I love raspberries and black raspberries, but unfortunately, my yard has a
history of being occupied by the types of plants you're not supposed to plant
them near (i.e. wild brambles, members of the nightshade family, etc.) In fact,
I bought a pack of 3 last year from Miller Nurseries, but they didn't make it
through the winter (thinking I had covered them over with too much mulch or
something).

From what I understand, the problem is mostly with certain soil-borne viruses
and funguses. And if so, would it be correct in presuming it might still be
possible to grow them successfully if they were planted in containers or raised
beds, using newly purchased, sterile garden mix?

On 03 Mar 2004 21:46:01 GMT, (OhSojourner) wrote:

I love raspberries and black raspberries, but unfortunately, my yard has a
history of being occupied by the types of plants you're not supposed to plant
them near (i.e. wild brambles, members of the nightshade family, etc.) In fact,
I bought a pack of 3 last year from Miller Nurseries, but they didn't make it
through the winter (thinking I had covered them over with too much mulch or
something).

From what I understand, the problem is mostly with certain soil-borne viruses
and funguses. And if so, would it be correct in presuming it might still be
possible to grow them successfully if they were planted in containers or raised
beds, using newly purchased, sterile garden mix?

The diseases are spread by sucking insects mostly. At least in my
area. The red raspberries are the most tolerant of the diseases, the
others .. the "colored" raspberries, and blackcaps..which I LOVE, are
more susceptible.

My place isn't even as big as the recommended closest distances to the
red raspberries. I'm going to try to plant some black raspberries
this year and hope that the house between them will help in making up
for the lack of distance. What's the worst that can happen, they may
give me a few berries before they croak. One of the catalogs I got
this year have tissue cultured virus free berries, maybe if they were
segregated with screen to keep the sucking insects off them? LOL I
don't know if that will do it or not, but i'd think you'd need to let
some kind of pollinators in there .. maybe some kind of bees you can
put in the enclosure like leafcutters... but .. not leafcutters. I
think there are other bees you can "collect" sort of by providing them
with boards with the correct size holes in them ..solitary bees,
alkali bees or something.

I planted blueberries only to find out later that they are subject to
codling moths, and cherry flies.. there are apple and pear and cherry
trees in the neighborhood, so I'm going to have to do floating row
covers at least, or do what they did on the victory garden and enclose
them in a screen house. I don't know how they are pollinated, I'd
have to check on that.. and see if there is a time between blooming
and the pest laying eggs. I think they made the screen houses to keep
birds out, but it can serve more than that one duty. I'd like to hear
what others have had to do to get bug and bird free
blueberries..although I don't think I'll be getting any berries too
soon. They take several years to start bearing, and I'm going to
likely take several years to get them really happy with the acidity
levels in the soil.

My soil is surprisingly not as alkaline as I'd expect in Idaho, as the
soil is mostly alkaline, and the water is too. I paid someone to dig
out trenches and then replace the clay soil with peatmoss and sandy
mix soil. I would like to get someone to bring in some pine needles,
and oak leaves that I can use for mulching along with peat and any
other acid material I can find and use. But, I think I'll be waiting
for that for a looooong time ;-)

Janice

Janice wrote:

On 03 Mar 2004 21:46:01 GMT, (OhSojourner) wrote:

I love raspberries and black raspberries, but unfortunately, my yard has
a
history of being occupied by the types of plants you're not supposed to
plant
them near (i.e. wild brambles, members of the nightshade family, etc.)
In fact,
I bought a pack of 3 last year from Miller Nurseries, but they didn't make
it
through the winter (thinking I had covered them over with too much mulch
or
something).

From what I understand, the problem is mostly with certain soil-borne viruses
and funguses. And if so, would it be correct in presuming it might still
be
possible to grow them successfully if they were planted in containers or
raised
beds, using newly purchased, sterile garden mix?

The diseases are spread by sucking insects mostly. At least in my
area. The red raspberries are the most tolerant of the diseases, the
others .. the "colored" raspberries, and blackcaps..which I LOVE, are
more susceptible.

Would those insects be repelled by certain insect-repelling plants like
marigolds or pennyroyal? Has anyone successfully used these plants to protect
their crops?

Can black raspberries be grown in containers? I've heard that Heritage red
raspberries do well container-bound, but haven't found much info on black
raspberries. (One possibility might be planting them in tubs on my upper-floor
deck to maximize distance from the other plants as well as get the most sun
exposure).