When can I move my raspberries?

rosie383

I have lots of raspberry plants which I want to move on to the allotment, as I have loads of space there, and they are rapidly taking over a whole corner of the garden.
And am I right in thinking that I don't do anything to them? I cut them down last year by mistake, so only got about 6 raspberries this year. So there is plenty of growth for next year, so hopefully lots of fruit.
Is now a good time to move them? And how do I do it? Can I take them bare-rooted? That would be easiest, to carry them up to the lottie, but I don't want to kill them off.

Mojisola

Wait a bit until the leaves have fallen off and the plants have shut down for the winter. You can then dig them up and move them. If you want to, you can knock the soil off the roots to make them lighter to carry. If you have any perennial weeds growing among the raspberries, it's worth washing all the soil off so that you don't take any weed roots with you to the allotment.

Summer fruiting raspberries are pruned after the stems have flowered - just cut out the old stems and leave the new ones to grow up for fruiting next year. As you are moving the plants, you will have to cut everything down to about 20cms.

rosie383

Thank you very much. All the stems are newish, I suppose. I bought them tiny last year, then cut them down by mistake. So everything is new growth this year. So is it still OK to cut them to 20cms? I would really love some fruit next year. They are about 2' at the mo.

valk_scot

You'll lose another year of harvest by moving them, alas. Can I suggest that as well as moving some of your current ones you also invest in some autumn fruiting canes, assuming your current ones are summer fruiting? Autumn ones planted now will give fruit next year, from late August up till the first frosts which is a really welcome time to be getting soft fruit.

And yes, make sure you don't transplant any weeds. You weren't the person with mares tail/horsetail in your garden, were you? If so don't transplant anything between the garden and the allotment or you'll regret it.

Mojisola

As valk_scot says, you do need to cut them down. If you leave all that top growth on the plant with the small amount of root, they won't do well. It's a good idea to have a few autumn fruiting bushes. We're enjoying our late raspberries at the moment.

gardenroute

Its probably best to do it now. The weather is warm and wet and this will give the roots a chance to grow in their new position before the soil gets too cold. Use a fork and work in a circle around each plant lifting it gently. The roots will have soil around them and its best to leave this intact to reduce root damage.
IMHO 2' stems should be left, unless its in an exposed position. The plant will probably establish quicker with some stems left on.
Rasperrries are one of those plants thats hard to kill. Plant them properly and give them a good water - they will almost certainly survive.
Just don't leave the roots open to the air for too long or they will dry out

irishwexford

Our autum raspberries are still giving plenty of fruit. I want to move them on allotment but will do this when I cut them down to about 6 inches when they have finished fruiting. The summer ones I cut out old canes when they finished fruiting but will leave them where they are. I want all the middle and autum ones together at back of allotment.

Mojisola

gardenroute wrote: »

Its probably best to do it now. The weather is warm and wet and this will give the roots a chance to grow in their new position before the soil gets too cold. Use a fork and work in a circle around each plant lifting it gently. The roots will have soil around them and its best to leave this intact to reduce root damage.
IMHO 2' stems should be left, unless its in an exposed position. The plant will probably establish quicker with some stems left on.
Rasperrries are one of those plants thats hard to kill. Plant them properly and give them a good water - they will almost certainly survive.
Just don't leave the roots open to the air for too long or they will dry out

It really isn't necessary to keep the soil around the roots with raspberries as long as you wait until the plants are dormant before you move them.

Later in the autumn you will see raspberries for sale in the garden centres, 10 to a bundle, bare-rooted with not a sprinkling of soil on them.

rosie383

Thank you everyone. I think maybe what I will do, is to keep some in the garden to get fruit from next year, and move the ones that are getting in the way, up to the allotment. And no, Val, it wasn't me that had the weeds in my garden. I have it pretty much weed free :-)