How to Transplant Blooming Raspberries
Raspberries are traditionally transplanted in the spring when temperatures are cool. If you opt to transplant them when they're flowering, choose a cool, cloudy day to move them. Select only young, healthy canes and dig up as much of the root system as you can. Once transplanted, flowering raspberries should bounce back within two or three weeks and begin to grow again.
Transplant flowering raspberries in the evening when temperatures are cooler. The plants suffer less transplant shock and bees are less active during this time.
Remove rocks, debris and weeds in the new garden area. Lay 3 inches of compost or manure on the soil and till it in to a depth of 12 inches. Raspberries live for 20 years or more, so it's important to improve the soil well.
Select a few healthy offshoots from the mother plant. Dig 6 inch trenches around the offshoots.Sever the offshoots from the mother plant with pruning shears. Raspberries spread through underground suckers, and the offshoots are probably connected to the mother plant by more than one stem.
Lift the raspberry plant carefully out of the earth. Dig a hole in the new location as deep and twice as wide as the raspberry plant.
Set the plant in the hole and push the soil over the roots so the plant sits at soil level. Firm the soil down with your hand to remove any air pockets.
Prune the plant to remove two-thirds of the canes' top growth. You'll lose most of this year's raspberry crop, but the new plant will recover more quickly and grow more vigorously the following year.
Water the plants thoroughly immediately after planting. Watch plants carefully over the next few weeks and water them before the soil dries out. Older transplanted raspberries are vulnerable to transplant shock until they begin to put out new leaves and establish a root system.
- In addition to transplanting, you can enlarge your raspberry patch by layering. Simply press a healthy, young cane to the ground and cover a portion of it with soil. Leave a 6 inch tip poking from the soil. The portion covered with soil will sprout roots and produce a new plant.
- Make new plants through cuttings. Cut a 6 inch piece from a healthy, young plant. Dip the end in rooting hormone and place the cutting in a cup filled with sand or vermiculite. Keep it moist and warm until it starts to grow new leaves. Plant it outside when it has three or four leaves.
Julie Christensen is a food writer, caterer, and mom-chef. She's the creator of MarmaladeMom.org, dedicated to family fun and delicious food, and released a book titled "More Than Pot Roast: Fast, Fresh Slow Cooker Recipes."