I have a few questions, but first here is the problem. Raspberries are adored by japanese beetles, and now SWD is putting maggots in my crop. I am feeling ready to get rid of them. After getting cut up searching for berries and finding only unusable crop, I’m feeling down. I’m not willing to spray, especially for swd when I’ve read it’s only partially effective anyway.
I guess my questions are…what are your earliest fruiting raspberry varieties?
What options do i have to get rid of raspberries- must you really dig out every tiny root?
Thanks.
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try prelude. its one of the earliest florocane producing varieties. i just put some in this spring. I’m starting to phase out my everbearing varieties in advance of SWD arriving here. just till your plants up when they’re dormant in the fall. throw away any roots you find.
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I know a u-pick place in town had swd show up for the first time last year or the year before. I figured my small crop might escape them. No such luck. There are little clouds of them, it’s really rather gross to try to harvest with they and the j beetles flying all over!! You don’t have them yet?
I thought rasps would resprout from any tiny root left in soil? Are they not that hard to get rid of after all?
Apple cider vinegar traps can greatly reduce the number of SWD on fruit.
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I don’t blame you for thinking about getting rid of them. SWD are tough to deal with. I’ve noticed them on my raspberries for over a week now. I try to spray regularly with spinosad but it doesn’t seem that effective.
Prelude is my earliest but it does produce a good fall crop so you would have to deal with the SWD on that. It started producing June 15th for me this year but I didn’t get much from the early summer crop for some reason. Maybe from a bit of winter die-back or the periodical cicadas this year. Cicadas did hit them hard but they hit my Novas as well and they have been producing nicely. The Novas started producing about the same time as Prelude, maybe a few days later.
I’m starting to think that only cold-hardy, early summer producing varieties are going to stand a chance at avoiding most of the SWD.
Reducing the number of SWD where I live is impossible since there are so many berry-producing wild plants around (bush honeysuckle, autumnberry, elderberry, black raspberry, blackberry, black cherry, etc).
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no swd, no japanese beetles, no curiculo yet. but s. maine has them so its a matter of time. to get rid of a row of rasps. i cut them to the ground in the fall and till the row well. take out the roots , till again, remove more roots. in early spring i till it again. by then the small roots left are starting to sprout and are easy to see. then i plant my new plants. been lucky so far to gert all of therm…
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If Tayberries can grow there,they may be one to try.bb