I was looking for some raspberries and stumbled on Scenic Hills Farm who sells raspberry rootstock by the foot of plants. It looks like a wad of hair from a brush. Have any of you used this method to grow raspberries and how was the yield?
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We got some of this root stock from this company in the spring and planted it. It was pretty true to form for how many feet you want to grow. Our plants are still young and haven’t gotten that big yet. We put them out here in Texas where it’s going to be iffy from the heat although the variety we purchased says it is good for zone 8. They give you massive instructions on planting and we found it very informative. The roots were very viable but they do emphasize that you cannot let them dry out and to keep them misted while planting. We lost a few plants we think from the freaky Texas weather we had this year and we reordered another five feet (original order was for 20) and used this to fill in the gaps. Our plants are growing as well as they can in the heat and we just got them mulched well…had a thin layer at first. So I would say yes that it is a good way to purchase and get your plants started. Maybe we can attest to yield at a later date but the root stock sprouted quickly and are growing. We bought our first batch the end of April and our floods hit in May. We bought the filler stock the end of May. Our tallest canes are about 18-24".
I guess thinking about it you were asking about number of plants yield. Our root stock, although in a shockingly small baggie, already had some spouts on these little hair like roots and these did come up above ground in a matter of 3-4 days. I really don’t know how close the raspberry plants should be growing but here are some photos of our plants. Like I said we lost some plants that had actually sprouted due to rains and storms. 11 inches of rain one night and that was just one night. We had a month of it and everything here had to swim or die (over 34 inches of rain in May). We had some plastic 55 gallon drums cut in half lengthwise that we put over this row of raspberries when it would rain.
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34" rain in a month. WOW. Hard for me to wrap my brain around as good as those plants look, The ads say you can get fruit the first year; I guess w/o floods. Do you cover them with soil or just mulch? Water them every day? Thanks for your reply, that’s the great thing about this forum, always have some one who has been there and done that and willing to help out.
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They do look pretty good for what they have gone through but they really are suffering now from the heat. Trying to figure out how to get them some shade in the afternoon. We covered them with soil. They are planted only a couple of inches down. We have a pretty heavy mulch on them now. And yes…so far they have been watered everyday. They are staying moister with the mulch of course. I haven’t seen any bloom buds yet. I’m new to this forum but think it’s wonderful help. We are just starting to branch out into berries and I have lots of questions. Love the forum.
Thanks
Just picked a couple of raspberries!!! Several canes are producing and these are just starting to get ripe. I feel like a proud mama…
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See my latest post on Virginia Orchard tours, you should feel proud. Way to go mama.
Hey Clark,
I want raspberrys but dont know which varieties would do will. Let me know if you want to go in on an order. I was looking at http://noursefarms.com/category/raspberry-plants/ They are cheep if ordering over 100 plants.
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The black raspberries are the hardiest in this area. Since this dry weather hit I suspect we should at least hold off until the spring rains start. I’m growing blacks with no irrigation.
I have purchased rootstock from Scenic Hills Farm several times and each time it worked really well. A little bit of rootstock goes a long way. Just make sure you trench lightly and then stretch out the roots, think end-to-end, to get the most production. Cascade Delight has been a good raspberry for me.
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We are ordering more raspberry rootstock from Scenic Hill Farm. Our Heritage raspberries did really well considering our weather and we are going to plant Caroline. We also ordered some bare root gooseberries and currants and just received the plants. They are absolutely beautiful plants with big nice roots and even some green buds on the plant. I highly recommend this company. We called them for assistance on what to order for our zone and they were very helpful and nice to work with.
Kate
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