How to care for raspberries: mulching, tillage from weeds

In the first two years after planting, until the raspberry plants are strong, they have not mastered the soil they have been given, care must be taken especially carefully and weed control should be strictly controlled. One of the methods of such control is soil mulching between rows. While the roots of the shrub have not yet grown, it is not difficult to care for raspberries. Without fear of damaging them, the soil between the plants can be loosened with pitchforks, hoes, rakes. At the very roots weeding is carried out more carefully. Raspberry offspring appearing in between rows do the same as with weeds - weed them out( if there is no need to use them as planting material).

soil around raspberry seedlings after watering poured peat( manure of straw, sawdust) layer of 5-8 cm or shroudedspecial covering material for mulching( it is usually black), having made holes with a diameter of 5-10 cm for the stems of seedlings.

In the second year in the spring, the entire area of ​​raspberries is mulched with peat, sawdust, straw, hay, foliage, bringing the layer of loosely lying mulch materials to 15-20 cm.

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What is mulching and mulch

mulching is agriculturalmoisture in the soil, reducing its consumption as a result of evaporation from the soil surface, improving the water-air regime in the soil.

Mulch - a material for mulching the soil. This may be peat, chopped bark of trees, chips, chopped branches, mowed grass, hay, straw, straw manure, sawdust, leaves that fell from trees, weeds, covering materials, for example, black nonwoven cover - spanbond.

Under mulch the soil heats up more slowly, cools more slowly, the amplitude of temperature fluctuations of the soil under the layer of mulch is less. All this improves the conditions for the development of the root system of raspberries, prolongs the period of its growth or activity.

Mulching accelerates the ripening of berries, reduces the number of offspring. So, you spend less time on thinning shoots. In addition, mulching removes the negative effect of thickening( high humidity at the base of the bush, poor illumination).In conditions of better light, shoots are not stretched. Under the layer of mulch the soil is less compacted, its structure is not disturbed.

Decomposing, mulch increases the soil organic matter content. It promotes root growth, more abundant fruiting.

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Mulch against raspberry pests

Mulch suppresses weeds and extra sprouts of raspberries in between rows, is an agrotechnical means of controlling some pests that hibernate in the soil - adult insects cannot overcome a thick layer of mulch, they die.

If there are no outbreaks of pests that hibernate in the soil on a raspberry, then in the spring they simply add a 5-10 cm layer of peat, straw, hay, sawdust.

If there are many pests or weeds begin to appear, proceed as follows: in the fall after winter pests leave, the layer of mulch is loosened, dug along with the soil;in the spring, 30-50 g of nitroammofoski per 1 m² are made and the soil is loosened, disturbing the wintering grounds, and then a new layer of 15-20 cm of peat, straw, hay or sawdust is introduced.

If there are a lot of pests, in the fall mulch together with the hibernating larvae, pupae are removed, laid in compost heaps, the soil is dug up. In the spring, small digging is repeated, and then the raspberries are again filled with mulching materials.

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How to care for raspberries without mulch

If the gardener does not have any materials for mulching raspberries, then in the spring, near the raspberry bushes, the soil is weed by hand, treated with hoes, chunks, and in between rows loosen the soil. In the same way, the soil is maintained in a loose, weed-free state during the season. In the autumn, after the completion of all other works, they dig up the trampled soil between the rows, without approaching raspberry bushes closer than 30 cm from each side.

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Use of herbicides in the care of raspberries

For keeping the soil clean gardener can use herbicides. Usually they are used on large areas planted with raspberries. Where manual labor is too expensive or ineffective.

In private, farms allowed for the use of simazine - a herbicide of selective action. Bring it in the spring in loose soil on a single, emerging weeds.

On the plantations of raspberries of the first and second years after planting, the dose of the preparation is 1-1.5 g per 1 m², on the old plantations - 2-4 g per 1 m².The drug is dissolved in water, sprayed on the soil surface( 1.5-2 liters per 10 m²) from the sprayer. After treatment, all parts of the sprayer are washed.

With the herbicide Simazin it is not necessary to treat the whole area, it is enough to process only the area between the rows, the inter-row raspberries.

Good results are obtained with Simasin row spacing, both in spring and autumn.

Simazin, introduced into the soil, in the allowable dose, will not harm the raspberries. Still, when processing should try to protect the leaves of raspberry from falling on them with a solution of the herbicide. It is best to cover the sprayer( its nozzle) from above with a casing or cap.

Especially good simazin destroys wheat grass - the first enemy of raspberry. But with birch, bindweed, thunder can not handle. Rather, it suppresses their development, anyway, after processing them will be less, but to completely get rid of them will not work. That is, against weeds with a root system that penetrates deep into the soil, it is powerless and cannot completely destroy them.