as well as your County Extension Service. They may also be able to give you the name of a local Organic Growers Association. 16.What is IPM? This is a method of working with nature and stands for Integrated Pest Managment. It means the grower must carefully monitor his fields for the "bad" insects and see if anything is out-of-balance. If there is an over-population of "bad" bugs then the determination is made on if a "predator" insect should be introduced to combat the "bad" bugs or if "biological" sprays or "chemical" spraying is necessary. Any grower following the IPM program is usually a very enviromentally conscious person even if at times they may have to resort to using chemicals in limited applications. In the "old" days, and in some instances today, you would just go out and spray because it was time. Today with the public aware of careless uses of chemicals, the responsible growers are using some form of IPM. 17.How safe is fresh fruit? This depends on who you ask. The USDA,FDA,and even some chemical companies tell you it's all safe. It is a fairly reasonable bet that all the fruit (raspberries) produced in the U.S. is safe. This does not mean that it has been grown totally "chemical" free but the chemicals used today are so heavily regulated that one cannot go out and carelessly spray as many growers did even 5 years ago. Growers know what the public is thinking and they don't dare use something that could hurt the chances of selling the product. Many growers today are using Substainable Agri- culture and integrating IPM into their programs just to insure a future for their crops. Raspberries being imported in the off-season do not come under the same scrutiny as here in the U.S. Many chemical companies are selling "banned" chemicals to these countries. This does not mean that these "banned" chemicals are being used on imported raspberries but they are out there. All shipments are supposed to be checked by the USDA upon entry but we all know how that sometimes works. There are some very responsible growers from Central and South America and it never hurts to ask your grocer or produce manager if he/she can get you any information on their growing practices. I think in the future many of the better growers will offer this information to the produce departments. --Dr. Razbry _________________________________________________________________ [IMAGE] [IMAGE] dharper@wwfarm.com Whistling Wings Farms E-Mail Address _________________________________________________________________ Copyright © 1995 EyeMagic Text and Image For best viewing results, browse these pages with Netscape Navigator _________________________________________________________________