Propagating raspberries is not particularly difficult. Even if you are a beginner gardener, you can easily grow new plants for your garden. To ensure successful propagation, you should follow a few tips.
How can I propagate raspberries?
Raspberries can be successfully propagated through root cuttings, runners or planters. The cuttings obtained are planted in autumn and planted in the desired location in spring. Black raspberries reproduce by lowering shoot tips.
Various methods of propagation
Red and black summer and autumn raspberries are propagated in the same way, namely by:
- Root cuttings
- foothills
- Lowers
Propagate raspberries through cuttings
You get cuttings directly from the root of the desired raspberry plant. This gives you the guarantee that you are breeding exactly the type of raspberry that you want to propagate.
The best time for taking cuttings is autumn. Use the spade to cut off a piece of the root. Make sure that enough eyes and fine roots remain on the section.
Divide the root piece into individual cuttings. Each cutting should be approximately four inches long and have at least five eyes.
Use root cuttings in autumn
Place the cuttings a few centimeters deep in the loose soil and cover them with soil.
Spread a layer of mulch made of leaves, straw or bark mulch (€14.00 on Amazon) over it so that the young plants are protected from frost.
In spring, plant the seedlings in the desired location.
Gain new plants by lowering them
By lowering, the gardener means that one or more canes of the raspberry bush are placed on the ground, secured there and covered in places with soil.
The canes form roots and later leaves in the covered areas. They are plucked out in spring and transplanted to the desired location.
Propagation by lowering works better if you tie the canes with copper wire where they are underground. This causes them to accumulate the plant sap and stimulate root formation.
Special case of black raspberries
Black raspberries are not propagated by root cuttings or cuttings. To grow new plants, you need to lower the shoot tips in the fall.
The canes are bent downwards and the tips are placed on humus-rich garden soil. Then cover them with soil. Independent plants form from this over the winter.
They are separated from the cane in spring and planted in the desired location.
Use raspberry runners
If your raspberries have formed a lot of runners, you can easily grow new raspberry bushes from them.
Dig up the runners and make sure that they have enough roots. Then place them in a prepared bed in a sunny location.
However, you should only use this method if you only have one type of raspberry in the garden. Otherwise, you may end up with cuttings from varieties that you didn't intend to propagate.
Tips & Tricks
If you propagate autumn raspberries through cuttings or runners, you can harvest some fruit next year. With summer raspberries, it takes a year longer for new raspberries to grow on the young plants.
