I recently purchased a variety of bareroot raspberries from a big box store, an impulse buy while I wait for strawberries and apple trees to arrive from reputable nurseries. I just needed to plant something!
When choosing the plants I picked ones that did not have any shoots showing, hoping they were still dormant. However, when I planted them today a few of the plants had white shoots growing in the sawdust packing material. After planting, two plants have two white shoots above ground and one has a small white shoot that is buried.
My guess is the white shoots will die since they were not hardened off. Should I cut them off? Has anyone else planted bareroot raspberries that had already started to come out of dormancy and had white shoots? If so, did the shoots die? Did the plants have enough energy to send up new ones? I’m worried the plants won’t live so I’m hoping to hear from experienced raspberry growers.
I wouldn’t worry too much about them. They’re raspberries, they’re pretty invincible. They’re white because they’ve been pushing in the absence of light. If you’re not ready to plant them out, you could pot them up and ease them into their newfound place in the sun. Put them under low power grow lights or set them in a partially sunny and let them green up a bit if you really want to maximize their growth. Truthfully, though, you could easily stick them in the (well prepared, fertile) ground and give them a bit of mulch and they’d do fine.
You really take your chances with that box store stuff, especially the stuff that comes “dormant” in boxes. I bought some Carolina pine berries from a store this spring and they had similar issues. I potted them up and stuck them with my veggie starts and they’re looking happy enough to plant out soon. The stores often set nursery stock out far too early around here, so they sit in a warm store for weeks before anyone buys them. The other day, I happened to take a rare trip in Tractor Supply. They had all of their fruit trees out in th or usual spot in front of the store. Peaches were blooming, everything pushing or in leaf, and had been frosted by the typical 20 degree late March weather. Oops
Thanks! It’s still cold at night here in 6b, some days as well. Last frost date is still about 4 weeks away, May 2nd. Aside from not being hardened off, I think maybe the cold weather will kill the white shoots.
Thank you! Temporarily potting up is a great idea I didn’t think of. I already planted most of what I bought, but still have a Jewel black raspberry and a few blackberries. I think I’ll try that.
Let’s just say if you manage to actually kill a raspberry, at least in my neck of the woods, you deserve an award. Red raspberries less tough and tenacious than blackberries, and black raspberries somewhere in the middle. Repeated attempts at complete removal are seldom successful for any of three. Many times I have covered the ground with plastic tarps for an entire growing season and had them come up again when the tarp is removed the following year!
I picked up 7 of these. 2 were rated for some 8, not 9, but the price was fine since they came with other rasberries I wanted to try. Only the blackberry came up… I’m not impressed. It hasn’t been too warm or too cold. I’m at a loss and have no interest in repeating the experiment. Heritage and Loganberry at least should have been okay, but nope. Do you guys usually have luck with these dormant minimally rooted plants?
Dont pot them to protect them. Put them in the ground and when the temps are right they will send up new canes. Dont worry about the handle either.
If you pot them you will have to surgically plant them later… as there will be many fragile primocanes to deal with… let them come up naturally wherever you plan on planting them.
If you by chance bought a Fall Gold in one of those bags…they are wineberries in the box stores. I saw them again this year. Whoever is propagating them has no idea what they are doing.
I am in 6B also and all of my rasps and blackberries broke dormancy weeks ago… and all are sending up pcanes… so get them planted now.
--------Agree with Krismoriah. If those white shoots were inside the bag , they can be placed below ground to emerge naturally. It they were above root level that is fine too. Raspberries emerge weeks before final freezes and survive the cold just fine.