Freshly picked raspberries from your own garden are a real treat. If you own a particularly good variety, you can significantly increase its yields by propagating the plant. This can be done via cuttings, offshoots, sinkers, offshoots or root cuttings as well as by sowing. The simplest and most promising method is propagation via foothills. Sowing is much more complex and problematic, it takes a long time and is not always crowned with success.
cuttings
In principle, the propagation of protected breeders' varieties with plant variety protection is also prohibited for personal use. From all others, cuttings can be cut from young, slightly woody shoots in early summer. You should have at least two sheets.
Immediately after cutting, they are placed in a nutrient-poor growing medium. Then cover the culture vessel with a translucent film and place it in a bright, warm place. Roots have usually formed after 2 - 3 weeks so that the cuttings can be planted in their final place in the garden.
When planting out, be careful not to plant where raspberries have already been. Raspberries belong to the rose family and are incompatible with themselves. In contrast, a planting with tansy, garlic, low-grade pea varieties, onions or French beans can be beneficial for raspberries.
sticks
In general, autumn, when the raspberry has lost its leaves, is the best time to propagate them using sticks. They are now in dormancy. First you select mature, one-year-old, woody shoots or shoot parts that are as strong as possible and cut them off close to the ground.
- cut the shoot into 10 - 20 cm long partial cuttings, ideally just below the lower nodes
- Nodes are the areas of a shoot where one or more leaves form
- after that, the upper rung part of the stick should be longer and the lower one shorter
- this has advantages when planting later
- Store the cuttings obtained in this way in a cool place until next spring
- Seal cuts with tree wax and place sticks in moist sand
- as soon as the ground is frost-free, cut and plant the cuttings freshly
- always stick into the ground in the correct direction of growth
- only the top of the stick should stick out of the ground
- press the earth down and water the whole thing
- protection against evaporation is not required, as cuttings do not have leaves
Even if sticks develop a little more slowly, propagation via sticks and cuttings is particularly productive. Because several young plants can be obtained from one shoot.
root cuttings
Propagation via root cuttings is particularly suitable for modern raspberry varieties, because they usually form significantly fewer or no runners at all. Again, a good time is from October to December, as long as the ground is not frozen. First, the root is partially exposed and one or more young and strong parts of the root are cut off.
These should have side roots but no shoots and be about 10 cm long. Then place these cuttings about 5 cm deep in small pots in sandy and moist soil and place them in a cool, frost-free place. Experience has shown that the growth rate is greater, the thicker the young root is. As a rule, it drives out in several places by spring and can be planted outside.
There is also the option of planting the root cuttings about 10 cm deep in the ground directly in the garden after cutting. But then they have to be protected from frost in order not to suffer any damage. This can be done by covering the area with straw, dry leaves, bark mulch or peat. In order to easily find the planting site again in the spring, it is advisable to mark it with a small stick or something similar. From around March, the cover can be removed to allow the sun to warm the soil.
offshoot
Winter and spring are suitable times for obtaining offshoots. First you select one or more shoots close to the ground. These shoots are each placed in a small trough in the ground and fixed there without covering them with soil.
As soon as the new shoots protrude above the surface of the soil, the bottom channel is filled with soil. Depending on the time of propagation, the young plants can develop strong shoots with sufficient roots by autumn or spring. Finally, the offshoots can be separated from the mother plant and each other and transplanted.
lowering
Propagation via sinkers is a little more tedious than via offshoots. It can be done either in March or late autumn, provided the canes are long enough and the ground is frost-free. In contrast to offshoots, sinkers usually only develop one young plant. In both methods, one or more shoots are placed in the ground while attached to the mother plant.
- they are carefully bent down to the ground
- then placed in an oblong small trough and covered with soil
- fix with small wires, branch forks or tent pegs for a better hold
- Lowerers can also be fixed to the floor without such a trough
- then there is a risk that too much soil will be washed away when watering
- The tip of the shoot should stick out of the ground
- attach to a small stick if necessary
- after a while, roots have formed on the shoots
- Planters can be separated from the mother plant and transplanted
foothills
The formation of runners is essential for the survival of wild raspberries in the wild. In the garden, independent propagation via runners is often not desired, although modern breeds with particularly large fruits have largely lost the ability to form runners. If the raspberry in question forms foothills, these can be used for propagation.
Ideally, you should look for well-developed, above-ground leafy runners in autumn, which you then cut off the mother plant with a sharp spade and dig up. It is important that the offshoots in question have sufficient roots. They can be planted directly in their new location. If you want to prevent these plants from spreading too much, you can plant a suitable root barrier in the soil, ideally already when planting.
The black raspberry is a special case. It is still relatively rare to find in domestic gardens and produces very even and resistant fruits. In contrast to other varieties, it does not form any runners, so that this type of propagation is not necessary. However, propagation by means of sinkers or cuttings is possible without any problems.
seed
The most difficult and time-consuming is the propagation of raspberries from seeds. The fruits of the plants obtained in this way are more similar to those of smaller wild varieties. If you already have a plant, you can use its fruits to obtain seeds. The fruits used for this should be fully ripe.
They are harvested and subjected to a cold-wet treatment by soaking and fermenting in water for about 5 months. At the end of this process, the pulp has softened and releases the seeds after vigorous stirring or beating. Raspberry seeds are light-inhibited seeds, which means they germinate best in the dark and cold.
- you sow them in nutrient-poor potting soil
- it should be as germ-free as possible
- Cover seeds with a thin layer of soil
- Moisten the substrate well and keep it evenly moist until germination
- cover the planter or seed with a translucent film
- put the whole thing in a dark and cool place, for example in a cellar
- it can take anywhere from 4-6 weeks to 1-2 years to germinate
- the first seedlings appear, they need to move to a warmer place
- this can be e.g. in a greenhouse or at room temperature
- keep the substrate constantly moist
After another 4 weeks, the seedlings can be carefully separated and transplanted into small pots. Once they have reached a size of about 20 cm, they can move to the garden. It will take at least a year for these plants to bear fruit for the first time.