Advice re container raspberries

Hello all,

I've just received 9 raspberry canes, and whilst ultimately I would like to plant them directly in the garden, I'm going to grow them in containers for a year or two. I have varieties that are (supposedly!) suitable for container growing - my containers are between 40cm and 60cm.

I have a quick question.
This morning I came across a couple of sites that said I can plant up 6 canes per container - and that these should be planted around the perimeter.

I was planning one cane per container - and in the middle!

Any advice before I get going would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

if the final spot will be in the garden I think one per pot is ideal

15 inch pot is not that huge for a full grown rasberry

 

Hi Spruce,

Thank you. This is what I was thinking. 6 per container seems a bit strange.

Ultimately I do want to plant them in the garden - but have just read that I shouldn't plant them in places where tomatoes have been planted recently - and annoyingly I've previously planted tomatoes everywhere.

So, I imagine they'll be in pots for at least 3 years, while I wait for the tomato effect to wear off!

 

If you plant them in the ground like I did be warned the roots spread and they put their shoots up in the middle of my lawn. I should have been more careful.

 

Good to know.
If it happens to me I think I'll just be grateful that they are still alive. Pretty sure Ive buggered up the planting!
Did half in pots, half in the ground in the end.

 

These are not raspberries but I do grow them in 25 litre containers to limit their spread.

The first is a true blackberry and the second is a raspberry/blackberry hybrid that behaves very much like a raspberry in that it bears fruit initially at the tip of lateral branches growing out of two year-old canes. How and when the hybrid fruits can be controlled by pruning. The hybrid also ground-layers very easily - any part of the cane (usually the tips) which touches a moist surface will produce roots.

If I were to grow raspberries in a container, then I would do like in the first picture. That is, construct a framework directly onto the container itself in order to make it a freestanding unit. Then train the canes against the framework like the ribs of a fan.

Once the canes have reached the desired height, chop off the tips to force lateral growth. The end result will look like a fan of leaves and fruit.

Use loam based soil with some organic matter for moisture retention and sharp sand or grit mixed in for drainage. The loam also serves as balast for the framework structure.

 

Thank you.
This is really helpful.
To check that I am seeing things correctly, you have made crosses with the canes at angles?

 

If you mean the bamboo frame structure:






Triangles make the strongest mechanical structures so the basic framework consists mainly of two triangles formed by the bamboo canes (or whatever rods/sticks you have at hand). They are tied together with pvc coated garden wire using a method called bamboo lashing.

If you use normal jute string or other non UV protected string then it will last about one season.

If you don't tie by lashing, then the bamboo canes might slip due to expansion and contraction as the water content in the canes fluctuate.

If your container is cylindrical [diagram 2] then tie the vertical bamboo canes directly onto the outside of the container (drill tying holes in the container for this).

If your container has a taper [diagram 3] then pad out the taper at the bottom before tying the verticals. Alternatively, drill holes in the container and push a metal rod from one side out to the other to form the padding.

Train by tying the raspberry canes like [diagram 1]. Two year-old canes are coloured pink, new canes are coloured green. Alternate between this pattern when you need to prune out old canes.

I have not followed this tying pattern myself as I needed to keep the structure quite open so as not to shade out the crops in the raised bed behind.

 

Thank you for this design/idea. It has solved a pondered plan. I might do this with nylon cable ties as they are more reliable than string and seem to endure for ever.

 

Thank you MisterQ, this is great. Very helpful indeed.
Lets see if I am able to put this into practice!