In general, those known as fruits of the forest, are fruits that are not consumed very often. We do not usually find them in greengrocers and we have to go to almost gourmet places to find small trays of a few grams at prices that exceed even those of good pieces of meat. Let’s see the growing conditions for raspberries.

WE GROW RICH AND AROMATIC RASPBERRIES

I think few people I know who don’t like raspberries. In general, the well-known fruits of the forest (strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, currant …) are delicacies that everyone or almost everyone likes. It is a delight to walk through the mountains in September and October and come across a blackberry and turn “purple.” Raspberry is more difficult to find feral but it is possible.

Its natural consumption is delicious but buying them can be expensive, basically due to the delicacy of the fruits during transport, handling and expiration, which is usually very fast. They are very aromatic and their use in jams, cakes, preserves, jellies, liqueurs is more than known.

RASPBERRY ORIGINS AND DISTRIBUTION

The raspberry or raspberry plant (Rubus idaeus L.) is native to Europe and closing the fence a little more, it is believed that Greece may have had raspberry in its origins. Later it would spread to the rest of Europe and Asia and today it is a naturalized plant on all continents.

CLIMATE AND SOIL

Contrary to what one might think due to the delicacy of the fruits, it is a very resistant plant to winter cold . On the other hand, it also withstands extremely hot summers even. The problem comes, as always, with the spring frosts that ruin the flowering and / or fruit set. As for light, it is preferable that they have it, although in summer it can spoil the fruits.

On the ground it has slightly more delicate preferences. If the sand fraction is too high, the soil will not retain enough moisture for growth. If the soil retains too much water, reaching the point of waterlogging, the plant will inevitably die from root suffocation . In fact, it is not even necessary to water the soil for the plant to suffer. Therefore, it needs slightly sandy loam soils, which retain moisture but are sufficiently permeable, light and highly nourished in organic matter . The preferred pH is slightly acidic reaching neutrality (between 6 and 7.5 approx.)

IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF CULTIVATION

TRAINED

From a large-scale production point of view, trellising is necessary because the branches bend with the weight of the fruit, breaking easily. One of the most common trellising methods is the trellis .

IRRIGATION

It is an aspect that must be very controlled because the plant is very sensitive to excess humidity and drought. Short and abundant waterings are usually carried out in summer by micro-sprinkling so that the plant does not suffer from excess humidity or suffer from periods of drought.

PODA

Pruning is important and it will be necessary to do 1 or 2 pruning depending on the variety, whether it is remonant or non-remontant. In the varieties we explain what each one is.

• For remontant varieties: A pruning after harvest in which the branches that have borne fruit are removed. In winter a second pruning is done , limiting vegetative growth, lowering the branches and eliminating weak shoots
• For non-remontant varieties: Only the summer pruning that we have discussed for the previous ones will be necessary.

VARIETIES

There are a few varieties of them, crosses, hybrids and even crosses with blackberries but there is a very clear classification for certain varieties. Remontants and non-remontants.

The remonant varieties: they  fructify the same year of their formation in autumn and in summer of the following year. This means two productions in the same year. Although they are more productive, generally the fruit is smaller and of lower quality than the non-remontant ones.

Not remonant varieties: they  produce a single annual production in summer but have the advantage of being more aromatic, large, uniform fruits with better flavor. There is no doubt which ones are preferred for commercial purposes. The remontants are usually more used for ornamental purposes.