On Jun 13, 8:29*pm, Ecnerwal
wrote:
In article ,









*passerby wrote:
replying to Davej , passerby wrote:
galt_57 *wrote:

Do raspberries like full sun? Or do they perhaps prefer partial shade?

I think partial shade works best for them. I had a few raspberry bushes in
a full sun spot and they were literally fighting for survival for three
years until I moved them into the shade created by picket fence (and a
medium size tree for a part of the day). They seem quite happy there, no
yellowing and blooming rather well this year. It would be the first year
in partial shade, so I'm not sure if less sun affects the taste of the
berries, but at least the plants themselves look much healthier there.

That part of the garden is further away from the house, so the soil is not
damaged by all the construction activity 6 years ago. So, perhaps there
are several factors at play here, not just the amount of sun.

Yellowing sounds more like a nutrient issue to me.

They are a crop that naturally (in the wild) goes for burned over land -
full sun.

However if you are more equatorial (I'm around 42 degrees, so not
equatorial at all) you may have a different issue with what "full sun"
means for you, and what that does to crops which want full sun here. I
don't mean full on tropical, just significantly closer to the equator,
and thus getting more of a strong overhead sun.

They will _grow_ in partial shade, but not fruit as much as in full sun
- here.

They also need to be thinned rather ruthlessly for continued production
- either the simple brute force method of mow half the patch flat in
alternating years, or cutting all the old canes and thinning the new
ones to a pretty wide spacing.


I have messed with various blackberries but raspberries seem to be a
little different. I'm at 38.5N and the summer heat out in the full sun
can be brutal. Since raspberries seem to have shallow roots I am going
to need to keep them mulched and watered. These had been growing wild
in a nearby wooded area for many years. I moved them last spring. I
think they are descendants of some raspberries I grew briefly many
years ago. Last year after the heat wave the canes started growing in
a leggy ground hugging fashion. So far this year the new canes are
growing erect, like a normal, healthy blackberry would.