Why must we stake plants like raspberries when this does not happen in the wild?

Or does it? Maybe they grow in dense clusters or among other high growing crops and are thus "staked" naturally? Or perhaps by pruning we ensure much longer, higher growth? Or could it be that the varieties we grow in gardens or for commercial use have been specially modified over many years, and natural growing raspberry bushes grow less chaotically, or else the long growth is only a problem for cosmetic reasons? I hear there are new cultivars which are much stiffer and also thornless, and so do not need staking. The wild raspberries (Rubus idaeus) which grow near where I live all grow in thick, dense bushes.

 

I don't stake mine, but rather tie to horizontal wires. If I don;t do this two things happen:

The new canes get mixed in with last year's, fruiting, canes (Summer fruiting type), which makes picking more prickly !

The weight of the fruit pulls the canes down to the ground, and additional critters reduce my crop yield :( [this may well be a result of successful breeding compared to original, wild, types]

 

I don't know about other plants because my garden isn't yet old enough for anything to have grown to 'staking' size, but .....

As part of our garden renovation, in February this year we had a man come and take away the domestic oil storage tank after which another man came with a teeny-weeny JCB to dig out a load of hardcore upon which said oil tank had stood. We haven't done anything to that bit of ground since and yet, raspberry canes appeared as if by magic and what's more, they produced a bumper crop (just over 4 lbs of fruit!). The clump of canes - about 7' in diameter - are totally unsupported and, as you say are thick and densely packed.

My dilemma now of course is, do I just leave 'em be, since they've managed very well without my help until now, or do I cut them back and risk 'cultivating' and thus weakening them.

 

"or do I cut them back and risk 'cultivating' and thus weakening them"

I don;t think you will be cultivating them, you'll be doing what nature does, only more efficiently.

Chop out any canes that have had fruit this year. That will either leave the canes that grew this Spring and will carry next year's fruit (if they are Summer fruiting type), or they will throw up new canes next spring (if they are Autumn fruiting type).

I expect nature allows the old canes to struggle on attempting to carry fruit next year, but they won't be as "bonny".

... its entirely possible that they are wild Raspberries, and if so they may need completely different treatment ...

 

I watched an interesting program about this on telly a while back. They filmed brambles in the wild over the course of a whole year, using timelapse photography so they could speed it up to fit in a few minutes of film. It was a real eye opener. The old stems set off rambling along the ground, with the tip constantly 'feeling' from side to side, searching for suitable ground. When it found a spot it was happy with it stopped and layed down new roots to effectively become a new bush. Kind of like nature's layering.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that using the time lapse technique, they also figured that the thorns are not purely for defence. They where used to hook onto stuff as they rambled along so thus giving the necessary grip for the fine to advance as it went, as opposed to simply coiling up and snagging on everything.

All quite fascinating. It showed that plants are as active as animals, only much much slower

 

If we take plants in general, those growing in the wild are species, which don't need staking. If they always got knocked down by wind and rain, the species wouldn't survive.

However, what we grow in gardens are cultivars, which have been specifically bred by man to produce larger flowers or more fruit. But they haven't usually been bred to stand unsupported, this aspect tends to be ignored. Then add the fact that garden soil has often been improved to be much richer than in the wild. Richer soil will grow bigger and floppier plants, so even species plants may no longer be able to stand up by themselves in the garden border.

 

Thanks for all your answers on this question.

 

You have to consider the true purpose of the raspberry itself. For us it is a delicacy, for the plant it is its means of ensuring survival of the species, the ultimate (if unconcious) goal of all living organisms.

Raspberry grows up say 4 foot then flops over, the fruit will be deposited up to 4 foot away from the parent. Hence the next generation will not be growing in the shadow of the parent. This means no competition for space, light, water etc.

We stake because we want fruit that is not dirty and easy to harvest.

 

The berries go red when the seeds are ready, so that they make a stark contrast against the green foliage so birds and mice etc can easily spot them. The sweet flavour that makes the berries so nice to eat also serves a purpose, encourage as many thinks as possible to eat them along with the seeds they contain. The seeds themselves are often indigestible to many species, so the bird/mouse has its lunch, wanders off, goes to the loo and deposits the undigested seeds elsewhere.

 

Ok that works for me as well :-)