With regard to blueberry shrubs, I have finally concluded that bare-root stock should be potted up in the spring, and allowed to grow in a protected environment, like an open porch, with limited sunlight. By fall, the shrub should have developed enough of a root system to support the leaves, and it can be transplanted into the ground at that time. My experience with bare-root stock, planted in the spring, is that the shrub leafs out, and looks great, until we get two or three weeks of intense sun, usually in August, and then the leaves begin to brown. It's downhill from there. There is a mis-match between leaf development and root development, with the root system lagging behind. This is not a problem in the spring and early summer, but high summer is another matter. One solution is to plant bare-root stock in the fall, but then, why do they sell it in the spring?

I bought a raspberry and a blackberry several months ago in 1 gal pots. Both of them had nice green foliage and some flowers. The raspberry plant produced some raspberries and I have picked them as soon as they were ripe. I see new growth and also see some leaves with browned edges is this just leaf burn from being dried out a bit one day? I hope so. The blackberry produced a gazillion flowers and they are all turning into blackberries. I do not see the leaf burn on it.

Potted plants generally have more developed roots, and therefore they are more likely to do well in intense sunlight the first year. Bare root plants need to be in the ground for 6 months or so before the roots are well established, and capable of supporting flowers and fruit. For this reason, I think that bare root should be planted in the fall, giving it time to develop a good root system before springtime and high summer.

I agree that fall planting sould be best but Nourse only ships in the spring. I have the same problem with my raspberries. They are almost impossible to get started

ugh. so fall is the best time but they only send them in the spring, how does that make any sense!? grr!

well, Nourse is going to send me some replacements in the spring, I just have to pay the shipping which is $10 and yeah. oh well!

Make sure you don't overwater. Raspberry roots can go bad quickly in wet soil.

I had a similar thing happen to me. I planted 10 Caroline bare root canes I got from Noruse on 4/22, they all looked awesome with new leaf and shoot growth etc., then 2 withered up and died... after 7 weeks! I was bummed, and thought it was some root-feeder eating up my plants. I could find nothing to support that, and there was the discussion that the RoundUp I'd used to clear the brome in advance of the plants arrival could have transfered somehow. All the rest still looked awesome for a couple weeks later, then from one day to the next (literaly overnight) the remaining plants all started the leaf curl/die-back thing you've described. I sent Nourse an email and explained everything and it was their opinion that all the rain events we'd been having had caused root-rot. We'd been getting 2-4" rains every other day. I resigned myself to having to re-plant next year, but the good news is that the leaf curl/die-back stopped (as well as the drenching rain events!) and the remaining plants seem to once again be doing great. So in my case I think it was mother nature making wet roots that was causing most of my probs.

good info, thank you!!

how much rain should they get?

Raspberry plants tend to spread, and established beds have to be thinned out, or they will become an impenetrable thicket. There might be someone growing raspberries in your area, who would be happy to provide you with some "volunteer" seedlings in September. That would give you a chance to get your bed started in the fall, and very likely eliminate the problem with die-off that you are seeing.

And if you can control the amount of rain, let us know how you did it!

Root rot in raspberries will typically weaken the plantings over a 2- or 3- year period until nothing worthwhile is left. Severe rains or overwatering of new plants will hasten the process. Here in western Oregon, the advice is to plant raspberries in raised beds.

Certain varieties of raspberry will resist root rot and certain plants of a susceptible variety will luck out also.

OK, good grief. I haven't watered in a week so I go out there and decide to give them water and another one is dead! so I thought the first one died because of too much water maybe so I cut back and another one does the same thing. I give up! raspberries were my #1 thing to grow. I've wanted an over abundance of them for ever and I finally get the $ to do it and they die. my neighbor got some too and hers are doing fine AFAIK. she waters hers a lot. we were pretty much on the same watering regime I thought. do you think that I have too much compost in my soil? can there be such a thing? LOL!

Find someone, who lives withing 35 miles, that grows raspberries. They should be able to provide you with at least one or two volunteer raspberry plants, in the fall. Get them in the ground between September 15, and October 15. No fertilizer, water as necessary. In the fall, the days are shorter, the nights are longer. The transplants will thrive. Next spring, they will perk up, leaf out, and take off. In two or three years, you will have more raspberry plants than you know what to do with, and you can help someone else out. I'm sorry you are having problems with the plants you set out this spring. Based on my experience, it's not your fault. Bare root stock should be set out in the fall, so the roots have a chance to develop.

hmmm. I suppose I could check on craigslist or something this fall to see if there is anyone who grows them. I know a friend of a friend who grows them but I doubt she'd let me take some since I don't know her and the friend of mine has moved out of state. :)

I just don't understand why places like nourse sell them in the spring when they'd do much better in the fall, makes no sense! you think they'd do it in the fall to set people up for better success. we've had a really hot summer this year and I think it is contributing to this madness. for sure.

Anyone in the landscape business will tell you that its much easier to get a new lawn started in the fall. And yet, how often is this actually done? We hole up for the winter, and when it warms up in the spring, we think about gardening and growing things. If you operate a greenhouse, or a tree farm, most of your business will be in the spring, not the fall.

I got 3 raspberries and 3 blueberries last year. The raspberries all died within a month or two, and the blueberries are going strong this year. I gave up and decided that raspberries just don't grow here, so I opted for a fig variety that tastes like the best raspberry jam you ever had! The fig is thriving and laden with figs! I guess my climate is good for figs, but not so for raspberries.

Good luck with your plants!
Suzi

Well this thread answered my question too! I just emailed Nourse asking for their advice about my dead raspberries (29 out of 30!). We've had alot of rain plus I mulched them after planting so compounded the root rot issue. I'm going to reorder next year, pot them up and wait to plant them. I am pleased with everything else I bought and planted from Nourse.
The wet ground must not be such a big issue for blackberries as all of them that I planted are doing great.

29 out of 30 :( man that bites. :(

I've had another one die on me. The thing is, I think it is hte heat. the ones that are dying are the ones that came up late. the ones that came up first which have a lot of growth on them are mostly doing ok, they have some brown edged leaves but they aren't totally dying. just the ones that finally had come up and were an inch tall are the ones that died. :( grr! I do have 12 left though, so thats good. I just hope I don't lose any more because I have big plans for raspberry abundance!

If you can get some partial shade on your young raspberry plants, they will stand a better chance of staying green & healthy during the summer heat. The shade can be anything you cobble together, some people use a plastic laundry basket, upside down.

do I keep the shade on all day or just part of the day?

If you are shading your plants from the summer sun, 11 am to 3 pm is the time of day when the sun is most intense. So, if you are home and able to move the shades around, its best to shade the plants when the sun is high. You don't need to achieve total shade, just try to block some of the sunlight.

shoot. I wish I would have known to do this when I first put them out there :(

By all means get replacements but if you have the space I would also leave the old raspberries in the ground even if you think they are dead. There may be growth going on underground which you will not know about until the autumn or next spring. You may then find shoots coming up from the base. This has happened in my garden often.

ericwi recommends getting some volunteers from someone in your locality. That is a good idea but I think he meant that you should ask for offshoots rather than seedlings. Offshoots will give you the named variety of the parent plant. Seedlings (from fallen fruit) will give you variable and often weedy raspberries.

ok so leave them in case they regrow, sounds good.

now, question about the seedlings. my mom gave me two seedlings 5 years ago and they never really took off (I also didn't give them good soil either). but they bear a few berries each year. I gave them some compost this year but they still dont seem to be doing anything, you think its because they were seedligns and not offshoots?

Flora UK is correct, I did not exactly mean volunteer "seedlings," I really meant volunteer "offshoots." Raspberries send out runners, lateral roots about two inches below the surface, and new plants grow from these, several feet from the parent plant. I don't know why the raspberries that you got from your mom failed to thrive, maybe they are wild raspberries?

they aren't wild, we have some of those too and these aren't wild. they are some sort of variety I just don't know what. I have pictures of them if it is helpful. maybe they just need some time now since I moved them and gave them compost.

I'm a big fan of planting bareroot pome fruits and blueberries in the fall, but not brambles. I've planted a few hundred bareroot raspberries (mostly in the spring), but those I planted in the fall had much higher losses. In my heavy soil (loamy red clay), my fall planting losses were about 75%, while spring planting losses were only about 5%. This is hardly a scientific study, but it was enough to make me only plant bareroot brambles in the spring. I would guess that there's a much higher chance of the young bareroot plants rotting over the winter. I'd also guess that a fresh, dormant bareroot bramble is more vigorous than either a recently dug, non-dormant plant or a dormant bareroot that's been in the fridge for an extra 6 months. Nourse knows their stuff and there's a reason they ship when the do.

Could the raspberries have been planted too deep? I had a problem with raspberries dying on me because of that when I first started.

I bought 7 raspberry plants young ones 2 are fine but 5 are dying